CELEBRATE 100 YEARS OF WARNER BROS. WITH TWO CLASSIC FILMS

EAST OF EDEN AND RIO BRAVO

WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 4K RESOLUTION WITH

HIGH DYNAMIC RANGE (HDR)

PURCHASE THEM ON 4K ULTRA HD DISC AND DIGITALLY AUGUST 1

Burbank, Calif., May 30, 2023 – As part of the year-long centennial celebration for the 100^th anniversary of Warner Bros. Studio, two iconic classics from the Warner Bros. library – East of Eden and Rio Bravo - will be available for purchase on 4K Ultra HD Disc and Digital August 1.

East of Eden, directed by Academy Award winner Elia Kazan and starring James Dean, and Rio Bravo, directed by Honorary Academy Award winner Howard Hawks and starring John Wayne, will be available to purchase on Ultra HD Blu-ray™Disc from online and in-store at major retailers and available for purchase Digitally from Amazon Prime Video, AppleTV, Google Play, Vudu and more.

Working in partnership with The Film Foundation, both films were restored and remastered by Warner Bros. Post Production Creative Services: Motion Picture Imaging and Post Production Sound.  Since its launch by Martin Scorsese in 1990, The Film Foundation has restored more than 900 movies.

The Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc will include each feature film in 4K with HDR and a Digital version of the feature film.

Ultra HD Blu-ray showcases 4K resolution with High Dynamic Range (HDR) and a wider color spectrum, offering consumers brighter, deeper, more lifelike colors for a home entertainment viewing experience like never before.  

For the complete 4K Ultra HD experience with HDR, a 4K Ultra HD TV with HDR, an Ultra HD Blu-ray player and a high-speed HDMI (category 2) cable are required.

About the Films:

East of Eden

In the Salinas Valley in and around World War I, Cal Trask feels he must compete against overwhelming odds with his brother Aron for the love of their father Adam. Carl is frustrated at every turn, from his reaction to the war, to how to get ahead in business and in life, to how to relate to his estranged mother.

The 1955 period drama is directed by Elia Kazan from a screenplay by Paul Osborn and based on the 1952 John Steinbeck novel of the same name.  The film stars James Dean, Julie Harris, Raymond Massey, Burl Ives, Richard Davalos, and Jo Van Fleet.

East of Eden was nominated for 3 Academy Awards with Van Fleet winning for Best Supporting Actress.  East of Eden was named one of the 400 best American films of all time by the American Film Institute. In 2016, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Rio Bravo

A small-town sheriff in the American West enlists the help of a disabled man, a drunk, and a young gunfighter in his efforts to hold in jail the brother of the local bad guy.

The 1959 American Western film is directed by Howard Hawks. The screenplay is by Jules Furthman and Leigh Brackett and is based on the short story “Rio Bravo” by B.H. McCampbell. The film stars John Wayne, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, Angie Dickinson, Walter Brennan, and Ward Bond.

In 2014, Rio Bravo was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

Ultra HD Blu-ray Elements

East of Eden Ultra HD Blu-ray contains the following previously released special features:

Commentary by Richard Schickel

Rio Bravo Ultra HD Blu-ray contains the following previously released special features:

Commentary by John Carpenter and Richard Schickel

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Anna May Wong has been commemorated with a three-film box set from Kino Lorber. Wong was a popular presence on the silver screen in an era in which most Asian screen characters were played by non-Asians. Here is the breakdown of information about the the Blu-ray set that coincidentally features Anthony Quinn in all three movies.

This collection features three Hollywood classics from the 1930s starring screen icon Anna May Wong.

DANGEROUS TO KNOW (1938)

Screen legend Anna May Wong (Picadilly) reprises her acclaimed Broadway role in this romantic crime drama from the pen of Edgar Wallace (Chamber of Horrors). Racketeer Steve Recka (Akim Tamiroff, The General Died at Dawn) rules his town and the sultry, silk-gowned Madam Lan Ying (Wong) with an iron hand. But when he falls for the enchanting Margaret Van Kase (Gail Patrick, Death Takes a Holiday), a socialite not impressed by his power nor his wealth, he makes frantic efforts to win her and turns his back on the loyal Lan Ying. Dangerous to Know comes elegantly directed by Robert Florey (The Crooked Way) with the sparkling supporting cast of Lloyd Nolan (Portrait in Black), Harvey Stephens (The Cheat), Roscoe Karns (Night After Night), Porter Hall (Murder, He Says), Hedda Hopper (Little Man, What Now?), Ellen Drew (If I Were King) and Anthony Quinn (The Ghost Breakers).

ISLAND OF LOST MEN (1939) – Screen legend Anna May Wong (Daughter of Shanghai) clashes with J. Carrol Naish (Sahara) in this rousing remake of 1933’s Carole Lombard/Charles Laughton starrer White Woman. Cabaret singer Kim Ling (Wong), the daughter of a Chinese general who has been accused of absconding with government funds, arrives in the Straits Settlements. There she meets Gregory Prin (Naish), a half-caste gunrunner and head of a jungle empire where he treats the Malaysians ruthlessly. She agrees to accompany him in search of her father, as she has several reasons to believe Prin is responsible for the general’s disappearance. Directed by Kurt Neumann (The Secret of the Blue Room, The Fly) and co-starring Anthony Quinn (Road to Singapore), Eric Blore (Road to Zanzibar), Broderick Crawford (Seven Sinners) and Ernest Truex (His Girl Friday), Island of Lost Men is a torrid mix of thrills, mystery and adventure.

KING OF CHINATOWN (1939) – Screen legend Anna May Wong (Shanghai Express) co-stars with the “czar of a city of sin,” Akim Tamiroff (Desire), in the ripping crime yarn King of Chinatown. Violence and death stalk the Chinese faction of a big American city, but one man, Dr. Chang Ling (Sidney Toler, Shadows Over Chinatown), and his daughter, Dr. Mary Ling (Wong), defy the gangsters who are responsible, and, against terrific odds, bring peace to their oppressed neighbors. Wong gives a powerful and pioneering performance as a respected surgeon faced with a shocking moral dilemma. Directed by Nick Grinde (Million Dollar Legs), shot by Leo Tover (The Day the Earth Stood Still) and featuring J. Carrol Naish (Beau Geste), Philip Ahn (China), Anthony Quinn (The Last Train from Madrid), Bernadene Hayes (Dick Tracy’s Dilemma) and Roscoe Karns (It Happened One Night).

Product Extras :
Brand New 4K and 2K Masters
NEW Audio Commentary for DANGEROUS TO KNOW by Film Historian Samm Deighan
NEW Audio Commentary for ISLAND OF LOST MEN by Entertainment Journalist/Author Bryan Reesman and Max Evry
NEW Audio Commentary for KING OF CHINATOWN by Film Historian David Del Valle and Archivist/Film Historian Stan Shaffer
King of Chinatown Theatrical Trailer (Nitrate Restoration in 4K)

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If you haven't seen the news about the new "Superman" 4K boxed set, here is the Warner Bros. press release:

CELEBRATE 100 YEARS OF WARNER BROS. WITH ONE OF FILM’S MOST ICONIC CHARACTERS - SUPERMAN

SUPERMAN 1978 – 1987 5-FILM COLLECTION FEATURING

SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE, SUPERMAN II, SUPERMAN II: THE RICHARD DONNER CUT, SUPERMAN III, AND SUPERMAN IV: THE QUEST FOR PEACE WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR THE FIRST TIME AS A REMASTERED COLLECTION IN 4K RESOLUTION WITH HIGH DYNAMIC RANGE (HDR)

PURCHASE THE COLLECTION ON 4K ULTRA HD COMBO PACK AND DIGITALLY

As part of the year-long centennial celebration for the 100^th anniversary of Warner Bros. Studio, five films featuring the iconic DC Super Hero Superman – Superman: The Movie, Superman II, Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut, Superman III, and Superman IV - will be available for purchase in a five-film collection on 4K Ultra HD Disc and Digital on April 18.

Based on the DC character created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the Superman films star Christopher Reeve as the legendary “Man of Steel.”

On April 18, the Superman 1978 – 1987 5-Film Collection will be available to purchase on Ultra HD Blu-ray™ Disc from online and in-store at major retailers and available for purchase Digitally from Amazon Prime Video, AppleTV, Google Play, Vudu and more.

The Ultra HD Blu-ray Combo Packs will include an Ultra HD Blu-ray disc with the feature films in 4K with HDR, a Blu-ray disc with the feature films and special features in HD, and a Digital version of each film.

Ultra HD Blu-ray showcases 4K resolution with High Dynamic Range (HDR) and a wider color spectrum, offering consumers brighter, deeper, more lifelike colors for a home entertainment viewing experience like never before.  

For the complete 4K Ultra HD experience with HDR, a 4K Ultra HD TV with HDR, an Ultra HD Blu-ray player and a high-speed HDMI (category 2) cable are required.

(Note: The set contains hours of bonus features.)

By John M. Whalen

Burt Reynolds was a movie star who became a “Hollywood Legend” the hard way—he earned it. He started out in small roles on TV in the 50s and 60s, went to Europe and made some spaghetti westerns, just like his pal Clint Eastwood. He had his own TV series (“Hawk” and “Dan August”) and gained stardom on the big screen after playing Lewis, one of the four guys in “Deliverance,” who run into bad luck at the hands of some good ol’ boys in the Tennessee backwoods. He became a superstar with the release of “Smokey and the Bandit” (1977), which he starred in with Sally Field and Jackie Gleason. His career ended with “The Last Movie Star,” (2017), where he basically played himself, a faded legend, who still manages to hold onto his dignity. He was about to play a small role in Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time . . . in Hollywood (2019)” but died in 2018 before filming began.

His career had a lot of peaks and valleys. “Heat” (1986), now available on Blu-Ray from Kino Lorber, while an entertaining movie with Reynolds at his charismatic best, was definitely not one of the peaks. Considering it was written by Oscar-winning writer William Goldman, (“All the President’s Men” and “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,”) and directed by Dick Richards (“Farewell My Lovely”), it should have been a lot better than it is. Reynolds plays Nick Escalante (also known as “Mex”), a Las Vegas bodyguard who dreams of one day leaving the rat race in the States and going to Venice, Italy to enjoy La Dolce Vita. Hmmm. That sort of reminds me of another guy William Goldman wrote about once, only he wanted to go to Bolivia. Anyway as “Heat” begins, Mex takes on a couple of jobs that he probably should have known better than to accept. One has him protecting a nerdy dude by the name of Cyrus Kinnick (Peter McNichol), who thinks he needs a bodyguard in case he wins big at the casino. Mex doesn’t last long on the job when he discovers Kinnick’s idea of big winnings is $50, and he quits. The other is a call for help from Holly (Karen Young) a Vegas hooker, an old friend of his, who was beaten and raped in a casino hotel room by three guys. She asks him to help her get revenge.

Mex (you probably couldn’t use that nickname today) finds out the rapist is a punk Mafioso by the name of Danny DeMarco (Neill Barry), who has two musclebound bodyguards of his own. Mex never carries a gun, but he’s known for being an expert with anything that has a sharp cutting edge. He pays them a visit and takes all three of them down with nothing more than the sharp edge of two credit cards and a few flying kicks, a-la Bruce Lee. He calls Holly up from the lobby and she takes a pair of scissors out of her purse and leaves Danny with a little souvenir on his private parts. She finds $20,000 that Danny had flashed around to tease Mex with earlier and offers half to him. He turns it down and tells her to leave town. It turns out Danny is connected to a local Mafia boss by the name of “Baby.”

Holly leaves town but manages to get 10 grand to him, which becomes a plot device that reveals that Mex has a gambling addiction problem. He takes the money, turns it into $100,000 at the Blackjack table run by a dealer named Cassie (Diana Scarwid), and ends up losing it all. So now we know why Mex has trouble paying the airfare to Venice. Kinnick shows up again and asks if he can just hang out with him so he can learn how to be a cool tough guy like him. Sounds dumb, doesn’t it? It is. Somehow, even though there’s a meeting with “Baby,” and later an action setpiece with Danny and some new goons he’s hired, the story loses momentum.

Part of the problem is Goldman’s script, which is all over the place, with enough story elements for at least two different movies. Or maybe they planned to spin it off into a TV series. But the biggest problem with “Heat” is what was happening behind the scenes during production. “Heat” was originally to be helmed by Robert Altman. That deal fell through, so they brought in Dick Richards to direct and for some reason Richards and Reynolds didn’t get along. It got so bad that a fight erupted and Reynolds punched Richards in the face. Richards left the picture after directing only 13 percent of it and sued Reynolds. “That punch cost me half a million,” Reynolds said. Television director Jerry Jameson was brought in to finish the picture without receiving a credit.

It’s too bad in a way that Altman didn’t take the job after all. Goldman’s screenplay, with all the various story ideas bouncing around in it, would probably have been right up Altman’s alley. He might have come up with something on the order of his earlier hits “The Long Goodbye” (1973) or “California Split” (1974).

Kino Lorber presents “Heat” in its original 1.78:1 aspect ratio in a very clean 1920x1080p transfer. A rollicking audio commentary is provided by action film historians Brandon Bentley and Mike Leeder. The disc also contains previews of a number of Burt Reynolds films available from Kino Lorber. In case you’re wondering if Mex ever get to Venice… I’ll never tell. But, if he did, let’s hope he made out better than that other guy did in Bolivia. Recommended primarily for  Burt Reynolds fans.

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(John M. Whalen is the author of "This Ray Gun for Hire...and Other Tales".)

By Lee Pfeiffer

It's easy to look back on the Blaxploitation film craze of the 1970s as a short-lived period that spawned some cinematic guilty pleasures. However, time has been kind to the genre and if retro movie buffs view some of the films that emerged during this era they will undoubtedly find more artistry at work than was originally realized. Case in point: "Truck Turner", a 1974 action flick released at the height of the Blaxploitation phenomenon. I had never seen the film prior to its release on the new Blu-ray special edition from Kino Lorber Studio Classics. It's a violent, brutal film filled with ugly characters and "heroes" who deserve that moniker only because they aren't quite as abhorrent as the cutthroat antagonists they face. Yet, there is something special about "Truck Turner". Amid the carnage and frequent, extended action sequences, there is real talent at work here. Most of it belongs to Jonathan Kaplan, the director who had recently emerged as yet another promising protege of Roger Corman. In fact, Kaplan had just recently completed filming another Blaxploitation film, "The Slams" with Jim Brown, before being drafted into "Truck Turner". The idea of a white, Jewish guy directing a Blaxploitation film may seem weird today but at the time, most of the creative forces behind these movies were white guys, an indication of just how few opportunities existed in Hollywood for black filmmakers in the 1970s. The movies were also largely financed by white studio executives who benefited the most financially. Yet, it cannot be denied that the genre went a long way in opening doors for a lot of talented black actors and musicians, who often provided the scores for the films. Until the release of "Shaft" in 1971 (which was directed by a black filmmaker, Gordon Parks), most of the action roles for black characters seemed to be hanging on the durable shoulders of Sidney Poitier, Jim Brown, Harry Belafonte and the great character actor Woody Strode. Suddenly, there were a great number of opportunities for black actors and actresses to display their talents on screen. The vehicles in which they toiled were often low-budget potboilers, but it did increase their visibility and name recognition. More importantly, black action characters became commonplace henceforth. 

"Truck Turner" has emerged as a genuine cult movie in the decades since its initial release. The movie's oddball appeal begins with the casting of the titular character, who is played by legendary soul musician Isaac Hayes in his screen debut. While Laurence Olivier probably never lost sleep over Hayes's decision to enter the movie business, his casting was a stroke of genius on the part of the executives at American International Pictures, which specialized in exploitation films for the grindhouse and drive-in audiences. Hayes had recently won the Academy Award for his funky "Theme From 'Shaft'" and had an imposing and super-cool physical presence. He also  proved to be a natural in front of the camera. His emotional range was limited but he exuded an arrogance and self-confidence that the role required. Turner is a skip tracer/bounty hunter employed by a bail bond agency in the slum area of Los Angeles. A stunning opening shot finds literally dozens of such agency dotting the urban landscape- an indication of how out of control crime was in the city during this period. Turner and his partner Jerry (Alan Weeks) agree to take on an assignment to track down a local notorious pimp and crime kingpin named 'Gator' Johnson (Paul Harris), who has skipped bail, thus leaving the agency's owner Nate Dinwiddle (Sam Laws) on the hook for the money. Turner and Jerry pursue 'Gator' in one of those requisite high octane car chases that were seemingly mandatory in 70s action movies. This one is quite spectacular and features some dazzling stunt driving. 'Gator' is ultimately killed by Turner and this leads to the main plot, which concerns his lover, Dorinda (Nichelle Nichols). She was 'Gator's  partner in a lucrative prostitution business. The two pimped out beautiful young women who they keep as virtual prisoners on a large estate. Dorinda is the Captain Bligh of madams, routinely abusing her stable of girls and demeaning them at every opportunity. She is enraged by Turner's slaying of 'Gator' and offers a bounty for his murder: half of her stake in the prostitution ring. The offer draws more than a few professional assassins to her doorstep, all of whom promise they can kill Turner. However, the only one who seems to have the ability to do so is Harvard Blue (Yaphet Kotto), a soft-spoken but vicious crime boss who would like nothing more than to make easy money from a major pimping operation. With a small army of assassins, he sets out to make good on his promise to kill Turner. 

Like most action movies of this genre, the plot points are predictable. As with Charles Bronson's character in the "Death Wish" films, virtually every person who befriends Turner comes to great misfortune. This kind of predictable emotional manipulation is par for the course when you're watching 70s crime films and doesn't overshadow the fact that there is a great deal of style evident in "Truck Turner". The dialogue is saucy and witty. For example, Dorinda describes one of her "girls" as "Kentucky Fried Chicken" because "she's finger-lickin' good!" and another as "Turnpike" because "you have to pay to get on and pay to get off." If you think that's politically incorrect, consider that every other line of dialogue has somebody calling somebody else a nigger. Then there's the character of Truck Turner, who - like his fellow  cinematic tough ass crime fighters of the era ranging from Dirty Harry to 'Popeye' Doyle to John Wayne's McQ- seems oblivious to the fact that he is endangering an abundance of innocent people in his obsession to get the bad guys. Turner engages in carjacking and threatens the lives of people who he feels aren't cooperating fast enough. He also has a sensitive side, though, as we see in his scenes with the love of his life, Annie (Annazette Chase). She's recently completed a jail term and only wants to settle down with Turner to live a quiet, normal lifestyle. Good luck. When the contract is put out on Turner, she becomes a potential victim and is terrorized by Harvard Blue and his gang. The film concludes with some terrific action sequences, the best of which has Hayes and Kotto going mano-a-mano inside the corridors of a hospital. They chase and spray bullets at each other amid terrified patients in wheelchairs and on gurneys and in one scene, carry the shoot out into an operating room with doctors in the midst of  working on a patient! The finale, which centers on Kotto's last scene in the movie, is shot with such style that it almost approaches being  (dare I use the term?) poetic. The supporting cast is first rate with Alan Weeks scoring strongly as Robin to Turner's Batman. Annazette Chase is excellent as the ever-patient object of Turner's desire and, of course, Kotto is terrific, as usual, managing to steal scenes in his own unique, low-key way. The most enjoyable performance comes from Nichelle Nichols, who is 180 degrees from her "Star Trek" role. As the ultimate villainess, she seems to be having a blast insulting and threatening everyone in her line of vision. Her final confrontation with Turner makes for a memorable screen moment, to say the least.  

The Kino Lorber Blu-ray is up to the company's usual high standards in all respects. Old Truck never looked better on screen and there are some welcome bonus materials. Director Kaplan provides a witty and highly informative audio commentary, relating how American International was more interested in the soundtrack album they would be able to market than the film itself. (Hayes provides the impressive score for the film, including some "Shaft"-like themes.). He also said that he was originally drawn to the project because he was told the film would star either Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine or Robert Mitchum! Nevertheless, he speaks with great affection for Hayes and his colleagues and points out various character actors his used in the film including the ubiquitous Dick Miller, James Millhollin, Scatman Crothers and even Matthew Beard, who played "Stymie" in the Our Gang comedies.  Another welcome bonus is director Joe Dante,obviously an admirer of the film, in discussion at a 2008 screening of "Truck Turner" at the New Beverly Cinema in L.A. He's joined by director Kaplan and stuntman Bob Minor. The reaction of the audience indicates this film enjoys a loyal following. There is also a segment from Dante's popular "Trailers From Hell" web site that features director Ernest Dickerson introducing and narrating the original trailer for the film. The trailer is also included in the Blu-ray, as well as a double feature radio spot ad for "Truck Turner" and Pam Grier as "Foxy Brown". In all, an irresistible release for all retro movie lovers. 

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NATIONAL LAMPOON’S VACATION

NEW TO 4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY^TM AND DIGITAL

HAROLD RAMIS’ ROAD TRIP COMEDY FILM STARRING CHEVY CHASE AND BEVERLY D’ANGELO WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 4K RESOLUTION WITH HIGH DYNAMIC RANGE (HDR)

Own it on 4K Ultra HD and Digital on June 27

Burbank, Calif., May 10, 2023 – National Lampoon’s Vacation, directed by Harold Ramis and starring Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo as Clark and Ellen Griswold, will be released on Ultra HD Blu-ray and Digital on June 27. As Warner Bros celebrates its 100th anniversary, this film is highlighted as a studio gem on its 40th anniversary.

The 1983 classic comedy film from Warner Bros. Pictures was written by John Hughes and was based on his short story “Vacation ’58 which appeared in the publication “National Lampoon.”  The film was produced by Matty Simmons and also stars Imogene Coca, Randy Quaid, John Candy, Anthony Michael Hall, Dana Barron, and Christie Brinkley in her acting debut.  National Lampoon’s Vacation also features special appearances by Eddie Bracken, Brian-Doyle Murray, James Keach, and Eugene Levy.

Ultra HD* showcases 4K resolution with High Dynamic Range (HDR) and a wider color spectrum, offering consumers brighter, deeper, more lifelike colors for a home entertainment viewing experience like never before.   

National Lampoon’s Vacation will be available on Ultra HD Blu-ray for $33.99 SRP and includes an Ultra HD Blu-ray disc with the feature film in 4K with HDR and a Digital download of the film. Fans can also own National Lampoon’s Vacation in 4K Ultra HD via purchase from select digital retailers beginning on June 27.  

About the Film:

Everything is planned, packed – and about to go hilariously wrong. The Griswolds are going on vacation. In the driver’s seat is Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase), an Everyman eager to share the open road and the wonders of family togetherness. Myriad mishaps, crude kin (Randy Quaid), encounters with a temptress (Christie Brinkley), financial woes, Aunt Edna (Imogene Coca) on the roof, one security guard (John Candy) and 2,460 miles later, it’s a wonder the Griswolds are together. There’s never been a family vacation like it. Except maybe yours. And that helps explain why National Lampoon’s Vacation remains so popular… and so very funny.

Ultra HD Blu-ray Elements

National Lampoon’s Vacation Ultra HD Blu-ray contains the following previously released special features:

· Commentary with Chevy Chase, Randy Quaid, Matty Simmons, Harold Ramis, Anthony Michael Hall, and Dana Barron (98 Minutes)

DIGITAL DISTRIBUTION ELEMENTS

On June 27, National Lampoon’s Vacation 4K UHD will be available to own for streaming and download to watch anywhere in high definition and standard definition on favorite devices from select digital retailers and will be made available digitally on Video On Demand services from cable and satellite providers, and on select gaming consoles.

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Cinema Retro has received the following press release:

On May 30th Rain Man, the winner of four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay (Ronald Bass and Barry Morrow), Best Actor (Dustin Hoffman) and Best Director (Barry Levinson), makes its 4K Ultra HD format debut with a new restoration (a just completed 4K high definition 16-Bit Scan of the original camera negative) approved by Levinson and presented in its original 1.85:1 Aspect Ratio in Dolby Vision / HDR.  

Rain Man stars Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise as estranged brothers on a road trip unlike any other across America. Charlie Babbitt (Cruise) has been given the news that his recently deceased father has left his entire fortune to his autistic brother Raymond (Hoffman), who he did not know existed. In a crass bid to grab some, if not all of the inheritance, Charlie abducts Raymond and what begins as a money-making scheme for Charlie turns into a journey of discovery between brothers who are worlds apart. 

The two-disc 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray 35th Anniversary Edition is packed with supplemental material including three audio commentaries (one with director Barry Levinson, one with co-writer Barry Morrow and a third with co-writer Ronald Bass). Along with the commentaries, there are several making of / behind the scenes featurettes including: The Journey of Rain Man featurette, Lifting the Fog: A Look at the Mysteries of Autism featurette, a deleted scene, and the original theatrical trailer.  

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To pre-order titles, visit the Imprint web site. All prices are in Australian dollars. Use a currency converter to see the price in your local currency.

All releases are in Region-Free Format.

By Dana Polan

Although it’s not necessarily thought of as initiating the cycle of late 70s and then 1980s teenage sex comedies, The Graduate, from Embassy Pictures in 1967, is clearly an inspiration for the later films about awkward virginal guys caught up in farcical narratives of dream, drive, and desire. The success of The Graduate enabled its production company head, impresario Joseph Levine, to broker a merger of Embassy with Avco, and it was the newly named Avco-Embassy that about a decade after The Graduate brought out the virgin teenage guy comedy, The Chicken Chronicles. From the same year (1977), The Van, a broad farce about a guy who revamps his van as a love-machine likewise suggests the first glimpses of a trend, one that got its fullest recognition soon after in the wildly successful Animal House from the following year, along with later iterations like Porky’s (1981) and its sequels, all produced by Melvin Simon who also was the producer of The Chicken Chronicles.

Ironically, although The Graduate has a stronger reputation in cinema history as a serious work of social-cultural engagement within the fervent and foment of the 1960s, it’s actually the raunchy low-class gross-out virgin-comedies that come after it that engage in any manner with the politics of the time. To be sure, the ups and downs of Benjamin’s relationships in The Graduate address in their own manner the claims of the Sixties to show that “the personal is the political” (especially for young women like Elaine Robinson, so mistreated by Benjamin when he first takes her out on a date), but one would be hard-pressed to find much direct reference to the times (we see some hippies as mere background when Benjamin and Elaine go out on that date).

In contrast, Animal House takes on the jockeying for power in the contemporary college system while Porky’s addresses redneck racism in the South. And from a very early scene where we hear tough news about the times on the car radio of protagonist Dave Kessler (Steve Guttenberg), The Chicken Chronicles, set in 1969 and continually referencing the war in Vietnam, keeps bringing the real politics of the day into its seemingly personalized story of one guy’s quest for sexual fulfillment. Most poignant is a moment where one of Dave’s co-workers at the fried chicken outlet he works at (hence, the film’s title) learns that her brother has died in Nam. An African-American woman, she had enjoyed a lively moment of dancing with her team, and she is a figure that we, and the white employees and boss, admire. Her last moment in the film comes when the take-out’s boss (Phil Silvers, the classic comedian) tells her to go home so she can mourn properly. A cut shows her waiting at a bus stop when Dave comes by in his car and offers her a lift: she demurs (is she worried about a white guy being seen driving her into her neighborhood?) and he drives off and we see her get on the bus and exit off-screen, out of the film.

No other scene in The Chicken Chronicles is like this one in its explicit and quite non-comedic acknowledgement of the times. But many other scenes are like it in their very fleetingness. In fact, it is probably misleading to insist too much on any consistent desire of the film to offer social commentary. Like the later broad and buffoonish sex comedies, The Chicken Chronicles operates by a sort of scattergun approach, taking on any and all topics, large and small, relevant or irreverent, and jumping here and there to random new scenes for the sake of immediate effect. While there’s an overall narrative thrust (pun not intended although noted!) – the goal of the protagonist to lose his virginity – the film is a deliberate hodgepodge, hoping that whatever’s onscreen at the moment will work at the moment. Whether this or that scene works depends then on individual taste: for instance, if you like to see stuck-up kids get theirs by falling into the suburban pool, that will be your moment of hilarity; if you like hints of relevance, there are enough of those in the film to keep you going. It’s noteworthy that while few mainstream critics reviewed The Chicken Chronicles – and the rare ones that did didn’t like it much – one thing these commentators did single out as intriguing was the fact that Dave Kessler’s parents are unseen in the film and communicate with him only by speakers dotted throughout their house (a contrast to the very different generational alienation of The Graduate where the problem for Benjamin Braddock is that his parents are too visible, too fatuous in their overbearing advice).

Ironically, the scattershot approach of The Chicken Chronicles is (no doubt, unintentionally) echoed in its commentary track, by cult film historians Lee Gambin and Emma Westwood, which is itself frenetic and all over the place. (Curiously, Westwood is not listed on the Blu-ray back cover.) At one point, the commentators even have to remind themselves to talk about the film at hand, as they go off on all sorts of tangents (for example, that the director had an interest in documentary leads to a digression about cinema verité maverick D.A. Pennebaker while a mispronunciation of “chutzpah” occasions discussion of Jewishness in film). While the commentary track talks of the actors (especially Phil Silvers), it does so by going at length into their filmography or videography, and the film frequently gets left behind. Luckily, one of the few moments where the commentators actually converse about the film unspooling before them has to do with the multiracial and multiethnic nature of the casting, an important aspect of the film’s random attention to politics (in this case, a politics of identity). The commentary track is one of the only special features on the Blu-Ray, along with a trailer.

To the extent that, like other examples from teen sex cinema, The Chicken Chronicles targets an audience that would come increasingly to appreciate the raucous non-coherence of individual moments around the central narrative premise, the film, and now its Blu-ray release, probably work best for its projected target audience. To state an obvious truism, if you like this sort of thing, you’ll like this early example of it.

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(Dana Polan is the author of "Dreams of Flight: The Great Escape in American Films and Culture") Click here to order from Amazon.)

Cinema Retro has received the following press release from Film Chest.

The film noir genre, which became a staple for movie fans during its heyday in the 1940’s & 50’s, was based on a tough and gritty environment and revolved around those who lived it. It was raw, without much margin for how things went down or who would end up surviving the fallout.Films stylized with elements of film noir have surfaced over the years and perhaps one of the best is the Mickey Spillane stories of Mike Hammer, which offered a more contemporary version of the format.Mike Hammer, Private Eye brings us to the late ‘90’s.

Stacy Keach plays the wiser, tougher, more sarcastic and blunt-worded private eye who offers a salute to the early years with his felt fedora. A bevy of beautiful women still abound in his world, and over-the-top measures with the use of his fists, wits, and savvy tenacity against deceptive enemies are the norm. Still, there is a balance, with Keach managing his character that’s both serious and, at times, more lighthearted with some campy humor.

This 26-episode series (along with the original trailer and episode synopses) includes a new sexy blonde secretary (Velda) played by Shannon Whirry and the introduction of a sidekick (Nick Farrell) played by Shane Conrad. Kent Williams returns with a strong portrayal of Deputy Mayor Barry Lawerence and Peter Jason plays Hammer’s closely aligned police captain, Skip Gleason.Stacy Keach has spent a career making Mike Hammer his own character, and without question, he has succeeded. Private Eye (1997-1998) is a fast-paced, no nonsense Hammer series that will delight the many fans of Mickey Spillane’s character and again prove that STACY KEACH IS MIKE HAMMER!

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By Hank Reineke

This Kino Lorber 4K Restoration Blu ray of Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame is likely as good as we’re going to get. Universal Studio’s official 1923 program heralded Hunchback as Hugo’s “Mighty Epic of a Mighty Epoch” and, truth be told, director Wallace Worsley’s film never delivers less than promised. It is, above all, a spectacle. In August of 1922 when announced Universal-Jewel was to begin lensing the film, newspapers reported it had been Lon Chaney’s “life’s ambition” to bring Hugo’s tale – and the story of the novel’s titular tortured soul Quasimodo - to the big screen.

Chaney’s Hunchback would not be the first cinematic adaptation of the famed 1831 novel. Esmeralda, a ten-minute long French adaptation was brought to the screen as early as in 1905. Albert Capellani’s 1911 French silent (Notre-Dame de Paris) would also precede the Universal version, but that film too was a modest production running a mere twenty-six minutes in length. The first feature length-effort was Fox’s romantic The Darling of Paris (1917) featuring silent-screen-siren Theda Bara. A British version of 1922 preceded Chaney’s by only a year – though, again, only as a short of some thirteen minutes. All but the 1911 version are now presumed lost.

If Universal was not the first to bring the epic to the screen, producer and studio co-founder Carl Laemmle promised a production unmatched in size and scope. Universal would front a budget of some $1,250,000, bringing in some 2800 artisans to work on the film’s massive sets. The centerpiece was to be the cathedral of Notre Dame, built practically to scale. Universal promised, “The cathedral at Notre Dame is an exact replica in every infinite detail of the cathedral as it looked in 1482, an extraordinary feat and an archeologic, historical and technical triumph.”

Such an ambitious project was going to require an ambitious production team. In October of 1922, gossips whispered the studio was “anxious to have D.W. Griffith direct” Hunchback. On the surface, Griffith would seem a natural choice. He had, after all, helmed such pictures as Birth of a Nation (1915) and Intolerance (1916), both showcase spectacles of large scale and huge casts. In the end, Universal would announce, January 1923, that Worsley would direct – with assists by “ten assistant directors and twenty-eight field captains.” Worsley and Chaney already had a good working relationship: the two having already combined their talents on The Penalty, The Ace of Hearts and The Blind Bargain. This new collaboration would spend six months in pre-production and one year in filming.

Everything was crafted bigger-than-life. The make-up appliances for Quasimodo, the film’s monstrous bell-ringer, were painstakingly crafted by Chaney in a series of three-and-a-half hour sessions. The September 1923 issue of Pictures and Picturegoer magazine enthused Chaney had promised “something even more startling than usual in the way of make-up.” Alongside that of Erik, The Phantom of the Opera (1925), the twisted and feral Quasimodo remains the most iconic example of Chaney’s make-up artistry.

Biographer Michael F. Blake’s Lon Chaney: The Man Behind the Thousand Faces (Vestal Press, 1990) and A Thousand Faces: Lon Chaney’s Unique Artistry in Motion Pictures (Vestal Press, 1995) remain the two most essential reference books on the man and his films, but they weren’t the first. There were earlier “serious” circulating books on the actor: Robert G. Anderson’s Faces, Forms Films: The Artistry of Lon Chaney (1971) came first, N.L. Ross’s Lon Chaney: Master Craftsman of Make Believe following more than a decade later. That said, Blake’s sister volumes remain the most reliable and error free sources of Chaney marginalia. Blake occasionally proffers stern judgements, some fair and some maybe not so, on preceding Chaney biographers, but all books mentioned above are worthwhile reads and contain excellent bibliographies.

Blake opens his 1995 study with the declaration “Lon Chaney was not a “horror actor.” Though this is essentially true, Blake – who contributes seven pages of booklet notes to this new Kino Blu – sighs the actor’s association with the horror genre is terribly overblown. He argues this mistaken union was due to the actor’s famous ghastly make-up creations. It’s doubtful the audience of eleven and twelve year-olds who sought out these cheap newsprint monster movie magazines of the 1950s and ‘60s had actually ever saw a Lon Chaney silent film. But the reproduced published stills would fire imaginations, giving Chaney Sr. instant cult status as a “horror film” icon. At the very least, I think it’s fair to say that the genre mags were instrumental in keeping Chaney’s legend alive at a time when few other outlets were interested.

It was that way for me at least. I’m not sure when I first learned the name “Lon Chaney.” But it was likely through photographs or an article in the pages of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine. I had become obsessed with Famous Monsters when chancing upon a used copy of their May 1967 issue at a school “white elephant” sale. The magazine sent me scouring the listings in TV Guide in search of the films I was first introduced to in the pages of “FM.” It was through Famous Monsters I was first introduced to silent films – many of which I find even today to be as fascinating as any talkie.

In trying to learn about silent films, I discovered Daniel Blum’s A Pictorial History of the Silent Screen (1974) at my local library. It was an oversize hardcover held in the reference section. Since I couldn’t bring it home to read at leisure, I spent hours in the library looking through the hundreds – maybe thousands of stills – reproduced therein. My knowledge of and interest in film history really began there. While combing through the pages for Chaney info (there wasn’t a lot, if I recall), I discovered Chaplin, Keaton, Pearl White, Fatty Arbuckle, the Keystone Cops and hundreds of others.

It was around this time I also managed to catch Robert Youngson’s affectionate silent-era doc Days of Thrills and Laughter on television. As with Blum’s book, I don’t believe Chaney, again to my great disappointment, was even mentioned in the doc. Youngson’s emphasis was mostly on the slapstick comedy of Charlie Chaplin, “Fatty” Arbuckle,” Snub Pollard and Ben Turpin. Though a rare, brief clip of Boris Karloff in King of the Congo (1929) further fueled my interest in early cinema, Chaney – frustratingly – would remain a man of mystery.

Knowing what I know now, the notoriously private and reclusive actor – non-ceremoniously interred following his passing, age forty-seven, in a Glendale sepulcher – would have likely preferred it that way. At age nine I finally had the opportunity to catch Chaney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame on WNET-13, Manhattan’s PBS-TV affiliate. Hunchback was the last title to be featured on the network’s “The Silent Years” series (each segment introduced by Orson Welles) in September of 1971.

OK, I apologize. I have digressed. I will also confess it’s taken me quite some time to finally getting around to view this Kino issue of Hunchback. I was gifted a copy back in the autumn of 2021 but chose to put the Blu-ray aside – for the time being, anyway. I had already planned to attend a genuine film element screening of Hunchback at a local cinema that October, one complete with live organ accompaniment. That night, sadly, proved to be a projection booth disaster. The theater ran the last two reels in reverse so inter-titles appeared Cyrillic and completely unreadable. God bless Ben Model, the silent film historian/organist accompanying the program. He calmly and expertly navigated through this maelstrom with amazing poise and finesse, salvaging what would have been otherwise a completely disastrous evening.

There’s no point in discussing here the plot of Worsley’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame. It’s a more-or-less faithful rendering of the Hugo novel. This is a century old film, one I find as entertaining today as it was a hundred years ago. Yes, the acting often is – as was the order of the day – visually exaggerated and overly emotive, but the story remains a compelling one. The scenario really revolves around Esmeralda, the soft-hearted street dancer, and not the tragic Quasimodo. To his credit, Chaney – though top-billed – recognizes this and admirably serves as an essential member of the ensemble, not as the film’s principal player.

This Kino release has been cobbled together from the best existing prints available, so there are temperature and tinting changes from section to section. But it’s a beautiful 4K restoration and while surviving element damage is not totally absent, the film looks remarkable all things considered. This edition also features a lively and original musical score. This new soundtrack is composed and performed by Nora Kroll-Rosenbaum and Laura Karpman, both Julliard-trained artists and the previous recipients of Grammy and Emmy Award nominations/victories.

Over this millennium, The Hunchback of Notre Dame has been re-made on any number of occasions. The best recalled of these are RKO’s 1939 version featuring Charles Laughton or the French-Italian 1956 version featuring Anthony Quinn and Gina Lollobrigida. Folks of my generation might better recall these two post-Chaney re-tellings, especially if they have little interest in silent cinema. Younger folks were likely first introduced to the tale via Disney’s 1996 animated musical adaptation – a film whose cartoon Quasimodo most resembled Laughton’s pitiful, less grotesque caricature. Having said that, Chaney’s Quasimodo, despite age, will forever remain the most iconic.

A few notes on this generous bonus materials supplied on this set. Included is a vintage, silent Life in Hollywood newsreel that features a birds-eye view of the massive Universal City lot, described on an inter-title card as “the strangest city in the world.” Once on soil, we watch as a procession of Universal’s silent-era stars and starlets’ parade out of a studio canteen. Most of these names are now sadly lost to the memory of all but a small cabal of film historians. The newsreel, running approximately eight and a half minutes in length features a small clip of Chaney – sans costume and make-up - demonstrating a bit of acrobatics on the exterior of the Notre Dame structure.

The set also features a thirteen-minute silent reel of “Mabel and Bill Dumphy’s Visit with Hazel and Lon.” This is sourced from 16mm footage shot during the couple’s visits with Chaney, his wife Hazel, and their wire-haired terrier Sandy, at rest during the family’s residencies in Soboba Hot Springs and Saratoga. The Soboba footage is primarily interesting in its moody capture of the former’s Riverside County hamlet’s Spanish mission-styled architecture and terraced landscapes. There’s not much Chaney in the Soboba footage, aside from Lon looking out pensively over the hillside, or playfully tugging at Sandy the dog’s tail in another.

The Saratoga footage documents additional glimpses of the Chaneys at home. We watch as Chaney and guests mill about a backyard garden, the reclusive actor letting down his guarded reserve. We watch as Lon playfully wrestles a giggling Hazel on the lawn or smoking and drinking with friends. The latter clip is of interest due to the recognizable presence of Lon’s son, Creighton (strategically “re-christened” Lon Chaney Jr. following his father’s passing), smiling as he too puffs away on a cigarette in the background. The set also features an audio-commentary track by Farran Smith Nehme, a film historian and critic whose work has appeared in such publications as Film Comment, The Wall Street Journal, Village Voice and New York Post. The set rounds off with a generous gallery/slideshow of publicity materials and production stills.

One hundred years following the date of its production, Worsley’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame admittedly puts the “retro” in Cinema Retro. But despite the film’s age, its heart still beats soundly. Anyone interested in film history should visit this film at least once in their lifetime, and this Kino Blu-ray might just be the best conduit for one to do just that.

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By Fred Blosser

When asked to name a Pre-Code melodrama starring Charles Laughton as a sadistic megalomaniac in a tropical setting, most movie enthusiasts are likely to cite “The Island of Lost Souls.” As H.G. Wells’ Dr. Moreau, who turns animals into humans through appalling surgery in his “house of pain,” Laughton’s performance in the 1932 Paramount film remains a classic of horror cinema. “White Woman,” which followed from the same studio in 1933, isn’t nearly as well remembered or as outrageous. Still, it provided another delicious role for Laughton and offers wonderful insight into the tactics used by Hollywood in the Pre-Code era to exploit audiences’ demand for lurid escapism, while skirting the watchful eye of censors. The film, based on a stage play and directed by Stuart Walker, is available as a Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics, from a new 2K master.

Laughton’s character, Horace H. Prin, is a predatory merchant who holds a monopoly on trade in the hinterlands of Malaya, then a British colony. In town he encounters Judith Denning (Carole Lombard), a young woman shunned by her fellow expatriates. Already the subject of salacious rumours, she learns that she’s about to be deported as an undesirable after going a step too far, performing torch songs in a “native cafe.” The stiff-necked governor is unmoved by Judith’s plea that she’s broke and has nowhere else to go. Judith attracts Prin’s attention and he offers her an escape to “something better” by accompanying him to his remote outpost. There, he promises, she’ll live in style.

Once she accepts his proposal, she realizes she’d have been better off taking her chances with deportation. Horace exploits the tribes with whom he trades, holds his employees in virtual slave labor, and once he has Judith in his control, he treats her with biting scorn. One of his clerks, David Von Elst (Kent Taylor), a disgraced military officer, falls in love with Judith, and she with him. Horace enjoys watching them squirm with no hope of escaping his domination. The two are trapped because the river is the only feasible way out of the jungle. Prin owns the only boats, and headhunting tribesmen lurk along the trail by land. When David is banished upriver to one of Horace’s warehouses, Judith’s troubles come to a head. A new employee arrives, Ballister (Charles Bickford), a roughneck who doesn’t bother to hide his intention to make time with Judith: “I’ve watched those sweet eyes of yours . . . and other things,” he tells her. “C’mon baby, what do you say?” Prin takes note but he’s more curious than anything else. How far will Ballister press his crude advances, given that he doesn’t fear Prin, Prin doesn’t fear him, and Judith treats both men with icy contempt?

In 2023, when it takes a lot to create a sex scandal worthy of attention, the backstory of “White Woman” appears more quaint than shocking. The cafe that draws the governor’s displeasure is about as raucous as your neighbourhood Applebee’s, its Chinese, East Indian, and dissolute European clientele apparently more interested in chatting among themselves than ogling the gorgeous blonde who plays the piano and sings on stage. Judith might as well be performing Billy Joel tunes at a piano bar in Iowa City. But this was about as far as the filmmakers could push the envelope in those days of restrictive erotic and racial conventions. A franker explanation for the fuss and bother—that the hapless Judith is actually a prostitute who hangs out at the cafe to solicit sex from men of color—would have been a non-starter even in the Pre-Code era.

Things liven up whenever Laughton appears as the chortling, smirking, and preening Prin, wearing a cheap tropical suit, a straw boater, Jheri curls, a bushy, bristly moustache, and an East End London accent. Prin is one of Laughton’s great grotesque characters, a monster shaped by a terrible start in life. “You ‘aven’t spent any part of your childhood in the slums, ‘ave you?” he asks Judith. “Well, I ‘ave.” Thanks to his early lessons in class prejudice, he luxuriates in his ability, via wealth and influence, to intimidate the “bloomin’ snobs” who run the colonial government. The same passive-aggressive rage fuels his treatment of Judith, whom he exploits, isolates, and emotionally abuses. Inferentially, she is a surrogate for all of the beautiful women who spurned him when he was young and poor. That she refuses to act the victim only intensifies his abuse. If critics haven’t explored this facet of the picture as a feminist statement years before modern feminism emerged, they should.

The Kino Lorber Blu-ray greatly improves on the movie’s previous home video release, a 2014 manufactured-on-demand DVD in the Universal Vault Series. As a special feature, the KL edition includes informative audio commentary by director and film professor Allan Arkush and film historian Daniel Kremer. It’s difficult to argue with their criticism of Stuart Walker’s static, unimaginative blocking of scenes, but in fairness, most movies adapted from stage productions in the early days of talkies suffered from the same shortcoming. Walker showed a little more flair in 1935’s “Werewolf of London.”

The Kino Lorber Studio Classics’ Blu-ray edition of “White Woman” can be ordered HERE from Amazon.

(Fred Blosser is the author of "Sons of Ringo: The Great Spaghetti Western Heroes". Click here to order from Amazon)

By John M. Whalen

“PROUD MARY, KEEP ON BURNIN’” –JOHN FOGERTY

I reviewed the Universal print-on-demand DVD of “The Mississippi Gambler” (1953) for Cinema Retro eight years ago. I didn’t give the film, starring Tyrone Power, Julia Adams, and Piper Laurie, very high marks. Now Kino Lorber has released it anew on Blu-Ray. Aside from an audio commentary by film historian Toby Roan, and better color because it’s Blu-Ray, it’s basically the same experience. I can’t think of much new to say about it, so here’s some of what I wrote back when, along with some final thoughts on the current state of the home video market.

Here’s the original review I wrote 8 years ago:

I watched The Mississippi Gambler (1953) DVD from Universal while recovering from a root canal, hoping a good rousing Tyrone Power flick and three fingers of Kentucky bourbon, would cure my pain. Boy, was I wrong. Watching this slow, soap opera-ish movie, with a cast of characters that belong in an old Carol Burnett Show sketch, was like having the root canal all over again. Admittedly, the Technicolor was good, and Julie Adams was great (which she always was) but the script by Seton Miller was a complete turnoff with one of the worst endings I've ever seen. The characters were mostly boring and despicable. The plot was ham-fisted melodrama served with a mint julep. Direction by Rudolph Mate’ was lethargic and unimaginative.

Basically, it's one of those stories about four people all in love with the wrong person. But Miller added some very weird touches to the familiar story line. Piper Laurie plays Angelique Dureau, a snooty, neurotic iceberg who is way too close to her brother Laurent (John Baer) for comfort. She uses him as a shield against intimacy with any other man, as Tyrone Power, playing the titular gambler Mark Fallon, explains to her. For no comprehensible reason at all, other than the plot demands it, Fallon falls madly in love with her. Why? She's a pouty, petulant, porcelain imitation of a woman.

Her brother, Laurent, is a miserable weasel, a man with no honor and thus a perfect foil for the upright and honorable Fallon, who is not only good with a deck of cards, he's also the son of one of New York's finest fencing masters. (Zorro rides again!). The three of them meet on a Mississippi riverboat named The Sultana. Pardon a digression while I note that this was the same paddle boat on which Yancy Derringer, a few years later, would ply his poker skills in the CBS television series starring Jock Mahoney.

Fallon's goal is to run an honest gambling table and eventually open his own casino. He teams up with Kansas John Polly (John McIntyre), a seasoned veteran of many a three card Monty game. In a game of poker, Laurent loses his sister's diamond necklace to Fallon. Fallon tries to give it back to her later, but she pretends she told her brother to wager it. In the next scene she confronts the weasel and cries, "How could you do it without asking me?" This obviously gets the star-crossed- lovers off on the wrong foot. Fallon wins big that night but he and Polly barely escape being killed by a gang of crooked gamblers and have to jump off the boat when the captain gets near the riverbank. They walk to New Orleans, after losing all their winnings in the river. But they have a good laugh about it.

At about the second act mark,enter Julie Adams (billed here as "Julia Adams") as Ann Conant. She's the member of another weird brother/sister duo. Her brother, Julian (Dennis Weaver, believe it or not, with a sort of New York high society accent) sits down to play with Fallon, saying he heard he played an honest game. He quickly loses every cent he brought with him, then goes out on deck and shoots himself. The Captain and Fallon discover he has a sister on board, and Fallon feels responsible and wants to help her. She says he must have gambled away the money his company gave him to take to New Orleans. Fallon, noble fellow that he is, lies and says no he gave that money to the captain for safe keeping. He takes Ann to New Orleans where and sets her up in a hotel. It complicates his plans to romance Angelique but what's a story without complications.?

Meantime in New Orleans he runs into fencing expert Edmund Dureau (Paul Cavanaugh) and guess what? He turns out to be Angelique and Laurent's father! Of course, he invites Fallon to his home where he meets them again. In one of the lamest scenes in the whole film, when they have a moment alone, he tells her that he knows he and she are in love with each other and always will be. "I could have you thrown out of this house for speaking to me like that,” she exhorts. He replies, "You don't have to run me out. I'm leaving tomorrow." And he adds: "You’re not ready for marriage. And you won't be until the day you come to me." She calls him an egotistical cad. And here's the punchline. "Yes", Fallon says, "I suppose it sounds that way. But it's the only way a woman can be truly happy with a man".

What? Did women in the 50’s really buy this tripe? Can you imagine George Clooney trying that line on Catherine Zeta-Jones, or Catherine Heigel? He'd get his ass kicked. I won't go on with any more of the plot, but you can be sure it involves some fencing and a duel with pistols at the Dueling Oaks. Funny thing about Power's fencing scene with Paul Cavanaugh. Both men wore fencing masks through the entire scene, which makes me wonder if either one did any of the fancy sword work, even though Power was in reality a very good fencer. In another fight scene between Fallon and Laurent on the riverboat, it is so obviously two badly matched stuntmen carrying the action. Power was only 39 when he filmed “The Mississippi Gambler,” but he looked older and a bit tired. Maybe he wanted to take it easy. He'd made many great films by then but would only live five more years. He'd make seven more films in that time, all better than “The Mississippi Gambler,” including “The Sun Also Rises,” and “King of the Khyber Rifles.”

Nevertheless “The Mississippi Gambler” was a big financial success. Lucky for Power, because his wife, Linda Christian divorced him after losing out to Piper Laurie for the part of Angelique. She never forgave Power for not getting her the part, and also, allegedly, for having an affair with Anita Ekberg, who played an uncredited part as a maid of honor at Angelique's wedding to another of her suitors.

. . . So that’s the review I wrote 8 years ago. The new Blu-ray release, as noted earlier, contains nothing new except a commentary by Toby Roan. Frankly, even Roan’s commentary doesn’t warrant spending the money for the new edition. His comments merely consist of providing biographical info on each and every actor, no matter how insignificant his role. Oh, look, here’s John McIntyre. He was a regular on the Naked City TV series. There’s Paul Cavanaugh, he was in a Tarzan movie. And that’s Guy Williams who played Zorro on TV. And on and on and on. I turned the commentary off after half an hour.

The home video market is disappearing before our eyes. Streaming has become the consumer’s first choice for watching movies at home. Go into Target or Best Buy and what used to be row after row of DVDs for sale has shrunk down to a few shelves, hidden behind the flat screen TV display area. If companies like Kino Lorber hope to stay in business they have to provide extras that aren’t available through the streaming platforms to make it worth their while. So any of these commentary tracks are very welcome, even if this one falls short.

When it comes to Kino Lorber’s “The Mississippi Gambler,” as I said in the original write up, I'd rather put on a Yancy Derringer DVD and watch him at the poker table with Pahoo Ka Te Wah standing behind him with his shotgun hidden under his poncho, ready for action as the Sultana winds its way down the Big Muddy. Rollin’ down the river.

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(John M. Whalen is the author of "This Ray Gun for Hire...and Other Tales".)

By Lee Pfeiffer

Kino Lorber has released a Blu-ray edition of the little-remembered 1970 romantic comedy "How Do I Love Thee?" The film's primary distinction is the interesting teaming of Jackie Gleason and Maureen O'Hara. By this point in his career, Gleason was a force of nature in the American entertainment business. When his variety show went off the air, CBS couldn't induce him to do another series so the network actually paid him not to work for any other network. When you get paid a fortune not to work, you know you're doing something right. Gleason had settled in Miami Beach in the early 1960s as one of the demands he made of CBS in return for doing his variety show. The location offered what Gleason liked most: sun, golf, plenty of drinking establishments and no shortage of beautiful young women. Gleason's impact on elevating Miami Beach's popularity was notable. It was widely believed that the city's rebirth as a hip destination as opposed to a retirement destination was due in part to Gleason referring to Miami Beach as "The sun and fun capital of the world!". Gleason, like his contemporary Dean Martin, had long ago tired of working very hard. If you wanted him, the mountain had to come to Mohammed, so to speak. Thus, it's no coincidence that "How Do I Love Thee?" was filmed in Miami Beach, thereby ensuring Gleason prime opportunities for maximizing his play time and minimizing his work before the cameras. (Gleason had a photographic memory and famously refused to rehearse very much, often to the consternation of his co-stars).

The film focuses on the character of Tom Waltz (Rick Lenz), a twenty-something professor who is rising up the ladder at his university. He's a got a nice house and a beautiful wife, Marion (Rosemary Forsyth) but when we first meet him, he's filled with anxiety. Seems that while visiting the "miracle" site of Lourdes in France, his father Walt (Jackie Gleason) has suffered a major health crisis. Tom's mother Elsie (Maureen O'Hara) implores Tom to race over to France and visit his father, who seems to be dying. Tom wants to go but Marion reminds him of the lifetime of contentious situations he has endured with his father and tells him that this is just another method of Walt trying to gain attention. Indeed, as we see through a series of flashbacks, Walt is a real handful. He owns his own moving company but still has to break his back loading and lifting furniture all day long. He has a pretty fractious relationship with Elsie, largely due to her strong religious convictions that conflict with his atheism. As young boy, Tom witnessed a lot of fighting in the household. When he accompanied his dad on jobs, he discovered that his father is not the devoted family man he thought he was- especially when he witnesses Walt trying to seduce a ditzy social activist and amateur photographer (Shelly Winters in typical over-the-top Shelly Winters mode) who is one of his clients. Walt is similar in nature to Willy Lohman of "Death of a Salesman" in that both men are past their prime but working harder than ever to provide for their family. Walt is a good man, but he's subject to self-imposed crises generally related to his short temper, drinking habits and flirtatious nature. Ultimately, Tom opts to take the trip to Lourdes, even though Marion is threatening to divorce him over his decision. The majority of the tale is told in flashbacks that present some moderately amusing situations and some poignant dramatic scenes as well. There's also a good dose of sexual humor, typical for comedies of the era that were capitalizing on new-found screen freedoms.The direction by old pro Michael Gordon ("Pillow Talk") is fine but the screenplay, based on a novel by Peter De Vries,  punts in the final scenes, tossing in an improbable extended joke about cars going amiss on their way to a funeral and a feel-good ending that wraps everything up quickly in a style more befitting a sitcom episode of the era. Still, the performances are fun with Lenz and Forsyth quite good as the young couple and Gleason and O'Hara registering some genuine chemistry on screen.

The Blu-ray transfer is generally fine but around the 80-minute mark some speckling and artifacts appear during the final reel, although it isn't distracting enough to bother the average viewer. The bonus extras don't include the trailer for the feature film but do present trailers for other KL comedy releases including "Avanti!", "The Russians are Coming! The Russians are Coming!" and " The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother".

Enjoy this vintage documentary, "Steve McQueen: Man on the Edge", narrated by his friend James Coburn, with whom he starred in "The Magnificent Seven" and "The Great Escape". (To watch in full screen mode, click on "Watch on YouTube".)

Now available from Imprint, the Australia-based video label. (The Blu-ray set is region-free.)  Since these limited edition titles tend to sell out quickly, we suggest you order ASAP.

Essential Film Noir: Collection 4 - Imprint Collection #210 - #213

Essential Film Noir: Collection 4 includes five acclaimed and much sought after classics: Rope of Sand (1949), Appointment with Danger (1950), The Enforcer (1951), Beware, My Lovely (1952) & Jennifer (1953).

Limited 4 Disc Hardbox edition with unique artwork on the first 1500 copies.

Rope of Sand (1949) - Imprint Collection #210

After a two-year hiatus, Mike Davis (Burt Lancaster) returns to the same African city where he was tortured and left for dead at the hands of a sadistic Police Commandant (Paul Henreid). Originally innocent of all charges, Mike is back to claim the diamonds he had supposedly stolen two years ago. He enlists the help of an alcoholic stranger (Peter Lorre) and the doctor (Sam Jaffe), who had helped him back to health. The diamond syndicate head (Claude Rains) recruits a nightclub temptress Suzanne Renaud (Corinne Calvet) to seduce and betray Mike as an alternate to brute force.

This suspense-noir classic was directed by William Dieterle (Dark City).

Starring Burt Lancaster, Claude Rains, Peter Lorre, Paul Henreid & Sam Jaffe.

Special Features and Technical Specs:

• 1080p High-definition presentation on Blu-ray from a 2021 4K scan
• NEW Audio commentary by film historian Samm Deighan
• NEW Interview with film professor Jose Arroyo
• Trailer
• Original Aspect Ratio 1.37:1
• Audio English LPCM 2.0 Mono
• Optional English HOH subtitles

Appointment with Danger (1950) - Imprint Collection #211

Postal Inspector Al Goddard (Alan Ladd) is assigned to investigate the murder of a fellow officer. The only witness to the crime is Sister Augustine (Phyllis Calvert), who identifies the photograph of one of the assailants. This leads Goddard to a seedy hotel where he learns that the assailant is a member of a gang headed by Earl Boettiger (Paul Stewart), and he soon discovers that the gang is planning a million dollar mail robbery. This classic film noir also features the stars of Dragnet, Jack Webb and Harry Morgan, as Stewart's Henchmen.

This was Alan Ladd's final Film Noir and was directed by Lewis Allen (The Uninvited).

Starring Paul Stewart, Alan Ladd, Phyllis Calvert, Jan Sterling & Jack Webb.

Special Features and Technical Specs:

• 1080p High-definition presentation on Blu-ray from a 2021 4K scan
• NEW Audio commentary with professor and film scholar Jason Ney
• NEW Interview with Film Noir specialist Frank Krutnik
• NEW Video featurette on director Lewis Allen
• Trailer
• Original Aspect Ratio 1.33:1
• Audio English LPCM 2.0 Mono
• Optional English HOH subtitles

The Enforcer (1951) - Imprint Collection #212

Humphrey Bogart (The Maltese Falcon) is in fine form as a crusading District Attorney out to convict the head of a vicious murder-for-hire ring. But when his star witness is killed, Bogart must race against time to find the evidence he needs to bring down the mob boss. Told in a series of flashbacks, this tense, tough-as-nails crime thriller on the cutting edge of film noir was based on actual Murder, Inc. Trials.

Stylishly directed by Bretagne Windust (June Bride) with un-credited help from Raoul Walsh (Pursued) and beautifully shot by the great Robert Burks (North by Northwest).

Starring Humphrey Bogart, Zero Mostel, Ted de Corsia & Everett Sloane.

Special Features and Technical Specs:

• 1080p High-definition presentation on Blu-ray from a 2021 4K scan
• NEW Audio commentary by noir expert and Film Noir Foundation board member Alan K. Rode
• Original aspect ratio 1.37:1
• Audio English LPCM 2.0 Mono
• Optional English subtitles

Beware, My Lovely (1952) - Imprint Collection #213

Helen Gordon (Ida Lupino) hires Howard Wilton (Robert Ryan) as a handyman to do chores around her house. She doesn't know what she's let herself in for. Insecure and paranoid, Wilton thinks everyone, including Helen, is against him. He suffers from memory lapses and extreme mood swings. She's soon a prisoner in her own house after Wilton locks the doors and tears out the telephone. His mood swings from violence to complacency but after Helen gets a message to the police via a telephone repairman, she finds he is still in the house. ...Beware, My Lovely.

Starring Robert Ryan, Ida Lupino, Taylor Holmes & Barbara Whiting.

Premier Blu-ray release worldwide.

Special Features and Technical Specs:

• 1080p High-definition presentation on Blu-ray from a 2021 4K scan
• NEW Audio commentary with professor and film scholar Jason Ney
• NEW Interview with author and programmer Pamela Hutchinson
• Original Aspect Ratio 1.37:1
• Audio English LPCM 2.0 Mono
• Optional English HOH subtitles

Jennifer (1953) - Imprint Collection #213

Agnes Langsley (Ida Lupino) gets a job, through Jim Hollis (Howard Duff), as caretaker of an old and vacated estate. The owner's cousin, Jennifer, was the last occupant and mysteriously disappeared. Agnes soon begins to believe that Jennifer was murdered and that Jim, whom she has fallen in love with, is responsible.

Starring Ida Lupino, Howard Duff & Robert Nichols.

Premier Blu-ray release worldwide.

Special Features and Technical Specs:

• 1080p High-definition presentation on Blu-ray from a 2021 4K scan
• Original Aspect Ratio 1.37:1
• Audio English LPCM 2.0 Mono
• Optional English HOH subtitles

BY LEE PFEIFFER

Scorpion has released a Blu-ray edition of the 1979 Canadian disaster movie "City on Fire". If you've never heard of it, don't feel bad- neither had this writer and I thought I was quite familiar with the genre which arguably began with the release of "Airport" in 1970. The success of that film spawned similarly-themed adventures that generally found all-stars casts threatened by water, fire, animals and other forces of nature. Producer Irwin Allen hit two home runs with "The Poseidon Adventure" and "The Towering Inferno", the latter representing the artistic and commercial peak of the short-lived but highly popular genre. At its height even second-grade disaster flicks could make sizable profits (a low-grade Japanese import titled "Tidal Wave" was a hit after it was "Americanized" with some brief footage of Lorne Greene included.) By the late 1970s, however, fickle audiences had tired of the sheer predictability of the disaster movie premise. The release of "Star Wars" incited a new interest in sci-fi but there were still some attempts to pump life into disaster flicks even if most of the passion and creativity had been drained from these productions. "City on Fire" is about, as you might have guessed, a city on fire. The unnamed city (actually Toronto) is the setting for a catastrophic blaze that starts as an act of sabotage caused by a disgruntled employee at a large chemical plant that has been foolishly located in the center of the urban metropolis. The seemingly minor act of mischief quickly escalates when raw fuel pours unchecked into the city's water supply. A spark ignites a huge inferno that rapidly isolates a major part of the city in a ring of fire that makes it almost impossible for firefighters to penetrate, thus leaving it to the potential victims to find their own methods of escape. Most of the action takes place inside a major hospital which is being evacuated even as the flames make it unlikely that many of the staff and patients will be able to reach safety. In order to do so they must navigate a deadly gauntlet of fire. 

"City on Fire" lacks the big budget production values of the more successful disaster movies but director Alvin Rakoff and production designer William McCrow get around that obstacle in very commendable ways. Rakoff does utilize the old stand by of using actual disaster footage from news broadcasts in certain instances and uses a jittery camera to provide a sense of impending danger to otherwise stagnant buildings, at times making it look like Don Knotts was the cameraman. However, the production design is quite good and Rakoff handles the action scenes very commendably. There are some cheesy special effects, primarily scenes of the skyline burning, but the up-close action footage is spectacular at times and the movie features some of the best stunt work I've seen including many instances of the stuntman's worst nightmare: the full-body burn.  The biggest star in this budget-challenged production is Henry Fonda, then in the winter of his career and seemingly content to play characters of authority who sit around offices and control rooms barking orders over telephones (i.e "Meteor", "Rollercoaster" and "The Swarm"). Old Hank would prove he still had his mojo with his final film, "On Golden Pond", that saw him win an Oscar, but in the years leading up to that he was happy to pick up quick pay checks with supporting roles in populist fare. Here he plays the stalwart fire chief trying to cope with the loss of an entire city. Barry Newman is the playboy physician who is trying frantically to save his hospital which is in the direct line of fire. He's also juggling a strained relationship with old flame (pardon the pun) Susan Clark, a glam socialite who had once been his lover. Meanwhile, she is involved in an illicit affair with the mayor (Leslie Nielsen) and is unaware that there are incriminating photos that are about to be used to blackmail both of them. Shelley Winters is wasted in a throw-away role as a bossy nurse who acts a lot like Shelley Winters and James Franciscus is a TV news producer who is trying to keep wall-to-wall coverage on the air despite that the fact that his star anchor, an aging diva (Ava Gardner) has turned up drunk right before the broadcasts. One of the more rewarding aspects of the film is that it affords meaty roles to actors who are generally relegated to second-tier status. They all perform admirably but it's impossible to view any of Leslie Nielsen's pre-comedy career performances objectively. He became such a master of brilliantly spoofing his own acting style that when you view his dramatic work you keep waiting for punchlines and slapstick gags that never materialize. The film follows all the conventional elements of the standard disaster movie (i.e children in peril, a pregnant woman who goes into labor during the crisis, lovers reunited, etc.) I half expected the climax to feature the heroes trapped aboard an upended ocean liner while being menaced by a shark. However, I must say that I very much enjoyed "City on Fire". It boasts an intelligent script, fine direction and reasonably good performances. There is also an almost complete lack of humor, so you won't see Fred Astaire as a charming con man or an unbilled Walter Matthau getting soused in a bar in the midst of an earthquake. The sense of gravitas is in keeping with the dramatic scenario of people stranded within a ring of fire. The movie came a day late and a dollar short to capitalize on the disaster movie trend. It's not as slick or polished as the best entries in the genre but it's better than many others including Irwin Allen's career-ending turkeys, "The Swarm" and "When Time Ran Out". 

The Scorpion Blu-ray contains a notice that the transfer was put together from various sources. There are a few blotches here and there but the Blu-ray generally looks fine. Bonus features include a TV spot for the film and a trailer gallery of other Scorpion releases. Recommended.  

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By Lee Pfeiffer

The James Bond-inspired spy movie boom of the 1960s resulted in the films of this genre generally fitting into one of two distinct categories: tongue-in-cheek spoofs played largely for laughs (the Flint and Matt Helm series) and gritty, realistic depictions of espionage that stripped away any glamour from the spy trade ("The Spy Who Came in from the Cold", "The Deadly Affair", "The Venetian Affair", "The Ipcress File" and countless others.) Straddling the line between the two genres was writer/director Val Guest's 1966 film "Where the Spies Are" starring David Niven, who seemed impeccably suited to capitalize on the movie craze. The film was based on the novel "Passport to Oblivion" by James Leasor, a straight-up thriller set in Beirut, Lebanon when it was a thriving holiday destination for wealthy Europeans to the extent it was known as "The Paris of the Middle East". The movie opens with the abduction and murder of an MI6 agent, Rossiter (Cyril Cusack) in Beirut. He's been investigating a Soviet-inspired plot to murder the head of state and install a puppet government. The British are especially concerned because they depend upon the friendly government of Lebanon to provide Great Britain with substantial amounts of oil (some things never change.) When Rossiter goes silent, MI6 boss MacGillivray (John Le Mesurier) needs to send an agent to Beirut to investigate his disappearance. He decides he needs a non-professional who has no trace to the agency to act as an operative. He recalls using the services of Jason Love (David Niven) twenty years earlier in the war. It seems that Love proved to be reliable in successfully pulling off a dangerous mission. Love is now a well-off physician living a happy bachelor lifestyle with a posh house and a vintage, valuable roadster that he takes pleasure in driving through the country lanes. MacGillivray uses Love's sense of patriotism (and a bribe to buy him an even more valuable and rare roadster) as an incentive for him to agree to visit Lebanon, ostensibly to attend an international medical conference. It's supposed to be an easy job with Love simply nosing around and trying to find some clues as to Rossiter's fate, but you know how things usually turn out in missions of this type. 

When Love disembarks from his plane in Rome to await a connecting flight to Beirut, there is quite a stir in the terminal because world famous fashion model known simply as Vikki (Francoise Dorleac) is being photographed for a fashion spread in a major magazine. They meet cute and Love is understandably distracted by her beauty. After turning on the charm, she confides in Love that she is actually one of the MI6 contacts he will meet on his mission. Love is so shocked that he is too late to catch his flight- and lucky for him that he didn't because minutes after takeoff, the plane explodes, killing everyone on board. (Inexplicably, the incident directly over the airport doesn't seem to generate much reaction from the people at the airport.) Love attributes the disaster to a mechanical flaw and arrives at his hotel in Lebanon- the same one that Rossiter had a room at. He's pleased to find that Vikki is there, too, and is as enthused about getting under the covers as he is. Their romantic fling is later disturbed by an assassination attempt and Vikki informs Love that the destruction of the airplane might have been a plot to kill him. He soon meets Parkington (Nigel Davenport), another MI6 contact- a career agent who is depressed and cynical about intelligence work. He copes by hitting the bottle hard but he proves to be a valuable ally to Love in tracing Rossiter's fate. Ultimately, Love finds himself in further peril and having to resort to his own defense mechanisms (and a couple of spy gadgets, of course) in order to survive. The finale finds him trying to thwart the assassination as well as escape Soviet kidnappers who bundle him aboard a plane bound for Russia.

"Where the Spies Are" starts off with the implication that it will be a comedy in the Flint/Helm mode with Niven playing a comic fish-out-of-water character embroiled in a larger-than-life adventure. However, the laughs are few and far between once he sets off on his mission. The film still offers some witticisms and subdued laughs, but it turns primarily into a thriller including a larger-than-life action scene atop ancient ruins. The movie was directed and co-written by Val Guest, a reliable old hand at making highly enjoyable mid-range films that weren't designed to be blockbusters or win awards. He keeps the action moving at a brisk pace, accompanied by a lively score by Mario Nasciembene. Niven is perfectly cast and delivers his usual charismatic and charming performance. Dorleac is given some mod fashion wear to show off and makes for a suitable love interest. She was set to follow her sister Catherine Deneuve as the next "it girl" in films but tragically died in 1967 in a car crash shortly after completing her final film, the spy thriller "Billion Dollar Brain". The film benefits from some exotic on-location scenes in Lebanon, with interiors shot at the old MGM Studios at Boreham Wood, England. However, it suffers from some crude special effects and the all-too-obvious use of miniatures and rear screen projection. Similarly, Niven's stunt double doesn't pass muster, as he doesn't resemble the actor in the slightest even from afar.

The film features any number of people associated with James Bond films. Niven, of course, would go on to star as Sir James Bond in the 1967 spoof version of "Casino Royale" which was co-written and co-directed by Val Guest. Wolf Mankiewicz, who had been an uncredited contributor to the script of "Dr. No", co-wrote the screenplay for "Where the Spies Are" as well as "Casino Royale". The titles were designed by Robert Brownjohn who also created the classic titles for "Goldfinger" and "From Russia with Love". Among the actors who were associated with at least one Bond movie include Eric Pohlmann (who provided the voice of the unseen Blofeld in the early Bond movies), Paul Stassino "("Thunderball"), John Le Mesurier ("Casino Royale" as "M"'s chauffeur), George Pravda ("From Russia with Love"), Bill Nagy ("Goldfinger") and Geoffrey Bayldon ("Casino Royale"). Also, former Bond star George Lazenby starred as Jason Love in an audio book adaptation of "Passport to Oblivion" available on Amazon Kindle. "U.N.C.L.E."  fans will also enjoy seeing "Girl from U.N.C.L.E." star Noel Harrison as an MI6 agent and will get a laugh out of one of the passwords used in the film, "Love from Uncle", which could not have been a coincidence since it was an MGM production.

Val Guest had obtained the screen rights to "Passport to Oblivion" and several literary sequels in the hopes that a series of Jason Love films would go into production. However, the film didn't elicit much excitement from moviegoers or critics and, thus, a series never went into production. Not helping matters was MGM's decision to recut Guest's final version of the film without his permission, which supposedly infuriated him. Nevertheless, if you have a soft spot for spy movies of the 1960s, you'll probably find the film as enjoyable as I did. 

The region-free Warner Archive DVD proves that this title is in dire need of a Blu-ray upgrade. The color quality is all over the place, ranging from satisfactory to wild deviations to various garish tints, giving it a Frankenstein-like quality in that it seemed to have been cobbled together with bits from several prints. That probably wasn't the case, but it is nevertheless the effect. The Archive is doing some great work upgrading even "B" titles so let's hope "Where the Spies Are" is on their list for future Blu-ray release. The only bonus feature is the original trailer which is narrated for some reason by a guy who sounds like an extra from an old WB gangster movie.

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Retro-Active: From the Cinema Retro Archives

By Lee Pfeiffer

For those of us who are hopelessly addicted to spy movies of the 1960s, the Warner Archive provides a gift: the first DVD release of "The Scorpio Letters", one of the more obscure 007-inspired espionage films of the era. Produced by MGM, the movie was shown on American TV in early 1967 before enjoying a theatrical release in Europe. It seems the studio was trying to emulate the strategy that it was employing at the time for its phenomenally popular "Man From U.N.C.L.E." TV series. That show had proven to be such a hit with international audiences that MGM strung together two-part episodes and released them theatrically. (Three films were released in America but a total of eight were shown in international markets.) As "The Scorpio Letters" was produced with a theatrical run in mind, it has a bit more gloss than the average TV movie, which was then a genre in its infancy. Nevertheless, it still has all the earmarks of a production with a limited budget. Although set in London and France, you'd have to be pretty naive to believe any of the cast and crew ever got out of southern California. Grainy stock footage is used to simulate those locations and there is ample use of the very distinctive MGM back lot, which at times makes the film resemble an episode of "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." What the movie does provide is some nice chemistry between its two lead actors, Alex Cord, who had recently acquitted himself quite well in the underrated 1966 big screen remake of John Ford's "Stagecoach" and Shirley Eaton, then still riding the wave of popularity she enjoyed as the iconic "golden girl" from the Bond blockbuster "Goldfinger". The two play rival spies in London, both working for different British intelligence agencies, though whether it is MI5 or MI6 is never made clear. 

The film is based on a novel by Victor Caning that had been adapted for the screen by the ironically named Adrian Spies, who had a long career working primarily in television. (Curiously, his one credited feature film was for the superb 1968 adventure "Dark of the Sun" (aka "The Mercenaries".) There is nothing remarkable about his work on "The Scorpio Letters". In fact, Spies provides a rather confusing plot. The film opens on a jarring note with a man taking a suicidal plunge from his apartment window in London. Turns out he was a British intelligence agent and the reasons for his suicide are of great interest to the higher ups in the spy business. Alex Cord plays Joe Christopher, an American ex-cop who now does work for one of the intelligence agencies run by Burr (the ever-reliable Laurence Naismith). Burr orders him to get to the bottom of the suicide case and in doing so, Joe gains access to the dead man's apartment just in time to encounter a mysterious man stealing a letter addressed to the dead agent. A foot chase ensues that ends with both men getting struck by a London double decker bus (yes, MGM had one of those laying around the back lot.) Still, Joe manages to steal back the letter the man had swiped and finds it is obviously a blackmail attempt made against the dead agent by a mystery person who goes by the name of Scorpio. From there the plot gets rather confusing and becomes one of those thrillers that is best enjoyed if you stop trying to figure out who is who and just sit back and enjoy the ride. Joe flirts with Phoebe Stewart (Shirley Eaton), who works in another intelligence agency. It appears her boss and Joe's boss are constantly trying to undermine each other in the attempt to solve major cases. Phoebe makes an attempt to seduce Joe, but he correctly suspects that she is trying to compromise him for information he knows about the case. Inevitably, a real romance blossoms but the love scenes are pretty mild, perhaps due to the fact that this film was made with a television broadcast in mind. (The plot invokes the old joke of having the would-be lovers get interrupted every time they attempt to get it on.)  

Joe gets a lead that takes him to Paris where he discovers that Scorpio is the man behind a shadowy spy network that uses agents employed as waiters in an upscale restaurant. I imagine the reason for this is explained somewhere along the line but it's just one more confusing element to the script. Joe infiltrates the spies/waiters gang in the hopes of finding out who Scorpio is. Meanwhile, in the film's best scene, he is exposed, captured and tortured. There is even a modicum of suspense as there appears to be no logical way he will get out of this particular death trap. Refreshingly, Joe is no 007. He makes miscalculations, gets bruised and beaten and often has to rely on the intervention of others to save him. (In the film's climax, finding himself outmanned and outgunned, he actually does the logical thing and asks someone to call the local police for help.) Ultimately, Scorpio is revealed to be one of those standard, aristocratic spy villains of Sixties cinema. In this case he is played by the very able Oscar Beregi Jr. If you don't know the name, you'll know his face, as he excelled in playing urbane bad guys in countless TV shows and feature films of the era. There are numerous kidnappings, shootouts, double crosses and red herrings and one bizarre sequence that is ostensibly set in a French ski resort in which the ski lift is inexplicably in operation even though it's summer. Additionally, the California mountains look as much like France as Jersey City does.

Despite all of the gripes, I enjoyed watching "The Scorpio Letters". It's an entertaining, fast-moving diversion, directed with unremarkable efficiency by Richard Thorpe (his second-to-last film). Cord makes for a very capable leading man, tossing off the requisite wisecracks even while undergoing torture. Eaton possesses the kind of old world glamour you rarely see on screen nowadays. Together, they make an otherwise mediocre movie play out better than it probably should. (A minor trivia note: this represents the first film score of composer Dave Grusin, who would go on to become an Oscar winner.)

The Warner Archive DVD transfer is very impressive and the film contains an original trailer, which presumably was used in non-U.S. markets.

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ViaVision's Imprint line will release a limited edition, region-free (1,500 units) Blu-ray boxed set commemorating director Walter Hill. Suggest you get your pre-orders in early, as Imprint limited edition sets usually sell out fast. This set will be released in July.

Here is the official announcement:

Walter Hill has been directing films for almost 50 years and has established himself a reputation of delivering thrilling, gritty, and highly stylized films.

This special edition set collects five films and one landmark miniseries from one of the most important and influential filmmakers of modern cinema.

• Hard Times (1975)
• The Driver (1978)
• The Long Riders (1980)
• Extreme Prejudice (1987)
• Johnny Handsome (1989)
• Broken Trail (2006)

Featuring performances from some of Hollywood’s greatest actors including Charles Bronson, James Coburn, Bruce Dern, Mickey Rourke, Forest Whitaker, Morgan Freeman & Robert Duvall.

Limited Edition 8-Disc Hardbox. 1500 copies only.

Hard Times (1975) – Imprint Collection #164

In the middle of the Great Depression, Chaney (Charles Bronson, Death Wish) is just looking to catch a break. When he meets Speed (James Coburn, The Magnificent Seven), a promoter of bare-knuckle street fighting, Chaney thinks with his fighting skill and Speed’s savvy, he might have a chance. But Speed has his own problems, and what seemed like a sure thing is not as simple.

This gritty, compelling drama is the directorial debut of Walter Hill.

Starring Charles Bronson, James Coburn, Jill Ireland & Strother Martin.

Special Features & Technical Specs:

• 1080p high-definition presentation on Blu-ray from a restored 4K master
• Special features TBC
• Original Aspect Ratio 2.35:1
• Audio English DTS-HD 5.1 Surround + LPCM 2.0
• Optional English subtitles

The Driver (1978) – Blu-ray & 4K – Imprint Collection #165

Ryan O’Neal plays the Driver, an ice-cool getaway “Wheel Man” for hire. Bruce Dern is the detective who becomes obsessed with catching him. The more O’Neal leaves tantalising clues at the crime scenes, the more Dern becomes a man possessed with catching his prey.

This cult neo-noir thriller is presented on both 4K UHD and Blu-ray.

Starring Ryan O’Neal, Bruce Dern, Isabelle Adjani, Joseph Walsh & Ronee Blakley.

Special Features & Technical Specs:

4K UHD Disc

• NEW 4K restoration by StudioCanal
• Walter Hill Masterclass – featurette
• Interview with Walter Hill
• Alternate Opening
• Original English Trailer
• Original German Trailer
• 13 Original Teasers

Blu-ray Disc

• 1080p High-definition presentation on Blu-ray from a restored 4K master
• NEW Audio Commentary by film historian and critic Matthew Asprey Gear (2022)
• NEW Cut to the Chase – interview with actor Bruce Dern on The Driver (2022)
• NEW Teeth Bared – interview with actor Rudy Ramos on The Driver (2022)
• NEW Simplicity in Motion: Editing The Driver – interview with editor Robert K. Lambert (2022)
• Aspect Ratio 1.85:1
• Audio English LPCM 2.0 Mono
• Optional English HOH subtitles

The Long Riders (1981) – Imprint Collection #166

The Long Riders is Hill’s version of the story of the James-Younger gang. Held as heroes by many, and much celebrated for its attacks upon the railroad, the gang became the most famous band of outlaws in the country. They were eventually brought to ruin by the Pinkerton detective agency, losing many of their number in the ill-fated Northfield, Minnesota bank raid.

Four sets of real-life brothers – the Carradines, the Keachs, the Quaids and the Guests – star in this classic western.

Starring Keith Carradine, James Remar, Dennis Quaid, Stacy Keach, Robert Carradine & David Carradine.

Special Edition 2-Disc Set.

Special Features & Technical Specs:

Disc One

• 1080p High-definition presentation on Blu-ray from a restored 4K master
• Audio Commentary by film historians Howard S. Berger, Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson
• NEW Audio Commentary by film historian Toby Roan
• Aspect Ratio 1.85:1
• Audio English LPCM 2.0 Mono
• Optional English HOH subtitles

Disc Two

• Interview with actors Keith Carradine and Robert Carradine
• Interview with actors Stacy Keach and James Keach
• Interview with actor Randy Quaid
• Interview with actor Nicholas Guest
• Interview with director Walter Hill
• Interview with composer Ry Cooder
• Interview with producer Tim Zinnemann
• Outlaw Brothers: The Making of The Long Riders – documentary
• The Northfield Minnesota Raid: Anatomy of a Scene – featurette
• Slow Motion: Walter Hill on Sam Peckinpah – featurette
• Theatrical Trailer

Extreme Prejudice (1987) – Imprint Collection #167

Extreme Prejudice stars Nick Nolte as tough, no-nonsense Texas ranger Jack Benteen, whose childhood friend Cash (Powers Boothe) is now a ruthless drugs baron on the other side of the border. Jack finds himself recruited by the CIA to eliminate Cash, who allegedly has secret government documents.

Starring Nick Nolte, Powers Boothe, Rip Torn, Maria Conchita Alonso & Michael Ironside.

Special Features & Technical Specs:

• 1080p high-definition presentation on Blu-ray from a restored 4K master
• NEW Audio Commentary by film critic / author Walter Chaw
• NEW Audio Commentary by film historians Daniel Kremer and Nat Segaloff
• Audio commentary by film historians C. Courtney Joyner and Henry Parke
• Interview with director Walter Hill (2010)
• Isolated Score Selections and Audio Interview with music historian John Takis
• The Major’s Agenda – interview with actor Michael Ironside
• The War Within – interview with actor Clancy Brown
• Capturing The Chaos – interview with director of photography Matthew F. Leonetti
• Theatrical Trailer
• Vintage Electronic Press Kit
• Photo Gallery
• Original Aspect Ratio 1.85:1
• Audio English LPCM 2.0 Stereo
• Optional English HOH subtitles

Johnny Handsome (1989) – Imprint Collection #168

Severely-deformed petty criminal Johnny Handsome (Mickey Rourke) is double-crossed in a robbery and left to take the rap on his own. He is stabbed in jail and sent to hospital, where a prison doctor decides that plastic surgery and a fresh start will lead Johnny on the path to reform. However, when the handsome new Johnny emerges from prison, his potential fresh start in life is hampered by his desire to get even with the man who put him away.

Starring Mickey Rourke, Ellen Barkin, Morgan Freeman & Forest Whitaker.

Special Features & Technical Specs:

• 1080p high-definition presentation on Blu-ray from a restored 4K master
• NEW Audio Commentary by film critic and author Walter Chaw (2022)
• NEW Audio commentary by film critics Daniel Kremer and Scout Tafoya (2022)
• NEW Interview with actor Peter Jason
• Codes to Live By: Walter Hill on Johnny Handsome – featurette
• Wordsmith – interview with writer Ken Friedman (2010)
• Eye of the Beholder – interview with makeup artist Michael Westmore (2010)
• Action Man – interview with stuntman Allan Graf (2010)
• Theatrical Trailer
• Original Aspect Ratio 1.85:1
• Audio English LPCM 2.0 Stereo
• Optional English HOH subtitles

Broken Trail (2006) – Imprint Collection #169

Set in 1897, Print Ritter (Robert Duvall) and his estranged nephew Tom Harte (Haden Church) become the reluctant guardians of five abused and abandoned Chinese girls. Ritter and Harte’s attempts to care for the girls are complicated by their responsibility to deliver a herd of horses while avoiding a group of bitter rivals, intent on kidnapping the girls for their own purposes. Classic Western action takes centre stage in this dramatic miniseries!

This critically acclaimed miniseries is the winner of four Emmy Awards.

Starring Robert Duvall, Thomas Haden Church & Greta Scacchi.

Special Features & Technical Specs:

• 1080p high-definition presentation on Blu-ray from a restored 4K master
• Broken Trail: The Making of a Legendary Western – featurette
• Aspect Ratio 1.78:1
• Audio English DTS HD 5.1 Surround + LPCM 2.0 Stereo
• Optional English subtitles

Any pre-order titles will be dispatched in the week leading up to its aforementioned release date. Special features and artwork are subject to change.

Click here to to order.  (Prices are in Australian dollars. Use currency converter to see value in your local currency.)

By Lee Pfeiffer

In reviewing "Fuzz" when it opened in 1972, Vincent Canby of the New York Times noted that the film looks more like a dress rehearsal than a finished movie and was obviously intended to appeal to viewers who had a limited attention span. In contrast, Roger Ebert said he was put off by the exploitive elements of the movie poster, but in the end called it a funny, quietly cheerful movie. I guess I land in the same ballpark as Ebert, although I'm not without criticism of the film, which was based on author Ed McBain's popular "87th Precinct" novels that explored the excitement and absurdities found in a modern, big city police department. The film has an impressive ensemble cast: Burt Reynolds and Raquel Welch (reunited after co-starring in "100 Rifles"), Tom Skeritt, Jack Weston and Raquel Welch, who appears rather fleetingly despite her prominent billing. Oh, and the bad guy is played by Yuel Brynner, who appears rather late in the film in a limited number of scenes.

The film is primarily played for laughs and it's scattershot plot jumps around at a dizzying pace. The action takes place in the aforementioned 87th Precinct in Boston, a run-down venue located in a troubled part of the city. The plot focuses on a harried group of cynical detectives who report to their equally cynical, burned-out boss, Lt. Byrnes (Dan Frazer). The precinct is depicted as decrepit and as worn-out as its inhabitants. There's a lot of chaotic action going on throughout the day with various local miscreants and eccentrics clogging up the works, much to the frustration of the burned-out cops.  The plot sees seasoned veteran cops Steve Carella (Burt Reynolds), Bert Kling (Tom Skerritt) and Meyer Meyer (you read that right) (Jack Weston) trying to cope with the chaos- as well as the arrival of a strikingly beautiful policewoman who has been assigned to the precinct, Eileen McHenry (Raquel Welch). Among the cases being investigated simultaneously are the identities of the creeps who have been setting local hobos on fire, a serial rapist, various petty crimes and a late-breaking, high-profile threat posed by an unknown man who phones in death threats aimed at local public officials.When the ransom he demands isn't paid, said officials are bumped off in a high profile manner despite intense efforts by the police to thwart the plots. The villain is known as The Deaf Man (Yul Brynner), a sophisticated brute with the persona of a Bond villain, who employs a small team of loyal and very competent crooks to help him carry out the various assassinations.

Director Richard A. Colla employs the Altmanesque gimmick of having characters talk over each other in a Tower of Babel-like scenario, but in the context of a chaotic police department, the tactic works. The air of realism is accurate. During this era, my father was a cop in Jersey City, a stone's throw across the Hudson River from Manhattan. Like most urban areas during this era, it was a city beset by plenty of problems. Whenever I would see him at the precinct, I witnessed the kind of mutual ball-busting humor cops would engage in. I realized it was their way of coping with the pressures of the job and "Fuzz" captures this environment perfectly. The screenplay by Evan Hunter, who wrote the source novel under the nom de plume Ed McBain, is rather episodic and some plot lines are left to dwindle as the cops try to solve any number of on-going threats to the city. Raquel Welch's character is subjected to the predictable sexist comments, but, refreshingly she is spared any exploitation scenes (except for one fleeting moment) and acquits herself well as this valiant public servant. The whole messy scenario comes together in a very clever ending in which all of the unrelated characters end up converging on a local liquor store where the cops are holding a stakeout. The mayhem that ensues is both funny and exciting and ties some of the loose ends together. A comic highlight finds Reynolds and Weston dressed as nuns in a stakeout to capture the rapist.

The cast is first-rate. Reynolds is in top form and he gets fine support from Tom Skerritt, Jack Weston (particularly impressive), Dan Frazer and James McEachin. Don Gordon is among the bad guys, and as with any of his screen appearances, he's a welcome presence. Reynolds breaks the wise-cracking mode in a touching scene that shows him with his wife, a deaf mute played by Neile Adams. Yul Brynner adds his customary classy presence in his limited screen time.

Reynolds and Welch could not have been pleased with the marketing campaign for the movie: a Mad magazine-style ad that capitalized on Reynold's recent centerfold in Cosmopolitan and had Welch depicted in a bikini, although she appears in no such attire and is demurely dressed in the film. (Her character disappears mid-way through the movie and inexplicably doesn't show up again.) Nevertheless, Reynolds would finally rise to major boxoffice status later in the year with his superb performance in "Deliverance" and Welch would graduate to intelligently-written roles that proved she was more than a pretty face.

"Fuzz" is an imperfect movie but it's a lot of fun. Recommended.

(The film is currently showing on Screenpix, which is available by subscription through Amazon Prime, Roku and Apple TV.)

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By Lee Pfeiffer

"The Pink Jungle" is a Universal production from 1968 and it looks it, with plenty of backlot sets doubling for authentic foreign settings. The studio always clutched the purse strings rather tightly when producing mid-range fare such as this, but it doesn't mean these films were devoid of value. This particular production was based on a 1965 action adventure novel titled "Swamp Water" by Allan Williams, which is regarded as a straight-forward thriller. The film adaptation with a script by Charles Williams eschews the thrills in favor of laughs. The film opens in one of those conveniently unnamed-but-undesirable South American countries where we find James Garner arriving in a one-horse town. He's fashion photographer Ben Morris who is there to do a quick shoot before returning to the States. The subject of his fashion spread soon arrives: supermodel Alison Duguesne (Eva Renzi), and she's more than a bit put off by the primitive environment. Things go downhill from there. They find they are stranded when the only local helicopter is stolen. They are introduced to the local corrupt police chief, Colonel Celaya (Fabrizio Mioni), who is looking to squeeze them for any bribes he can get. Then there is Raul Ortega (Michael Ansara), a local shady character in his own right. I won't bother with detailing how all of these characters affect the story, as we're not outlining "Citizen Kane" here. Suffice it to say that both Ben and Alison find themselves on defense all the time among this stew of swindlers and killers. Things kick into high gear when they meet Sammy Reiderbeit (George Kennedy), a South African with an American accent (!). He's a volatile nut case who embroils them in a seemingly madcap scheme to find a hidden diamond mine. He has access to a map that supposedly outlines where it is located but it requires an arduous and dangerous journey to reach the area- and there are all sorts of villains on their trail trying to obtain the map at any cost. 

"The Pink Jungle" is played strictly for laughs with Garner playing a typical Garner role: a man of action who can dispense punches and quips with equal skill. Kennedy plays a typical Kennedy role: a loud, crude boisterous type who is more brawn than brains. They form one of those uneasy partnerships to set off to find the gold only to encounter another disreputable character, McCune (Nigel Green) who joins the team even though no one trusts him. The first section of the film is shot entirely on the Universal backlot, though the art directors- Al Ybarra and and Alexander Golitzen- do succeed in making the seedy buildings seem convincing. Things only open up when the characters hit the mountains and desert (entirely filmed in California and Nevada). It's clear that Universal designed this movie for quick playoff. I'm not even certain it ever played as a main feature, as I recall as a kid seeing it as the bottom half of a double-bill with "Lady in Cement". Writing in his memoirs many years later, Garner dismissed the film thusly: "I made this thing for the money and I'm lucky it didn't wreck my career". That seems a bit harsh. If one approaches the film with modest expectations, they might be rewarded with some modest pleasures. Garner is always fun to watch and Eva Renzi, fresh from her success in "Funeral in Berlin",  makes an appealing leading lady whose flirtatious relationship with Ben remains chaste, probably because they spend most of their time dodging assassination attempts. George Kennedy dominates every scene he's in as the cigar-chomping, erratic, yet likable madman who is obsessed with finding the diamond mine. Nigel Green's appearance mid-film adds some intrigue and he's fun to watch.  Director Delbert Mann, like his cast members, would not have put this film near the top of his credentials. (He had directed the Oscar winner, "Marty"). However, his workmanlike direction here keeps the pace lively and the action flowing. Oh, and the ending does provide a bit of a surprise revelation.

The Kino Lorber Blu-ray presents the film in a reasonably good transfer. The only bonus extra is the original trailer (which plays up George Kennedy's recent Oscar win for "Cool Hand Luke") and a gallery of other trailers for KL action movie releases.

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"Retro-Active: From the Cinema Retro Archives"

By Lee Pfeiffer

Seven years after his blockbuster success producing the 1972 film The Poseidon Adventure, Irwin Allen revisited the same story for a sequel, Beyond the Poseidon Adventure. The 1979 film represents all the reasons that sequels to most hit films are generally disdained. Yes, there was The Godfather trilogy to buck the trend, but there were also those God-awful sequels to Jaws. Beyond the Poseidon Adventure opens the morning after the capsizing of the cruise ship. Michael Caine is Mike Turner, the financially destitute captain of a small vessel who is facing bankruptcy after losing his cargo in the same violent storm that destroyed the Poseidon. On board his boat are his first mate Wilbur (Karl Malden) and Celeste Whitman (Sally Field), a perky but klutzy young drifter the men have befriended. They stumble upon the capsized wreck of the Poseidon and Turner immediately smells financial opportunity in the tragedy. If he can make his way through the hull and down to the purser's office, he can raid the safe and abscond with the riches that are inevitably stored there. This is the first of any number of absurdities in the script. With the Poseidon the worst maritime disaster since the Titanic, Turner and his crew discover that, with the exception of one French copter that is conveniently leaving the scene upon their arrival, there is literally no other sign of the international  rescue forces that would be omnipresent at the scene. Instead,  after rescuing the few people who managed to make it onto the hull in the preceding film, those forces are in no hurry to get additional manpower to the scene in order to search for additional survivors before the ship sinks the bottom of the ocean. Inexplicably, while the rescue forces can't make a timely arrival at the scene, a small craft under the command of Captain Stefan Svevo (Telly Savalas) does. Svevo claims he is a doctor who is there with his crew to enter the ship and search for any survivors. (Absurdity #2: Svevo is about to undertake this arduous, grimy and potentially deadly task while attired in a snow white designer suit!). Turner buys his story and forms and uneasy alliance with Svevo and his team, who are also clad all in white and resemble some of those bands of henchmen from the old Batman TV series.

Once inside the ship, movie magic takes over and the group finds every chamber to be brightly lit, thus making it possible to move about freely. True, there is the hazardous task of finding your way around an upside down vessel, but that problem is solved when they conveniently find a map that lays out precisely where everything is located. Soon, Turner discovers what even the most naive viewer has already realized: that Svevo is actually a villain with his own agenda. In the third major absurdity, we learn that the Poseidon was transporting plutonium that Svevo wants to acquire for nefarious purposes relating to bomb- building. As if that isn't enough, it turns out the ship was also transporting a huge shipment of assault weapons and stockpiles of ammunition. It's a wonder there was any room for those joyous conga lines to dance around on that fatal New Years Eve.

Since a hallmark of any Irwin Allen film is the presence of respected actors peppered throughout the production, it isn't long before familiar faces start popping up in every room, like those celebrities who used to stick their heads of windows and make wise-cracks on Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In. Slim Pickens, in full scenery-chewing hayseed mode, comes stumbling out of nowhere, drunk and protecting a precious bottle of wine. He pretends to be a Texas tycoon but it turns out he was the ship's wine steward and regards the bottle of expensive vino as a symbol of his life long dream to acquire the lifestyle that has always eluded him. Then there is Shirley Jones, who emerges and announces that she is a registered nurse, which is certainly more practical to the group than if she were a butcher by trade. Angela Cartwright is a young woman who was on the cruise with her father, a bull-headed Archie Bunker type played by an unusually over-the-top and embarrassing Peter Boyle. Every Allen film needs a sympathetic older couple to wring a few tears from from the audience so this time we have Shirley Knight and Jack Warden substituting for the previous film's Shelly Winters and Jack Albertson. Allen throws in the kitchen sink by making Warden play a blind man. Not to be politically incorrect, but the sequences of Warden stumbling around the upside down wreck of the Poseidon with a cane and wearing sunglasses begins to resemble a Monty Python sketch. Then there is Veronica Hamel as the prerequisite "bad girl" who slinks around in a drenched evening gown showing ample cleavage- oh, and Mark Harmon has a major role as a young hunk who finds love with Angela Cartwright in the bowels of the sinking ship. If that isn't enough, we learn that lovable ol' Karl Malden's character is terminally ill and the symptoms manifest themselves while he's holed up in the upside down ship. (Somehow Allen showed restraint by not introducing killer sharks to the mix.)  

Irwin Allen had the good sense to have seasoned directors Ronald Neame and John Guillerman direct his two biggest blockbusters, The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno and they remain enormously entertaining films. However, he became convinced that he could save a few bucks by doing the job himself. Thus, the man known for making disaster movies became better known for the man who made disastrous movies. The first slip was The Swarm, a 1978 flapadoodle that we always refer to as the worst "Bee" movie of all time. The movie was a bomb but that didn't teach star Michael Caine and co-star Slim Pickens a darn thing, since they re-teamed with Allen right away for  Beyond the Poseidon Adventure. (Many years later, Caine said he was ashamed of this period of his career when he took virtually any job in order to earn an easy pay check.) With Allen back in the director's chair, Beyond was destined to be another camp classic and it has the look and feel of a TV movie. Caine looks understandably embarrassed, Field is in Flying Nun cutesy mode and Savalas channels his inner Blofeld as the villain. Allen packs in everything from an ax murder (!) to a full blown shoot-out in which every day people turn out to be as adept at handling machine guns as Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos.  There are some reasonably impressive sets on view but many of the special effects are sub-par. The most hilarious are found in the opening frames in which we see Caine at the helm of his storm-tossed boat in the midst of a hurricane. The sequence was apparently filmed with the ship on rockers and the violent rainstorm was simulated apparently by having some guy off camera spray garden hoses. It's quite possibly the cheesiest effect I've ever seen in a modern, major studio production.

The Warner Archive has released Beyond the Poseidon Adventure only on DVD. With the film itself a dud, there is at least the saving grace of an interesting bonus extra: a vintage 22 minute TV special about the making of the film. It affords some excellent behind the scenes views of the production and makes it clear that a lot of talented people put a great deal of work into creating films that often turn out badly. There are also some nice trailers for the main feature, The Swarm, Twister and The Perfect Storm. Even bad movies need some love, so how about a Blu-ray release of "Beyond the Poseidon Adventure"?

By Lee Pfeiffer

Way back in 1971 when I was in high school, there seemed to be a tidal wave of soft-core porn flicks, mostly imported from Europe and dubbed rather crudely into English. I never sought to spend the paltry contents of my wallet on these tame sex movies movies because I lived directly across the river from Times Square and that offered my friends and I the real forbidden fruit in sleazy, grind house movie theaters. Age was no barrier as long as you were willing to pay the then tidy sum of $5. However, the softcore Euro imports did find enthusiastic audiences in places where there weren't many alternatives to finding cinematic "adult entertainment". The films were generally rated "X" but were pretty tame, stressing humor to overcome objections from local killjoys who thought the idea of seeing some naked people on screen would condemn their entire community to eternal damnation. One of the most profitable of these films was the 1969 release, "The Stewardesses", which was so tame that it could be shown on Disney+ today. Nevertheless, these films afforded women to get a few cheap thrills without having to suffer the stigma of being seen entering a theater showing hardcore fare. Thus, plenty of couples enjoyed the opportunity to share in date nights that somewhat pushed the envelope in terms of general standards. The films were generally bestowed with memorable titles, which is why I remember the newspaper ads for "Dagmar's Hot Pants" and similar fare such as "The Long Swift Sword of Siegfried". The good news is that some of these films have been lovingly presented on Blu-ray by Kino Lorber, in collaboration with Code Red. When a screener arrived of "Dagmar's Hot Pants", I took an immediate interest, remembering hot pants as one of those short-lived fashion trends of the 1970s. For those readers who were not around way back then, the gimmick with hot pants was a simple one: they were very short and very tight and left little to the imagination. Although my high school had a very liberal dress code (jeans and T shirts were the norm), I do recall one of my female classmates pushing the envelope by wearing hot pants to class. That was a bridge too far and she was summarily sent home to change into something less offensive, much to the consternation of her male classmates. At least hot pants were provocative and sensible, as opposed to the male fashions of the era such as the leisure suit and safari jacket, the latter of which was a dress/casual abomination that looked as though it was designed to allow a man to hunt elephants in the morning and then attend a swank cocktail party in the evening without changing attire.

I looked forward to viewing "Dagmar's Hot Pants" simply to see an abundance of this long-forgotten fashion trend glorified on screen. Alas, I was snookered, as was anyone back in the day who paid to see the film. You see, there are no hot pants in "Dagmar's Hot Pants". They are neither shown nor discussed. It was simply a case of a shamelessly deceptive marketing campaign to capitalize on a recent fashion trend. Oh, well.The film itself presents lovely Diana Kjaer in the title role, playing a fabulously successful young woman who has emerged as one of Copenhagen's most in-demand hookers. Dagmar's daily schedule of meeting with clients from around the globe is frantic and she sometimes has to call on the services of fellow prostitutes to assist her in meeting some of the more unusual demands of her customers. The film takes a humorous view of all this, as we see Dagmar patiently keeping a straight face while interacting with oddball clients ranging from two goofy Japanese businessmen who want an orgy to horny local businessmen of some esteem, including a doctor who pays Dagmar to initiate his teenage son in the ways of the world. The only "normal" client Dagmar services is a member of Copenagen's Vice Squad, who ensures she doesn't get busted in return for sexual favors. One of her adoring clients is a gruff, but rich American businessman played by Robert Strauss...yes, that Robert Strauss who had earned an Oscar nomination for Billy Wilder's "Stalag 13". It's a bit uncomfortable seeing the sixty-something actor engaging in a sexual dalliance with Dagmar but presumably the lure of a quick paycheck and a trip to Copenhagen made for an offer Strauss couldn't refuse. If Robert Strauss has always figured into your fantasies, then your ship has come in. Throughout the story, Dagmar is keeping a big secret as she arranges to leave her lucrative business for a top secret venture. "That's it!", I thought- she's going into the hot pants manufacturing business, but alas, the answer is somewhat more mundane and disappointing. There are a couple of minor efforts to introduce some dramatic scenes into the slapstick. Dagmar lends her desperate brother money so that his girlfriend can get an abortion. There is also a tense scene with her quasi-pimp, a scary fellow who threatens her if she doesn't obey his wishes. In this sense, the film differs from similar movies of this type by at least acknowledging that the life of a call girl isn't all fun and games. 

As is usual with these films, there are some interludes showing the star walking through the lovely streets of Copenhagen in an obvious attempt to add an exotic appeal to the production. Diana Kjaer manages to keep her clothes on occasionally but for the most part she is seen showering or chatting on the phone sans any cumbersome garments. I must say the dubbing in this film is a bit better than most and Code Red and Kino Lorber have provided a good looking transfer from a 2K master. You have to admire companies that take such efforts to preserve and present even minor films such as this.

The only bonus extra is an English language trailer that continues the sin of false advertising by saying "Dagmar's Hot Pants" is the name the title character has given to her prostitution network. In fact, there is never any mention of Dagmar's Hot Pants anywhere in the film. However, if these tame sex comedies from the distant past appeal to you, this is one of the better in this genre. I now hopefully await a Blu-ray release of "The Long Swift Sword of Siegfried"!.

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By Lee Pfeiffer

Lewis Gilbert's 1964 film The 7th Dawn is available on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber. Longtime readers will remember that Gilbert discussed the movie in an exclusive interview with Matthew Field in Cinema Retro issue #18. The movie had previously only been available in the U.S. as a burn-to-order MGM DVD. This is a thoroughly engrossing, adult drama with an unusual setting and story background. The movie begins on the final day of WWII and centers on three disparate friends: an American named Ferris (William Holden), a French woman, Dhana (Capucine) and a Malayan, Ng (Tetsuro Tamba) who have led guerilla forces against the Japanese occupation in Malaya. The three close friends are jubilant in victory, after having suffered from fighting in the jungle for extended periods. At the end of the war, Ng goes off to Moscow to pursue communist political training. The apolitical Ferris stays behind, with Malayasia now under British occupation. He thrives as a local rubber plantation owner, and Dhana is his lover, despite her frustration with Ferris' womanizing. The story advances to 1953, with Malayans now impatient for independence from England, which is easing toward granting their demands, but at a snail's pace. Ng returns to Malaya to try to instigate communist-inspired violent uprisings. To his sympathizers, he is a freedom fighter. To the British, he is a terrorist and the most wanted man in the nation.

Ferris is shaken from his cynical desire to remain removed from the political situation when Dhana is framed and charged by the British for assisting the terrorists. She has a choice: lead the authorities to Ng's hideout in the jungle or be sentenced to death. Dhana, who has always been as attracted to Ng as she has to Ferris, refuses to give him up. Ferris is faced with the ultimate dilemma: betray his best friend by capturing him and turning him into the British, or face the prospect of his lover being executed. Adding to the complications is the presence of Candace (Susannah York), the comely young daughter of the British governor who is also in love with Ferris and who concocts a scheme that might save Dhana, despite the fact that it places her own life in danger.

The 7th Dawn is a superb movie on every level, although it was not particularly successful on its initial release. Unlike most of the simplistic, special-effects driven action films of today, this movie deals with basic human dilemmas such as the meaning of friendships and the price of loyalties. The four leads are outstanding and Holden, in particular, gives one of the most impressive performances of his career. York and Capucine give touching performances, as well, and Tamba (who would go on to star as 'Tiger' Tanaka in Lewis Gilbert's 1967 James Bond film You Only Live Twice) is particularly impressive as a man who is torn between political ideology and his affection for his friends. The political drama is played out in an engrossing manner, as one witnesses the bumbling, if sincere attempts by the British bureaucrats to try to win the hearts and minds of the locals through tragically misguided methods. The film builds to a harrowing conclusion as Ferris and Candace venture into the jungle in an attempt to capture Ng before the death sentence can be carried out against Dhana. The last half hour of the movie is especially riveting and packed with suspense and Gilbert's direction is truly impressive. The film benefits from the lush landscapes photographed by Freddie Young and a beautiful musical score by Riz Ortolani.

Put this one on your "must see" list.

The Kino Lorber Blu-ray boasts an impressive transfer, though bonus materials are relegated to a trailer gallery. It would have been a good idea to include a commentary track, but considering the Blu-ray is a big step up from the previous DVD release, we won't complain. 

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By Fred Blosser

In “Secret of the Incas,” a 1954 release from Paramount Pictures, Harry Steele (Charlton Heston) and Ed Morgan (Thomas Mitchell) are rival opportunists in Cuzco, Peru. Both are searching for the Sunburst, a fabled Incan artefact said to be hidden in the “lost city” of Machu Picchu. “Not too many people go to Machu Picchu,” Harry says. Today, when tourists descend on the ancient Incan capital in droves, you would have to wonder if he’d ever heard of Expedia. But the observation was true enough in the early 1950s when the ruins were far off the beaten path. In those days, most small-town Americans would have regarded a visit to New York or Miami as an exotic excursion, never mind finding the time, money, or inspiration to fly to the Andes.

Harry has the edge in the quest for the Incan treasure, having appropriated a broken chunk from an idol. The fragment contains part of a pictograph which, when fitted to the rest of the carving on the remainder of the statue, reveals the method for finding the hiding place of the Sunburst. Putting the two together isn’t a problem, requiring Harry only to follow a tourist group into the museum where the fractured statue sits on display. But getting over the Andes to Machu Picchu to claim the Sunburst, “a hunk of gold with 119 pure diamonds and 243 other precious stones,” is another matter. This challenge is solved when Elena (Nicole Maurey) arrives in Cuzco, a refugee from communist Romania. Elena is as grasping as Harry, whom she views as her meal ticket to the U.S., while Harry uses her as bait to steal a small private plane from the Romanian counsel, who flies into Cuzco to arrest her. In Machu Picchu, Stanley Moorehead (Robert Young), an archeologist directing a dig for the tomb of the last Incan king, falls in love with Elena. Harry is more amused than put out. His real concern is Ed, who has followed by pack train and carries a gun.

The Indians in the surrounding villages regard the Sunburst with spiritual awe, believing that when it is found, the discovery will mark the rebirth of the Inca nation. But Harry and his rival only care about the fortune they can realize when they pry the jewels off the relic and melt the gold into ingots. “We’ll sit around and pluck it over like a roasted chicken, piece by piece,” Ed gloats. The two agree on a fifty-fifty split for the Sunburst, but given their mercenary natures, it’s about as tenuous a deal as a division of spoils between competing bounty hunters in a Spaghetti Western. Cast against type if you remember them strictly for their signature roles, Heston and Mitchell are excellent. Peruvian singer Yma Sumac, as one of Machu Picchu’s Indian caretakers, has a sly screen presence and three vocal numbers, which may be three too many for those who only want to get on with the story. But Sumac was a marketing draw comparable to having a performance by Lady Gaga or Adele in a 2023 movie. Largely forgotten today, she was a star in the early 1950s “exotic music” genre pioneered by Les Baxter and Martin Denny, with performances at Carnegie Hall and best-selling LPs on the Billboard charts. Heston appears in some exterior scenes of Cuzco and Machu Picchu, having participated in a month-long, pre-production location shoot, but he, Mitchell, Young, Mourey, Sumac, and the supporting Hollywood cast are missing (or represented by stand-ins at a distance) from scenes where crowds of actual Peruvian Indians congregate at Machu Picchu. Eagle-eyed viewers are likely to notice the seams, but for most of us, it’s part of the fun to watch old-school escapist pictures like this and tease out the real locations from the studio sets.

“Secret of the Incas” was absent from official U.S. home video release for decades—neglectfully so, according to critics who have cited it as an influence on “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and a precursor to the James Bond franchise in the double entendres that Harry trades with an appreciative housewife of means from Michigan, Mrs. Winston, played by the great Glenda Farrell. When Mrs. Winston greets the strapping Harry by commenting, “My, you’re a big one,” and looks forward to his “services” as a tour guide, you know she has more in mind than a dinner reminder to her tourist group. “I’ll be right outside your door,” he assures her.

A new Blu-ray edition from Kino Lorber Studio Classics makes up for the film’s long absence with a remastered print licensed from Paramount, from a 4K scan of original negative elements. The rich colours of the Indians’ shawls and serapes are eye-popping in restored Technicolor. Maybe the movie’s omission from prior video formats, especially the inferior VHS process, and more especially the even worse VHS/EP/SLP budget format in which Paramount briefly released a handful of its archival titles in 1992, wasn’t such a loss after all.

The special features on the Blu-ray include an informative audio commentary by Toby Roan, previews of related KL titles, and sharp SDH captioning.

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Fred Blosser is the author of "Sons of Ringo: The Great Spaghetti Western Heroes". Click here to order from Amazon)

By Lee Pfeiffer

In the estimation of many film scholars the 1970s was the most adventurous and liberating period in the history of the medium. The new freedoms in regard to sex, violence and adult themes that had exploded in the mid-1960s became even more pronounced in the '70s. Among the most daring studios to take advantage of this trend was United Artists. The studio had been conceived by iconic actors in the silent era with the intent of affording artists as much creative control over their productions as possible. UA had continued to fulfill that promise, producing a jaw-dropping number of box-office hits and successful film franchises. The studio also disdained censorship and pushed the envelope with high profile movie productions. The daring decision to fund the X-rated "Midnight Cowboy" paid off handsomely. The 1969 production had not only been a commercial success but also won the Best Picture Oscar. A few years later UA went even further out on a limb by distributing "Last Tango in Paris". UA fully capitalized on the worldwide sensation the movie had made and the many attempts to restrict it from being shown at all in certain areas of the globe. Like "Midnight Cowboy", "Tango" was an important film by an important director that used graphic images of sexual activity for dramatic intensity. Unfortunately, not every filmmaker who was inspired by these new freedoms succeeded in the attempt to mainstream X-rated fare during those years that the rating wasn't only synonymous with low-budget porno productions. Case in point: screenwriter John Byrum, who made his directorial debut with "Inserts", a bizarre film that UA released in 1975 that became a legendary bomb. The movie was released some years ago on Blu-ray as a limited edition by the now sadly defunct Twilight Time label. To my knowledge, it isn't available in that format today, although it is streaming on Screenpix, the subscription-based service that can be accessed through Amazon Prime, Roku, YouTube and Apple TV.

The claustrophobic tale resembles a filmed stage production. It is set primarily in one large living room in a decaying Hollywood mansion. The time period is the 1930s, shortly after the introduction of sound to the movie industry resulted in the collapse of silent pictures (Charlie Chaplin being the notable exception.) The central character, played by Richard Dreyfuss, is not named but is referred to as "The Boy Wonder". From our first glimpse of him we know we are seeing a man in trouble. He is unkempt, dressed in a bathrobe and swizzling booze directly from the bottle. We will soon learn that he was once a respected mainstream director of major studio films and was revered by Hollywood royalty. Now he is a has-been who has resorted to making porn movies in 16mm in his own home. (Yes, Virginia, people liked to watch dirty movies even way back then.) He is entertaining a visitor, Harlene (Veronica Cartwright), a perpetually cheery,  bubble-headed young woman who was once a respected actress but who, like Boy Wonder, has fallen on hard times. She is now a heroin addict who earns a living by "starring" in Boy Wonder's porn productions. They make small talk and some names from the current movie business are bandied about. Harlene tells Boy Wonder that a rising star named Clark Gable is said to be an admirer of his and wants to meet him. Instead of responding favorably to this news, Boy Wonder seems unnerved by it. The implication is that he is locked in a self-imposed downward spiral and lacks the self-confidence to attempt a real comeback. Harlene also needles him about his sexual prowess. It turns out that the king of porn films has long been impotent for reasons never explained.  As they prepare to film some scenes Harlene's male "co-star" (Stephen Davies) arrives. He is nicknamed Rex, The Wonder Dog, which seems to bother him especially when the Wonder Boy uses it to intentionally disparage him. Like Harlene, Rex is short on brains but is physically attractive. Boy Wonder seems to have a real resentment towards him, perhaps because Rex is a powerhouse in bed while he can't get anything going despite directing naked people in sex scenes. It becomes clear that Boy Wonder and Rex don't like each other. Boy Wonder ridicules Rex for performing sex acts on male studio executives who he naively believes will help him become a star. However, their relationship looks downright friendly compared to the interaction between Harlene and Rex. When Rex is a little slow in becoming physically aroused, Harlene mocks him mercilessly. This results in him essentially subjecting her to a violent rape which thrills Boy Wonder, who captures it all on film. Harlene doesn't appear to be any worse for the wear, however, and blithely says she's going off to a bedroom to rest.

The household is next visited by mobster Big Mac (Bob Hoskins), the man who finances Boy Wonder's film productions. He is accompanied by his financee Cathy Cake (Jessica Harper), a pretty young woman who seems to have a particular interest in the forbidden world of pornography. Big Mac and Boy Wonder also hate each other. Big Mac berates Boy Wonder for making his porn flicks too esoteric and artistic for their intended audiences who just want a cheap thrill. However, for Boy Wonder the porn films represent the last opportunity he has to demonstrate the cinematic style and camera angles that once impressed critics and the public. In the midst of their arguing, it is discovered that a tragedy has occurred: Harlene has died from a heroin overdose. Everyone seems nonplussed by the news and Big Mac's only concern is to ditch the body somewhere quickly. Turns out Rex has a part time job in a funeral parlor and can arrange for a gruesome plan in which they dump her body inside a grave that is being prepared for another person's funeral the next day. The plan is to dig a bit deeper, bury Harlene, then place a layer of dirt over her and have the "new" body placed on top of hers. As Big Mac and Rex leave to "undertake" this sordid task, Boy Wonder finds himself alone with Cathy Cake. She wants to use the time to have Boy Wonder film her in her own personal porn movie since Big Mac would never let his "fiancee" do so with his knowledge. She finds the idea of sex on film to be a stimulant but Boy Wonder won't have any of it. He knows that Big Mac's volatile temper and ever-present bodyguard could result in him being the next corpse in the house. Cathy Cake tries another tactic and feigns interest in Boy Wonder. He lets his guard down and gradually is seduced by her. She even manages to cure his impotence but the tryst turns ugly when she learns he has not filmed it. Boy Wonder soon discovers that his renewed pride and self-respect is to be short-lived when it becomes clear that Cathy Cake actually loathes him and was only using him in order to fulfill her porn movie fantasy. The ploy works to a degree- her attention to Boy Wonder reawakens his sexual prowess but when she learns the camera wasn't rolling, she cruelly tells him that she only used him for selfish purposes. With this, Big Mac and Rex return from their horrendous errand and catch Boy Wonder in bed with Cathy Cake. The situation becomes dangerous with Big Mac threatening to kill Boy Wonder and things only deteriorate from there. 

Richard Dreyfuss was said to have had a personal obsession with this film. He was very involved in all aspects of its production and remained defensive about the movie after its harsh reception from critics. The movie's complete rejection by reviewers and the public might have hurt his career but Dreyfuss already had "American Graffiti" and "Jaws" under his belt. Soon he would also star in another blockbuster, "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" followed by his Oscar-winning performance in "The Goodbye Girl". The fact that so few people ever saw "Interiors" actually worked to his advantage. However, whatever motivated him to become involved in this bizarre project remains a mystery. It's an ugly tale about ugly people doing ugly things to each other. If there is a message here, I didn't receive it. There isn't a single character you can identify with or sympathize with. They are all self-obsessed cynics with no redeeming traits. That leaves us with whatever values the performances afford us and it's a mixed bag. Dreyfuss is miscast. He was twenty nine years-old when he made the film and, despite his sordid appearance which ages him considerably, he is still far too young to portray a once-great movie director who has fallen on hard times. John Byrum's direction of Dreyfuss is unsteady. At times he encourages him to underplay scenes while at other times he has Dreyfuss chew the scenery mercilessly. Similarly, Stephen Davies plays the brain-dead hunk Rex with flamboyantly gay characteristics one minute then suddenly transforms into a heterosexual stud the next. Bob Hoskins is squarely in what would become his trademark tough-guy gangster mode but gives a solid performance. The best acting comes from the two female leads, with Veronica Cartwright especially good as the ill-fated Harlene. Jessica Harper also does well in her thankless role. Both women seem at ease in doffing their clothes and playing much of their scenes in a provocative state. Cartwright even goes full frontal for the violent sex scene with Rex while Harper spends almost the entire last act of the film being photographed topless. Curiously, the willingness to appear nude onscreen was considered the epitome of female emancipation in films during the 1970s but the practice  has largely become frowned upon in more recent years. In fact the days are long gone when virtually every major actress had to appear naked on screen. Today, female emancipation is the ability to play erotic scenes on screen without having to be completely compromised.  

If John Byrum's debut as a director is problematic, so, too, is his script. There is a lot of name-dropping about the great figures in the movie industry who once socialized with the Boy Wonder but it all seems pretentious and unconvincing right down to the constant attempts by Boy Wonder to avoid meeting the unseen Clark Gable. In fact, aside from some fleeting references the "Flapper Look" styles worn by the women, the film could have been set in the 1970s. Byrum has the characters indulge in  vernacular that is far too contemporary for the 1930s. The only wit that is apparent concerns Big Mac's plans to build roadside restaurants that would all look the same and serve identical fast food. ("Big Mac"- get it?) Beyond that, there are few attempts at humor and most of those pertain to unspeakably cruel behavior and mutual humiliation. There seems to be no purpose for the film's existence beyond the desire of the participants to be in a porn movie. Given their status in the industry that was obviously not going to happen so they banded together for a quasi-porn movie and shrouded it in the protective layer of intellectualism. This gave them all the cover of being artistes and Richard Dreyfuss the opportunity to nibble on Jessica Harper's nipples while pretending there was some greater purpose to it all. In reality the film's most cringe-inducing scene has Dreyfuss and Harper having an extended conversation about her private parts, which are referred to repeatedly (almost to an absurd degree) in gutter language as those the actors were pre-teenagers using naughty words for the first time. 

Here's a chance to watch  director Andrew V. Mclaglen's highly enjoyable 1979 adventure "ffolkes" starring Roger Moore as a grumpy but courageous leader of a private commando team. He's quite the opposite of his 007 persona: he loathes female companionship and loves cats. The film has a marvelous supporting cast including James Mason, Anthony Perkins and Moore's ol' pal David Hedison. (To watch in full screen mode, click on "Watch on YouTube.)
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The Australian video company Imprint has released "The Gidget Film Collection". Here are the details:

The original beach party movie ‘Gidget’ plus three sequels on Blu-ray for the first time worldwide!

Gidget (1959)

The original surfer girl/beach bum movie, adapted from the novel by Frederick Kohner, Gidget (1959) stars Sandra Dee as determined little Frances Lawrence, who falls in love both with surfing and with the characters who populate the local Southern California beach hangout. Of particular interest are the young Moondoggie (James Darren) and the more mature Big Kahuna (Cliff Robertson), a Korean War vet who is the idol of every surfer on the coast for his life of apparently unfettered freedom.

Gidget Goes Hawaiian (1961)

In this sequel to the hit 1959 film “Gidget,” Francie “Gidget” Lawrence (Deborah Walley) is once again involved with her boyfriend, Jeff “Moondoggie” Matthews (James Darren). However, they have a lovers’ spat, and Gidget goes to sulk in Hawaii with her parents. In the islands, she meets TV dancer Eddie Horner (Michael Callan). Seeing how miserable she’s become, Gidget’s wise dad (Carl Reiner) sends for Moondoggie, and the couple reunite just as Gidget gets romantic with Eddie.

Gidget Goes to Rome (1963)

Gidget, in Rome for a holiday, misinterprets attention she receives from a famous journalist. Discovering he is “chaperoning” her at Dad’s request she resumes interest in her boyfriend. Based upon characters created by Frederick Kohner.

Gidget Gets Married (1972)

Newly married Gidget makes waves in her husband’s company by taking a stand against the social caste system.

Special Features and Technical Specs:

• “Gidget Gets Married” – the 1972 Television Movie
• “Gidget” Theatrical Trailer

Keep in mind that prices are quoted in Australian dollars. Use a currency converter to see what the price is in your national currency.

By Lee Pfeiffer

In days of old before every movie released was designed to be a record-breaking blockbuster, studios routinely produced modestly-budgeted fare designed for a quick playoff and modest profit. A perfect example of this is "Quick, Before It Melts!", a softball sex comedy from 1964 that must have been considered to be a bit risque in its day. Although George Maharis, then a current heart throb gets first billing, the real star is Robert Morse. He plays Oliver Cromwell Cannon, an aspiring reporter who is routinely abused by his boss, publishing magnate Harvey T. Sweigert (Howard St. John), who considers Oliver to be so inconsequential that he has to be reminded that he is engaged to his daughter Sharon (Yvonne Craig). Oliver's career is on the fast track to nowhere until Sweigert affords him an opportunity to prove himself. He is being assigned as the first staff reporter at the South Pole and will be stationed at a U.S. Navy weather installation there. Sweigert is to the political right of Sen. Joe McCarthy and sees Soviet expansion everywhere, even in the remote frozen tundras. Sweigert gives Oliver the seemingly impossible task of digging up some sort of scoop that would embarrass the Soviets. Accompanying Oliver is Peter Santelli (George Maharis), an ace photographer who is also a renowned ladies man.

Prior to leaving, Oliver visits Sharon and does his best to seduce her. She's a virgin on the verge but insists on waiting until their wedding night, much to Oliver's frustration. En route to the South Pole, Oliver and Peter have an extended stopover in New Zealand. Here they befriend two lovely young ladies- Tiara (Anjanette Comer in her big screen debut), an exotic beauty and her equally sexy friend Diana (Janine Gray). Both of the women are the polar opposite (pardon the pun) of Sharon, and they have liberated attitudes towards sex. Peter falls for Diana and Oliver is immediately smitten by Tiara. A running gag in the film is Oliver's inability to get her to tell him if they slept together during one particularly wild night in which he became so drunk he developed amnesia. Soon Oliver is a conflicted man. He wants to remain loyal to Sharon but boys will be boys and his hormones are raging. Fate intervenes when Sweigert insists they leave immediately for the South Pole. Upon arriving at the naval station, Oliver and Peter are hit with the stark reality of how unpleasant life is about to become. Enclosed in the small confines of the base with 50 below zero temperatures outside, they find themselves subjected to hazing rituals by the longtime staffers. The base is manned by Navy personnel as well as a contingent of scientists that includes Mikhail Drozhensky, a Soviet representative of a joint scientific research project.  As the days turn to weeks, boredom becomes a problem and Sweigert is getting impatient for Oliver to file some type of scoop. With everyone on the base suffering from sexual frustration, Oliver and Peter con a visiting admiral (James Gregory) to get some good press by inviting down a contingent of everyday women to visit the base. Naturally, they arrange for Tiara and Diana to be among them. Upon arrival, Oliver's hormones win out and he starts to seduce the willing Tiara in a snowmobile (talk about sexual frigidity!). This leads to another running gag that must have been old in Shakespeare's day: every time they come close to consummating the deal, some distraction interrupts them. Naturally, the women become stranded at the base due to weather and the sexual high jinks continue. Peter isn't having any problem with Diana but fate prevents Oliver from sealing the deal with Tiara. The conclusion of the story has Oliver trying to file a career-saving scoop about the Soviet scientist defecting before his arch rival reporter (Norman Fell) can beat him to it. 

"Quick, Before It Melts" is the kind of mid-range movie that defines mediocrity. It has a good cast but most of them are encouraged to overact by director Delbert Mann, who once directed such estimable fare as "Marty" and "Separate Tables". What led him to become involved in this drivel remains a mystery. Even more bizarre is that the screenplay was written by Dale Wasserman. Yes, that Dale Wasserman- the acclaimed writer of "Man of La Mancha" and the stage version of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest". The film has some amusing gags including composer David Rose finding a way to insert his signature song "The Stripper" into the action. Morse is an energetic leading man but his character inexplicably morphs from Jerry Lewis nerd mode into a sophisticated Sinatra type by the end of the film. Anjanette Comer does make for a stunningly beautiful leading lady and  the equally lovely Yvonne Craig gives her usual perky performance.  Popular character actor Bernard Fox, who generally epitomizes every old fashioned cliche about the British, is bizarrely cast as a U.S. naval officer. Go figure. The film is marred by some poor rear screen projection work. The long shots were filmed by a second unit near the Bering Sea but anyone above the age of five will recognize that the closest the cast members got to something cold was an ice cream sundae at the studio commissary. 

"Quick, Before It Melts" has been released as a Warner Archive title. The transfer is excellent. There are no bonus extras but the disc is region free.

CLICK HERE TO ORDER FROM THE CINEMA RETRO MOVIE STORE

By Hank Reineke

It’s best to start this review by noting that Kino’s Blu ray release of Claude Chabrol’s Bluebeard is not a retelling of the centuries old French folk tale. The first published appearance of the grim fairy tale was penned by Charles Perrault in 1697, but the oral folk tale actually dates ages older. The Bluebeard of fable is a wealthy nobleman who has savagely murdered and hidden the bodies of his six previous wives in a subterranean chamber beneath his castle. But just as George Cukor’s Gaslight (1944) would introduce the psychological manipulation of “gas lighting” into our modern vernacular, Webster’s defines a “bluebeard” as a “man who first marries and then murders one wife after another.” Which is not exactly the case in Chabrol’s film of 1963. Though this bluebeard’s wife is involved in the imbroglio, she is not targeted by her murdering husband. But otherwise the description is close enough.

In fact, the French title of this French-language production - based on a gruesome but series of true crimes - was not Bluebeard but simply Landru. The titular character referenced is Henri Désiré Landru (1869-1922), a bald and thick-bearded Parisian dealer of antique furniture. The problem with Landru is that he’s chosen to supplement his income by murdering a succession of wealthy dowagers, spinsters and widows in the years of French involvement in World War I. Collecting the names of moneyed lonely hearts from personal ads sent privately to a postal box, Landru’s modus operandi was to charm and romance his intended victims, offering all a respite from Paris at his countryside Villa rental near Gambais.

Once separated from their bank accounts and antiquities, Landru coldly murdered the women, disposing of their bodies – and all evidence of his crime - in a coal-fired kitchen stove. Landru was found out and arrested in the spring of 1919, charged with the murder of eleven women – though authorities believed he was likely involved in many other unsolved disappearances. The macabre and sensational circumstances surrounding the Landru case brought with it attendant international press coverage and a circus atmosphere to the courtroom proceedings. Landru was ultimately found guilty of his crimes, despite the absence of bodies. He was executed by guillotine in the early winter of 1922.

Such notoriety would bring Landru lasting infamy as one of the modern world’s most legendary serial killers. Both the fairy tale of Bluebeard and the real-life terror wrought by Landru would figure into a number of film and television productions. Sinister waxen images of Landru’s bluebeard would be cinematically present in practically every wax museum’s rogue gallery of horror: House of Wax (1953), the 1963 Twilight Zone episode “The New Exhibit,” and Terror in the Wax Museum (1973) to name only a few. Charlie Chaplin, of all people, would even revisit the Landru affair in his thinly-veiled dark comedy Monsieur Verdoux (1947).

So it was only proper that a French director and French writer should assume ownership of the legend of Landru in this French-Italian co-production. In late February of 1962, Parisian cinema correspondents reported that Italian film producer Carlo Ponti and Frenchman Georges De Beauregard, the latter president of Rome-Paris Films and a champion of France’s “New Wave” cinema, were planning an Eastman color production of Landru. The film was to be directed by Claude Chabrol – already feted for such films as Le Beau Serge (1958), The Cousins (1959) and Les Bonnes Femmes (1960). The screenplay for Landru was to written by the popular French novelist Francoise Sagan. Though this was to be Sagan’s first effort at screenwriting, four of her novels had already been adapted for the screen by French film studios. Earliest expectations were that Sagan’s script was to be one serious in tone and unlike Charlie Chaplin’s comic-take of the serial killer’s spree.

Then, one month later, it was reported that Chabrol and Sagan were in fact both crafting elements of the screenplay, oddly semi-independent of one another: Chabrol was developing the film’s male characters, Sagan charged to concentrate on the murderer’s female victims. Reports also noted that Chabrol himself might play the role of Henri Désiré Landru should a suitable actor for the primary role not be found. A more than suitable actor was found in the person of Charles Denner, an actor mostly unfamiliar-to-the-public at large. It’s Denner who really carries the film with a masterful, emotionally casual performance.

In late March, Rome-Paris announced that a worldwide distribution deal was in the works with United Artists, the studio having agreed to “put up most of the coin” of production. Following their work together on Landru, Chabrol was promising to tackle a film version of Sagan’s 1960 play Château en Suède. (That film would actually be lensed and released in 1964 as a television production sans Chabrol’s involvement). In any event, by mid-summer of 1962, the deal with United Artists seems to have fallen through. It was announced that Joseph E. Levine’s Embassy Pictures had secured distribution rights; the deal was reportedly struck when Levine was made privy to the preview rushes of the still unfinished film. Lux Films was to handle domestic distribution in France. With financing and casting and a script in place, principal photography on Landru would wrap in September of 1962.

The film would enjoy – fittingly -a premiere in the city of Paris in February of 1963. Though somewhat charmed by the film, a Variety critic attending a 5 February screening floated the possibility that the production may not enjoy wide appeal being an “unusual offbeater” and an “spirited if uneven pic.” There was also an acknowledgment that Sagan’s script was curiously both “deft” and “repetitive” in its construction. These were fair criticisms, but by April’s end, Landru had already drawn 306,767 paid admissions in France – not a bad box office total for an edgy filmmaker of the “New Wave” school.

The film would be given a domestic publicity boost courtesy of Mme. Fernande Segret. Segret, now age seventy and a mistress of the real-life Landru, attempted to “enjoin” the film’s release, concerned that the film sullied her reputation. Taking her case before the Tribunal of the Seine, the French court dismissed Segret’s complaint, citing her relationship - as a twenty-four-year-old - with the murderous Landru was already a “matter of historical record” of which Sagan’s screenplay took no particular liberties. Segret appealed, but as late as 1967, her continuing attempt to bring suit against the filmmakers was again dismissed.

With Chabrol’s Landru racking up decent reviews and box office returns in France, an opportunistic distributor chose this moment to reissue the director’s previously moribund effort Ophelia, an “updating of the Shakespeare opus.” In the meantime, a U.S. premiere of the French-language, English subtitled Landru was set for April 9, 1963, at Manhattan’s arthouse Cinema I/Cinema II Studio on Broadway near Lincoln Center. It was announced that Francoise Sagan would be in attendance.

Following that U.S. debut Box Office was impressed, acknowledging Landru held “several exploitative angles to attract art house regulars” as well as devotees of “the bizarre and macabre.” But not every critic was as enamored with the film’s promise. The New York Times suggested that Chabrol’s employ of genuine transcript excerpts from the Landru trial were “more entertaining than those Mlle. Sagan found for him.” The famously venomous stage and screen critic John Simon, wrote witheringly that Sagan’s attempt to “compete with Chaplin’s Monsieur Verdoux takes a good deal of arrogance, but in that area both Chabrol and Sagan are amply endowed.”

In an interview with New York City’s Film Journal, Chabrol confessed that many of his films examined matters of criminality, morality, and the often misused scales of justice, from different angles. “In Landru the problem was to be faithful to the legend and to be funny with it.” Which was an odd angle to tell the story of a serial murderer whose crimes were heinous.

The French actress Michele Morgan, who played Landru’s victim Célestine Buisson, advised prior to the film’s release that Chabrol’s picture was to be “ironic and comic, with each victim ending as a puff of smoke from the chimney.” Chabrol borrowed this smoke billowing visual image from Chaplin’s Monsieur Verdoux, but unfortunately uses this device to the point of near-ridiculous repetition. Despite this being a film being centered on one of the 20^th century’s most notorious figures there’s virtually no on-screen violence – only the suggestion of such.

It was a curious decision. Not allowing audiences to actually see Landru committing his terrible crimes, Chabrol allows the character as written to retain a semblance of evasive humor and an anti-hero aura. Perhaps more tiresome than Chabrol’s multiple cuts to the numerous chimney immolations are the appending comic bits where Landru’s neighbors wilt from the odors of flesh incineration. The only images tying Landru to the brutal murders are brief passing shots of the Villa’s fiery stove, coal bins and a butcher block table with attached meat grinder.

Though a great fan of American films and the work of Alfred Hitchcock – even co-authoring (with Erich Rohmer) an early book-length study Hitchcock (Editions Universitaires, Paris, 1957) – Chabrol’s filmography and interests were more varied than that of his hero. It was also, perhaps, the reason Chabrol’s mystery thrillers are less suspenseful in their construction. Hitchcock once famously wrote, “The mass [film] audience has had no education in technique of cinema, as they frequently have in art and music, from their school days. They think only of story.”

Chabrol approach to film is different. It would be unfair to suggest that Chabrol was a visual artist first, a storyteller second. But it’s clear that Chabrol’s work differs from that of Hitchcock, the latter choosing to work with diligence from prepared story boards and fully formed scripts. Chabrol’s film seems more freewheeling in construction, less plotted. I suppose Landru might have been partly influenced by the mixing of black comedy with the macabre as seen in Hitchcock’s The Trouble with Harry (1955).

For my taste, the Chabrol film goes on too long – the running time lasts a single tick under two hours but seems much longer. Choosing to lens the tale of Landru as a darkly sardonic, serio-comic drama was not new – Chaplin already had fun tweaking the public’s morbid interest in the case – but too often the murders and subsequent courtroom drama seem to unspool in real time. With the romancing, the murders, the winking comedy, the inter-cutting of grim black and white WWI newsreel footage, the courtroom proceedings… the layering all becomes too much.

Similarly to Chaplin, Chabrol tries to weave an undercurrent of politically-motivated shenanigans behind the prurient international interest of Landru’s celebrity notoriety. Though involved in negotiating the Treaty of Versailles - which formally brought the WW I to its end - French Prime Minister George Clemenceau was despairing of its outcome – as were the French public who would vote him out of office in 1920. As imagined by self-described communist Chabrol, Clemenceau’s ploy was an attempt to redirect the discontent of the French public by shepherding the press to devote their efforts on the concurrent - and far more titillating - murder trial of Henri Désiré Landru. He may very well have been right about that.

This Kino Lorber Studio Classic edition of Bluebeard offers a stunning and color saturated 4K restoration from the original camera negative. The film is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.66:1 in 1920x1080p and DTS audio. The release comes with its original French language soundtrack and removable English sub-titles. There is an audio commentary courtesy of film historian Kat Ellinger, the editor of Diabolique magazine and self-described Instagram “loudmouthed hysterical feminist.”

Ellinger provides an excellent commentary throughout, describing Landru as the “strangest and most frustrating” films of Chabrol’s 1960s oeuvre. She also notes the politically left director also staged Landru as a cynical commentary of the mores of the petite bourgeoisie class – an element that’s insufferably present throughout.

There are no alternate scenes included on this set. But while there is only the briefest flash of topless nudity present in his finished cut, Chabrol later intimated that producer Ponti insisted he also photograph a number of “undressed” scenes, presumably for European distribution. If indeed there is a continental version of Landru floating about, I have not seen it. The set also includes five trailers, including Chabrol’s The Champagne Murders, as well as such French productions as Le Doulos, Alphaville, Diabolically Yours and Max and the Junkman.

Click here to order from Kino Lorber.

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

Celebrate the 25^th anniversary of the thrilling disaster epic DEEP IMPACT, arriving for the first time on 4K Ultra HD May 2, 2023 from Paramount Home Entertainment.

Originally released on May 8, 1998, DEEP IMPACT grossed nearly $350 million worldwide on an $80 million budget.   A unique and dynamic fusion of large-scale excitement with touching personal storylines, the film depicts humanity’s response as a comet hurtles through space on a collision course with Earth.

Fully remastered and boasting Dolby Vision and HDR-10, DEEP IMPACT is a must-have action-adventure for your collection.  Directed by Mimi Leder and executive produced by Steven Spielberg, the film features an all-star cast including Robert Duvall, Téa Leoni, Elijah Wood, Vanessa Redgrave, Leelee Sobieski, Blair Underwood, Maximilian Schell, and Morgan Freeman.

The DEEP IMPACT 4K Ultra HD release includes the film on both 4K Ultra HD and on Blu-ray™, access to a Digital copy of the film, and legacy bonus content including commentary and fascinating featurettes delving into the making of this 90s classic.  Bonus content is detailed below:

· Commentary by director Mimi Leder and visual effects supervisor Scott Farrar

· Preparing For The End                                                                                          

· Making An Impact                                                                                                  

· Creating The Perfect Traffic Jam                                                                                                      

· Parting Thoughts                                                                                                    

· Photo Gallery and Trailers     

Click here to pre-order from Amazon

FROM MGM AND UNITED ARTISTS, ROCKY, ROCKY II, ROCKY III AND ROCKY IV

AVAILABLE FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 4K RESOLUTION WITH

HIGH DYNAMIC RANGE (HDR)

Own it on 4K Ultra HD and Digital

Burbank, Calif., – Get knocked out by the new 4K contender – the ROCKY I-IV 4K 4-Film Collection newly remastered in stunning 4K Ultra HD. Sylvester Stallone stars in the greatest boxing saga of all time and triumphs as one of the most inspirational characters in cinematic history. Witness every epic, action packed fight and unforgettable moment as Rocky punches his way to the top against impossible odds when the ROCKY I-IV 4K 4-Film Collection is released on Ultra HD Blu-ray Combo Pack.

The ROCKY I-IV 4K 4-Film Collection includes the MGM feature films ROCKY, ROCKY II, ROCKY III and ROCKY IV, along with the ROCKY IV Ultimate Director’s Cut, ROCKY VS. DRAGO.  This collection contains a Blu-ray disc featuring the hour-long behind the scenes documentary on the making of this extended director’s cut of ROCKY IV, ROCKY IV: ROCKY VS. DRAGO as well as a selection of previously existing EC.  

The Ultra HD Blu-ray disc featuring the films ROCKY, ROCKY II, ROCKY III, ROCKY IV and the ROCKY IV Ultimate Director’s Cut, ROCKY VS. DRAGO will feature Dolby Vision^TM HDR that dramatically expands the color palette and contrast range, and uses dynamic metadata to automatically optimize the picture for every screen, frame by frame.

The Ultra HD Blu-ray will include an Ultra HD Blu-ray disc with each feature film in 4K with HDR, a bonus Blu-ray disc with the documentary and a selection of pre-existing special features, and a Digital version of the feature films.

For the complete 4K Ultra HD experience with HDR, a 4K Ultra HD TV with HDR, an Ultra HD Blu-ray player and a high-speed HDMI (category 2) cable are required.

By Hank Reineke

Following the “monstrous” success of Universal’s Frankenstein, Boris Karloff no longer had to cast about Hollywood looking for employment. Between 1932 and 1942, the actor would appear in more than forty feature films for nearly every major and minor Hollywood studio: Universal, of course: but also Fox, United Artists, Paramount, MGM, RKO Radio, Warner Bros., Monogram and Columbia. Prior to Frankenstein, Karloff had appeared in several gangster/prison pictures for Columbia Pictures as a menacing presence. It was a gift that brought attention.

Though it was Universal’s Frankenstein (1931) that would make Karloff a box-office star in his own right, the actor would go on to make two other films for Columbia in the 1930s (The Black Room and The Man They Could Not Hang). Though Columbia studio boss Harry Cohn didn’t care much for horror pictures, Karloff’s on-screen villainy was a hot commercial property ripe for exploitation. So Columbia cast him – in a dual role as bothers Anton and Gregor De Berghman’s – in Roy William Neill’s big-budget historical melodrama The Black Room Mystery (the title later shortened to The Black Room). It’s interesting that the two-page spread Columbia took out in the trades didn’t play up the film’s “horror” angle. Only that the film would star “Boris Karloff: The Man They Love to Hate in a powerful mystery romance.”

Columbia’s The Man They Could Not Hang (1939) followed, the first of a five-picture deal Karloff would strike with the studio. Between 1939 and 1942 the actor embarked on a series of Columbia films that fans describe as the actor’s “mad scientist” pictures. All five of these melodramas/horror-sci-fi pics, as well as The Black Room, are included on Mill Creek’s new Blu- ray package Thrillers from the Vault. Two additional horror/sci-fi efforts from Columbia (Return of the Vampire and Five) round out this generous – if curious - set. But we’ll get to that in a moment.

In many respects the first four of Karloff’s mad scientist films closely resemble one another in construction. They’re formula films. In each Karloff portrays a scientist/doctor working on a formula or experiment that will benefit all mankind. But in each instance the science goes wrong - which causes Karloff to do the same. In fairness, his murderous turn-of-heart is usually due to the interventions of disbelievers. The premise of all these “mad scientist” films can be summarized in a line Karloff delivers in The Man They Could Not Hang. Having vanquished nearly all of those he holds responsible for his murder conviction, he snarls bitterly, “Every gift that science has given them has been twisted into a thing of hate and greed!”

In Nick Grinde’s The Man They Could Not Hang (1939), Karloff plays Dr. Henryk Savaard, a noble scientist who plans to test his newfangled mechanical heart pump on a young and trusting medical associate (Stanley Brown). To conduct this experiment, the young man must be first put into a state of clinical death prior to reification. But due to the alarm of his hysterical nurse – the fiancé of the test subject, to boot – the authorities are alerted. Upon their hurried arrival at Savaard’s laboratory, they do not allow the pleading scientists the chance to revive the corpse of the test subject.

Savaard is tried for murder and executed on the gallows. But the scientist’s devoted assistant Lang (Byron Foulger) collects his body from the prison morgue, applies the mechanical heart procedure on Savaard’s corpse, and resurrects Savaard. But Dr. Savaard is no longer a benevolent scientist. The actions set off by the “treacherous” nurse has left him mercilessly unhinged. He’s now interested only on exacting revenge on the twelve jurors and prosecution team who found him guilty of murder.

In Grinde’s The Man with Nine Lives (1940), Karloff plays Dr. Leon Kravaal, a scientist whose cancer research leads him to believe that freezing those afflicted – temporarily in a secretive, subterranean glacial chamber - helps retard or cure the disease. But the authorities – pressed by a gaggle of wary villagers - wrongly suspect Kravaal is up to no good. They travel out to his secretive island with the intent of hauling Kravaal to prison.

With the life of his frozen patient in jeopardy due to this unwelcome incursion, Kravaal releases a gas, rendering everyone – including himself – unconscious in the frozen chamber. The film flashes forward a decade on when a trio of scientists decide to investigate Kravaal’s mysterious disappearance. Upon finding both the doctor and his interlopers perfectly preserved in ice, all are thawed out. But Kravaal, now crazed with revenge, uses his new lease on life to continue his experiments on his imprisoned and unwilling subjects.

Grinde’s back again for Before I Hang (1940). In this one Karloff plays Dr. John Garth, an elderly, mild-mannered scientist in search of a serum that will retard the aging process. He’s not successful in his first effort, compelling him to perform a “mercy killing” on a patient whose life was nothing but a “sleepless, tortured nightmare.” For this act he’s convicted of murder and sentenced to hang. While awaiting execution, the warden (unreasonably) allows Garth to continue with his experiments under the supervision of a prison doctor Dr. Howard (Edward Van Sloane). Reworking the formula, Garth has the bad idea of mixing the blood of recently executed fellow inmate – who happened to be a three-time convicted murderer – into the serum.

Garth chooses to be the willing guinea pig himself – he’s about to be executed anyway, so has nothing to lose – and injects the serum into his own bloodstream. This time the age reversal works – but with a caveat. Though Garth begins to transform into his younger self, his veins now carry the “contaminated” blood of a murderer. Unable to fend off evil impulses, Garth strangles Dr. Howard. But prison authorities mistakenly pin Howard’s murder on another inmate and Garth – injured in a frantic melee with that inmate - is ultimately pardoned. But the tainted blood he carries compels him to seek out fresh victims outside of prison walls.

Things go no better for Karloff’s Dr. Julian Blair in Edward Dmytryk’s The Devil Commands (1941). Despondent over his wife’s death in an automobile accident, Blair is convinced brainwaves of the deceased live on following a body’s expiry - and such waves can be recorded electrically on a graph. Though most of his colleagues scoff at his theory, Blair is determined to continue his work in a remote cliff side cottage near the sea. To this end he has built an elaborate – and decidedly eerie – laboratory: one brimming with electrical gimmickry, wires and steel-plated robotic helmets. Such experimentation might have been sanctioned had Blair not robbed local graves in search of test subjects. Needless to say things, as ever, do not turn out well for anyone involved.

The sixth and final Karloff Columbia effort in this set is Lew Lander’s The Boogie Man Will Get You (1942). This is a more lighthearted affair, a black comedy that’s, regrettably, only occasionally comedic. The film, a co-feature with Peter Lorre, is mostly a poor cousin to a more recent and successful enterprise. The Boogie Man Will Get You is mostly an ill-conceived knock-off of Karloff’s popularity as the murderous Jonathon Brewster in the Broadway stage production of Arsenic and Old Lace.

There is a key difference. While the Broadway play and Lander’s film attempt to mix laughs with menace, the former does so to perfection, the latter… not so much. As this is a WWII era-film, Karloff’s Professor Billings and Lorre’s Dr. Lorencz work to create a race of super-humans to assist the Allied war effort. It’s best to be a fan of mug boxer-turned-character-actor “Slapsie” Maxie Rosenbloom if one truly expects to mine sixty-six minutes of reasonable entertainment.

The seventh and eighth films of this Thrillers from the Vault set are the only two not featuring Karloff. Lander’s The Return of the Vampire (1942) features Bela Lugosi’s caped return as Count Dracula… well, more or less. In the film his character is actually referred to as Armand Tesla, but Lugosi plays his part mostly as he had the more fabled Count of Tod Browning’s Universal classic of 1931. While there’s no Dwight Frye to attend to his sinister beckoning’s, this film’s “Renfield” styled servant is Andreas Orby (Matt Willis), a talking werewolf.

As with The Boogie Man Will Get You, this film too situates a favorite horror actor in a modern WWII setting. The vampire Tesla is resurrected in the film’s earliest scenes as his graveyard internment is disturbed by a German air-raid bombing over London. This is, most welcomingly, the first time The Return of the Vampire has been issued in the U.S. on Blu-ray. The title was previously issued by Columbia/Tri-Star on a DVD release of 2002.

The set’s eighth and final film Five (1951) is the odd man out here, a thoughtful if dystopian film, courtesy of writer-director-producer Arch Oboler of Lights Out radio fame. A nuclear bomb blast has wiped out all of the world’s population, save for five souls who wander and ponder moralities, politics and the future’s gloomy future prospects. It might have been best to include Five on Mill Creek’s sister set to this Thriller release, Sci-Fi from the Vault.

In truth, my first reaction when scanning this set’s packaging was wonderment why a 1950’s film such as Five was included in this set of 1940s horror-mystery programmers? There are several 1940’s pictures from the Columbia vault that would have better fit this Thriller set thematically and chronologically: Will Jason’s Soul of the Monster (1944) and Henry Levin’s Cry of the Werewolf (1944), for starters. The former title was issued as a Columbia Classics made-on-demand DVD in 2011. To my knowledge, the only official release of the latter was on a Goodtime VHS tape – issued way back in 1989 – it’s well past due for a digital re-freshening.

So what’s the verdict? The films look great for their age, with minor speckling and scratches here and there, but nothing too distracting. It’s a mixed bag if we’re to contrast this Mill Creek U.S. issue with Eureka’s UK handsome Blu-ray set Karloff at Columbia. If you’re a US fan without a multi-region Blu ray player than the Mill Creek set should more than satisfy. There are more than a handful of worthy extras on the Mill Creek set. The primary bonus is the forty-minute long doc Madness and Mayhem: Columbia Horror in the ‘30s and ‘40s which features historian C. Courtney Joyner discussing the studio’s involvement in the horror trade.

Five of the eight films on the Mill Creek feature audio commentaries: Dr. Steve Haberman (The Black Room), C. Courtney Joyner and Heath Holland (The Man They Could Not Hang), Tom Weaver (The Devil Commands and Five), the Monster Party Podcast group (The Boogie Man Will Get You) and Larry Blamire (Five.) And, of course, the Mill Creek set gives you the added bonus of two extra features. On the downside, the four Mill Creek discs share space on two spindles – on my copy the discs frequently dislodge. This will surely not make fussier collectors happy.

If you are a particularly devoted fan with region-free Blu-ray capabilities, Eureka’s Karloff at Columbia (a limited edition of 3000 copies) might still be considered for your collection as the six films featured on that set comes with fresh commentaries separate of those found on this Mill Creek set. The Eureka release also contains an informative booklet featuring the musings of author Stephen Jacobs (Boris Karloff: More than a Monster), film critic Jon Towlson and film scholar and University lecturer Craig Ian Mann. Eureka also includes audio of four Inner Sanctum radio broadcast programs (1945-1952), all featuring Karloff. So, as Karloff the sinister might say, it’s upon you to “choose your poison.”

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

Get ready to roll out with the AUTOBOTS and their human allies as they defend the world from the evil DECEPTICONS with a Limited-Edition SteelBook™ set featuring six blockbuster TRANSFORMERS movies on 4K Ultra HD™! Debuting May 30, 2023, this out-of-this-world collection arrives just in time for fans to catch up on all of the thrilling adventures before the newest chapter, TRANSFORMERS: RISE OF THE BEASTS, arrives in theatres on June 9th.

The TRANSFORMERS 6-Movie SteelBook Collection includes TRANSFORMERS, TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN, TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON, TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION, TRANSFORMERS: THE LAST KNIGHT and BUMBLEBEE all in eye-popping 4K Ultra HD. Each film is presented in a separate SteelBook with the feature on 4K Ultra HD Disc plus a Blu-ray Disc™ with legacy bonus content. All six SteelBooks are housed in a striking magnetic slipcase that also includes a collectible decal and access to Digital copies of each film.

The TRANSFORMERS film franchise ranks among the biggest of all time, having earned over $4.8 billion at the global box office.

Bonus content included in the TRANSFORMERS 6-Movie SteelBook Collection is as follows:

TRANSFORMERS

Disc 1 - 4K Ultra HD

Feature Film

Commentary by director Michael Bay

Disc 2 – Blu-ray

Our World

Their War

More Than Meets The Eye

TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN

Disc 1 - 4K Ultra HD

Feature Film

Commentary by Michael Bay, Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman

Disc 2 – Blu-ray

The Human Factor: Exacting Revenge of the Fallen

A Day with Bay: Tokyo

25 Years of TRANSFORMERS

NEST: TRANSFORMER Data Hub

Deconstructing Visual Bayhem

Deleted/Alternate Scenes

The AllSpark Experiment

Giant Effing Movie

Linkin Park – New Divide

The Matrix of Marketing

TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON

Disc 1 - 4K Ultra HD

Feature Film

Disc 2 – Blu-ray

Above and Beyond: Exploring Dark of the Moon

Uncharted Territory: NASA’s Future Then and Now

Deconstructing Chicago: Multi-Angle Sequences

The Art of Cybertron

The Dark of the Moon Archive

The Matrix of Marketing

TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION

Disc 1 - 4K Ultra HD

Feature Film

Disc 2 – Blu-ray

Bay on Action

Evolution Within Extinction—The Making of TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION

Just Another Giant Effin’ Movie

A Spark of Design

T.J. Miller: Farm Hippie

Trailers

TRANSFORMERS: THE LAST KNIGHT

Disc 1 - 4K Ultra HD

Feature Film

Disc 2 – Blu-ray

Merging Mythologies

Climbing the Ranks

The Royal Treatment: TRANSFORMERS in the UK

Motors and Magic

Alien Landscape: Cybertron

One More Giant Effin’ Movie

BUMBLEBEE

Disc 1 - 4K Ultra HD

Feature Film

Disc 2 – Blu-ray

Feature Film

Sector 7 Archive

Deleted and Extended Scenes

Outtakes

Bee Vision: The TRANSFORMERS Robots of Cybertron

Bringing BUMBLEBEE to the Big Screen

TRANSFORMERS—PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi action violence, brief sexual humor, and language

TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN—PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi action violence, language, some crude and sexual material, and brief drug material

TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON—PG-13 for intense prolonged sequences of sci-fi action violence, mayhem and destruction, and for language, some sexuality and innuendo

TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION—PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action, language and brief innuendo

TRANSFORMERS: THE LAST KNIGHT—PG-13 for violence and intense sequences of sci-fi action, language, and some innuendo

BUMBLEBEE—PG-13 for sequences of sci-fi action violence

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REVIEW: "THE ASPHYX" (1972) STARRING ROBERT STEPHENS; KINO LORBER BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION

By Hank Reineke

The Asphyx Will Rip You Apart… The Asphyx Will Invade Your Mind… The Asphyx Will Destroy Your Soul… If It Were In Your Power… Would You Sacrifice Your Wife… Your Children For Immortality?

The answers to the questions posed above by the advertising campaign for Peter Newbrook’s The Asphyx (1972) was a resounding “yes.” As the gifted but obsessed psychic-research scientist Hugo Cunningham, celebrated British actor Robert Stephens puts everyone in his family through the proverbial ringer by film’s end. Such single-minded research on his part is not accomplished without a measure of personal guilt, mind you. But as a curious man of science – and one obsessed with paranormal exploration - Cunningham pushes forward determinedly with increasingly morbid experimentations.

Such “experiments” include the exhuming of his dead son for some post-mortem testing, the photographing of a condemned man at a public hanging, a self-administered electrocution, putting his daughter’s head through a guillotine pillory and even willfully torturing a tubercular pauper. Hey, the last guy, a poorhouse resident, had only forty-eight hours to live anyway… so he was fair game.

Like Shelley’s Dr. Frankenstein, Cunningham is a man driven by obsession. Appearing before members of the Psychic Research Society, the scientist presents to colleagues a series of slides depicting a trio of unfortunates photographed at the precise moment of their deaths. Each photograph has a “smudge” present, a sort of phantasmagorical protoplasmic image hovering nearby. It’s Cunningham’s theory that the image is an Asphyx, a creature of Greek mythology. The Asphyx is a visual manifestation of one’s tortured “soul the moment it departs the body.” It’s the scientists’ belief that if one could pre-emptively isolate and imprison the Asphyx prior to expiration, that person might carry on as an immortal. This appears to be Cunningham’s endgame interest.

Though adopted son Giles (Robert Powell) is wary of his father’s dark experiments (“This isn’t science!” he warns), he begrudgingly becomes one-half of Cunningham’s research team – to disastrous results as one might expect. Since Cunningham, to his credit I guess, puts his own life on the line in pursuit of science and immortality, it seems only fair to him that members of the family do the same - and without complaint. Which certainly makes the case that, on some occasions, father doesn’t know best.

Cameras began rolling on the The Asphyx on Monday, February 7, 1972, at Surrey, England’s Shepperton Studios. Shooting wrapped a mere five weeks following first photography. The film was to be helmed by first time director Peter Newbrook, a former cameraman and cinematographer who boasted a filmography dating back to the early 1940s. The film certainly looks great, even if the pacing of Newbrook’s direction is somewhat suspect. The Academy Award-winning Cinematographer Freddie Young (B.S.C.) - of Lawrence of Arabia, Dr. Zhivago, The Battle of Britain and You Only Live Twice fame - would use the newish Todd-AO 35mm anamorphic system to great effect. In many respects, Newbrook’s The Asphyx is of similar construct to such British parlour-horror films being churned out by Hammer and Amicus in the late 1960s/early 1970s.

The question now was whether or not a Victorian-era set horror picture would make any money in 1972? The horror biz was already moving away from stately, moody gothic films to more exploitative blood-splattered fare. Nevertheless, upon the film’s completion, it was announced The Asphyx was to be distributed in the British market by Scotia-Barber. On week later, Variety reported that Martin Grasgreen, President of Paragon Pictures, had managed a deal with Glendale Film Productions (London) to handle distribution of The Asphyx in both the U.S. and Canada. In early winter of 1972, Paragon already had a number of exploitative horror-thrillers in release, including Blood Suckers, Blood Thirst and Death by Invitation.

In August of 1972 the Independent Film Journal announced that The Asphyx, described as a “science-fiction suspense thriller,” would be released the following month, the first of twenty-two films that Paragon had waiting in the queue. Box Office promised the film would be the recipient of “an extensive national advertising and promotion campaign,” with “key theater” roll-outs in Dallas, New Orleans, New York City, Philadelphia and Washington D.C.

Upon its September release, Variety noted The Asphyx was – welcomingly - bucking the recent trend of blood and gore horrors: Newbrook had intentionally delivered a more “cerebral” or “thinking man’s horror film.” Acknowledging the film was well cast and beautifully photographed, the trade review did rue that Brian Comport’s verbiage-laden screenplay was slow going and riddled with historical improbabilities. Other critics noted Robert Stephen’s mad scientist was one seemingly gifted with precognitive invention.

It was true. As The Asphyx is set in the year 1875, scientist Cunningham had somehow managed to prefigure such mechanical appliances as the first motion picture camera (not actually developed until 1888) and an electric chair (not developed into the early 1880s). To the credit of Box Office, the trade paper cautiously suggested that, “Selling the film as a monster movie would not be to its advantage: a more intelligent approach to sci-fi fans is indicated.” I imagine “less-intelligent” monster movie fans might have shifted restlessly in their seats back in ’72, awaiting even the mildest of jump-scares.

The Asphyx was the fourth and final of writer Brian Comport’s screenplays to be produced. His first screenwriting effort, Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny and Girly (Cinerama Releasing Corp., 1970), was an out-and-out freaky and grisly exploitation film. Technically speaking, Girly wasn’t a completely original invention of Comport’s. The original story was loosely based on the stage play Happy Family (aka All Fall Down) by the novelist and BBC radio playwright Maisie Mosco. His second screen credit was a co-authorship with director Pete Walker on Man of Violence (later re-titled The Sex Racketeers). That film was a convoluted and overly talky international-gold smuggling-racketeer-caper-thriller with a pronounced sixties swagger.

In one of those local-lad-makes-good-type newspaper items, journalist Anthony Cardew of the Surrey Mirror and County Post, shared an hour with Comport, then basking in the success of his industry breakthrough with Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny and Girly. “I was offered a script which a producer wanted lived up,” the writer told Cardew. “He wanted a bit more action or something. I took the script apart and rewrote it completely. I added new characters, took some out and changed the thing entirely. I wrote it in note form, just suggesting the way I thought it should go.”

The producer was pleased with Comport’s revised scenario and formally commissioned him to draft a new screenplay, in the scripters own words, “from the beginning, according to my own ideas.” With the film in production, Comport was also approached by a representative from London’s Sphere books to turn his screenplay into a novelization, a six-week effort bringing in a bit of extra cash.

Many film critics found Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny and Girly – later retitled simply as Girly –aggressively unpleasant in its lurid, sexually suggestive subject matter - and decidedly distasteful in its depiction of depravity and violence. One critic would unflatteringly suggest Comport as a leading “candidate for sickest mind of the year award.” Another nonplussed reviewer thought the film as “Theater of the absurd… absurdly vicious.”

Scolding reviews aside, Comport’s star seemed to be on the rise. In October of 1970, only shortly following the release of Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny and Girly, production had already started on Robert Hartford-Davis’ thriller Beware My Brethren (Cinerama Releasing Corp., 1972) also from a Comport script. Things then cooled for an interim but, following a year or so of film-work drought, Comport was back with The Asphyx.

Though Comport’s script – adapted from a story provided by Christina and Laurence Beers – would appropriate more than a few elements from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the Independent Film Journal interestingly suggested The Asphyx was of similar construct to William Castle’s B-movie classic The Tingler (1959): “There too a visible spirit of sorts popped up; but that one was of fear rather than death.” Though some wondered why a classically-trained actor of Robert Stephens’s caliber would agree to appear in a film clearly beneath his station, the former board-trotter of the Royal National Theatre thought The Asphyx “rather good.” He told journalist Neville Nisse of Staffordshire’s Evening Sentinel, “I really enjoyed making it because I liked the script and the people involved.”

The Asphyx performed reasonably well at the box office – not boffo perhaps, but reasonably well. So much so that in January of 1973, Paragon announced they were going to enter into a co-production deal with Glendale for two additional features. Paragon would, of course, retain all U.S. distribution rights, but would now also share in a generous slice of a film’s international profit. When U.S. box office receipts measurably dipped following the film’s initial run, The Asphyx was often paired on the secondary market with other indie horrors: Night of the Living Dead, Son of Blob and Blood Suckers among them.

(Variety trade advertisement)

In Australia, The Asphyx was given the more compelling title Spirit of the Dead, the adverts teasing an audience confrontation with “The Horror That Lurks Halfway Between Heaven and Hell!” The campaign posters for Spirit of the Dead featured accompanying artwork promising a more ghoulish monster than the film would deliver. The Asphyx would also enjoy a sustained life in the United Kingdom. Exploitatively re-titled The Horror of Death on its re-release, the film would play in cinemas throughout the 1970s. It was often incongruously paired on multi-bills with such chop-socky fare as Kung Fu Virgins and The Angry Dragon.

This 2023 Kino Lorber Studio Classics edition of The Asphyx replaces the Kino/Redemption Films co-issue of 2012. The only really new “Special Features” offered is the commentary track provided by film historians Kim Newman and Stephen Jones and six trailers promoting other Kino Product. This new edition is also packaged in a protective slipcase that mimics the artwork of the case insert. Both the 86 minute U.K. theatrical cut and 99 minute U.S. expanded cut are made available to view. But, as the package warns, the “reconstruction of the extended version blends HD footage mastered from the 35mm negative with SD footage mastered from the U.S. release print.” The changes in visual quality are very significant as forewarned.

For the record, I watched the extended version. Though the inclusion of an additional thirteen minutes is welcome, these extra fragments are of no great interest. In fact, it’s possible the added running time further slows down a film already in desperate need of judicious editing. Newbrook’s direction is competent, but Comport’s screenplay is weighed down by too many sermons: the film’s main characters continually perseverate on the moral misguiding’s of Cunningham’s tampering with spiritual and life-and-death issues. Such hand-wringing tires after a while. Having said all this, The Asphyx is an interesting film, if far from a forgotten classic. While aficionados of British horror should certainly add the title to their watch list, it might be best to screen the film with muted expectation.

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Posted by Cinema Retro in Blu-ray/DVD/Streaming Reviews & News on Sunday, March 26. 2023

REVIEW: ‘FRENCH NOIR COLLECTION’; KINO LORBER STUDIO CLASSICS BLU-RAY

"PIONEERS OF TELEVISION: PETER GRAVES"