By Doug Oswald

Frank Lovejoy, Richard Carlson and Rusty Tamblyn are United States Marines sent to South Korea in the early days of the Korean War in the 1952 film “Retreat, Hell!,” available on DVD and Blu-ray from Olive Films. The movie follows the fictionalized exploits of a Marine battalion during America’s “forgotten war,” one often overlooked in film as well as in our collective memories. We follow these Marines from training at Camp Pendleton, California, to the 1950 landing at Inchon, South Korea, followed by their battles with North Korean and Chinese soldiers through a bitterly cold winter. Everything goes as planned until faced with the unexpected overwhelming response by the enemy.

The film features a fine performance by Richard Carlson as Captain Paul Hanson. He’s a married reserve officer and WWII veteran recalled to active service. He balances family and the needs of the military including military deployments. Carlson’s Captain Hanson is not happy about being recalled to active duty and moving his family to California. Soon after arriving, he’s informed he and his men will be spending all their time in the field training which ratchets up his resentment because he’s not able to spend any time with his family prior to deploying to Korea. This creates conflict between Hanson and his commanding officer and mistrust of his leadership skills. Frank Lovejoy is his commander, Lt. Colonel Steve Corbett, who places duty above all else.

Captain Hanson’s wife, Ruth, is played by Anita Louise. Louise is an actress remembered today for her work in television after she made this film. She isn’t given much to do here with only a couple of scenes as a supportive wife and mother, but does the best she can given the limited time to develop her character. Lovejoy is an actor who dies too young at age 50 in 1962. He’s best remembered for a wide variety of credits on stage, screen and television often specializing as military men, cops and detectives. He’s very good here as the Marine commander holding his men together as they retreat after facing overwhelming Chinese and North Korean troops.

Carlson is best remembered today for his work in the sci-fi classics “It Came from Outer Space,” “Creature from the Black Lagoon” and “The Valley of Gwangi.” He appeared in another Korean War drama, “Flat Top,” as well as the Bob Hope comedy “The Ghost Breakers,” the 1950 version of “King Solomon’s Mines,” the Elvis drama “Change of Habit” and scores of television series and movies. According to IMdb, John Wayne was scheduled to appear in the movie, but backed out due to other movie commitments. It certainly would have changed the movie, depending on the role, if the Duke would have been cast.

Rounding out the cast is Russ Tamblyn (billed as Rusty Tamblyn) as Private Jimmy McDermid, fresh from basic training. Tamblyn is undoubtably the best remembered of the cast today for his role in the David Lynch cult classic “Twin Peaks.” He also appeared in countless classic movies including “The Haunting,” How the West Was Won,” “The Long Ships,” “Peyton Place,” “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers,” “Tom Thumb,” “The War of the Gargantuas” (if you haven’t seen it, you must!), “West Side Story,” “The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm” and countless other movies and television series. Tamblyn remains one of the great underrated talents in film and television.

The movie’s title comes from a statement made by Major General O.P. Smith, commanding general of the First Marine Division at the Battle of Chosin Reservoir, who was asked if he was ordering his men to retreat. The general replied, "Retreat, Hell! We're not retreating, we're just advancing in a different direction." In the movie, the line is spoken by Frank Lovejoy. The phrase, “Retreat, Hell!,” is common among Marines to this day. “Advancing in a different direction” is a phrase often repeated by military troops in all branches.

A co-production of United States Pictures and Warner Bros., the movie was released in February 1952 by Warner Bros. The movie could be easily mistaken for propaganda as it was released during the Korean War and opens with the Marine Corps song over the titles in a score by William Lava which plays throughout the movie. Filmed with the approval of the Marine Corps, the drama is apolitical with a focus on the personal drama of the men caught in extraordinary circumstances. The movie was directed by Joseph H. Lewis with a screenplay co-written by Milton Sperling and Ted Sherdeman. All three have a variety of big and small screen credits from low-budget thrillers to television into the 1960s.

The film is lacking by the obvious California locations standing in for Korea which was commonly used in military dramas and a score which consists mostly of variations on the Marine Corps song But the movie stands out as a small gem about the Korean War with fine performances by Carlson, Lovejoy and Tamblyn.

Prior to the film’s release in San Antonio, Texas, the title was changed to “Retreat, Heck” in local radio ads because the original title was deemed offensive. Both the DVD and Blu-ray look terrific in glorious black & white in this disc released by Olive films. The movie clocks in at 95 minutes in a 1.37:1 aspect ratio. Unfortunately, there are no extras on the DVD or Blu-ray. I recommend picking up the Blu-ray, but you can’t go wrong with the DVD version if that’s your format of choice. In both cases, the movie looks and sounds terrific, although there are no bonus features.. “Retreat, Hell!” is recommended for fans of military movies.

(Note: It has been announced that Olive Films has unfortunately ceased operations. However, this video is still available on Amazon.)

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By Lee Pfeiffer

Most rock 'n roll movies of the 1950s and 1060s were rightly regarded as disposable entertainment. With a few exceptions, they were low-budget attempts to cash in on the new fad before it might fade away. Elvis Presley's films were cinematic gold for a while but even they began to fade with the release of director Richard Lester's two Beatles films, "A Hard Day's Night" and "Help!", both of which brought innovation and style to the genre. The Monkees' feature film "Head" would also go boldly where no rock 'n roll flick would. "The Cool Ones", however, appears to have been made by people whose sensibilities were stuck in amber. Despite being released in an era when rock music was being defined by groups with a cutting edge, this musical comedy, released in 1967, has the hallmarks of similar films made a decade before. In short, it's a movie designed for hipsters but made by middle-aged squares. 

The film centers on the adventures of Hallie Rodgers (Debbie Watson), a dancer seen on one of those "Shindig"-type TV series designed to appeal to teenagers by presenting musical groups performing their latest hits live on stage. Hallie feels she has true star power but the show's arrogant producer, played by Phil Harris, refuses to give her a chance to sing on the program. In an act of defiance on live TV, Hallie steals the microphone from guest performer Glen Campbell and belts out a song. As she is chased around the stage by production executives, she engages in wild mannerisms that the audience mistakes for a new dance. She's summarily fired but later learns she has gained a following and that her moves on stage are now the latest dance craze called "The Tantrum". (I'm not making this up, folks.) She then attempts to woo one-time teen idol Cliff Donner (Gil Peterson) to form a duo. Cliff has fallen on hard times and is currently performing in a failing nightclub run by avuncular British export Stanley Crumley (Robert Coote). The moody Gil is smitten with Hallie but is reluctant to try to regain his former stardom. Ultimately, he concedes when the sees the enthusiastic response from their duets, which help revive Stanley's nightclub. With Stanley as their manager, they set about promoting the act by performing The Tantrum in front of growing audiences. At this point, they are approached by Stanley's estranged brother Tony (Roddy McDowall), a legendary record producer who travels with his own posse and who enjoys a rabid fan base himself. Tony takes control of the act but his sheer narcissism and arrogance results in tension between Hallie and Gil, who break up and reunite more times than I can recount. The bizarre production gets even stranger with a closing act by Mrs. Miller, who was a sixtyish everyday woman whose cover version recording of Petula Clark's "Downtown" became a novelty hit that elevated her to temporary fame.

"The Cool Ones" is awful on every level, but it's so awful it has the virtue to keep the viewer glued to the screen to see if it becomes even more awful.  The songs are mostly awful despite being the creations of notable talents Lee Hazlewood and Billy Strange, although the best of the lot, "This Town", would be a well-received recording by Frank Sinatra a couple of years later. The depiction of teenagers is awful, presenting them as brain-dead zombies who instinctively embrace every new song and dance move they experience on a TV show and instantly turn into raving mobs of fans. Young people are presented in an inoffensive, sanitized manner. No one smokes (cigarettes or anything else) and they're all satisfied sipping tonics and sodas in nightclubs. Cripes, to think this film was sandwiched between the release of "The Wild Angels" and the Woodstock festival....The direction by Gene Nelson (who displayed some talent in other films and TV series) is awful and so are the performances, with Debbie Watson overacting and Gil Peterson, who looks like a human Ken doll, underplaying with predictably boring results. They make for the  least erotic couple seen on screen since the Ma and Pa Kettle series. But the scene-stealing awful performance is provided by Roddy McDowall, who chews the scenery and everything else in sight while presenting an over-the-top caricature of a fussy, demanding gay man. But since film producers felt that teenagers shouldn't know that gay people exist, a plot device is inserted in which we learn Tony's unseen girlfriend is pregnant, which sends him into an even greater hissy fit that only reinforces the gay stereotype. Only dear old Robert Coote emerges with some dignity intact. The film does have colors that jump out of the screen and it is fun to see location footage of old L.A., which is marvelously photographed by legendary cinematographer Floyd Crosby, whose achievements include "High Noon". This would be his final film. The dance numbers are also well-choreographed by Toni Basil, who would go on to have the hit record "Mickey" in the 1980s. In the end, however, the movie makes those Frankie and Annette beach pictures look like biting social commentaries on life in the 1960s. I expected young Mickey Rooney to show up on screen shouting, "Hey, kids- we can put the show on in the barn!!!" The film was released as the bottom attraction on double features. There was probably no damage to anyone's career because few people saw it. 

In viewing "The Cool Ones", I came to the conclusion that I had to disagree with Huey Lewis and the News in that it isn't hip to be square. The film is available on DVD from the Warner Archive. It's a nice transfer and includes the original trailer. The DVD is region-free so that bad movie lovers everywhere can enjoy the film.

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By Hank Reineke

Rightfully or wrongfully, I’m going to concentrate this review of Mill Creek’s Sci-Fi from the Vault Blu on two of this Blu-ray set’s decidedly lesser films: Creature with the Atom Brain (1955) and The Thirty Foot Bride of Candy Rock (1959). This is partially due to the fact that the set’s two most prominent titles, 20 Million Miles to Earth and It Came from Beneath the Sea, were previously issued by Mill Creek back in 2014 on their twofer Ray Harryhausen Creature Double Feature from the same transfers. Though Creature with the Atom Brain is making its U.S. Blu debut on this set, the film has seen a previous Blu issue on the UK import Cold War Creatures: Four Films from Sam Katzman. So only The Thirty Foot Bride of Candy Rock is making a worldwide debut on Blu with this set.

All four films in this new set come, as per the title, from the vaults of Columbia studios. Creature earlier appeared on the commentary-free DVD set Sam Katzman: Icons of Horror Collection (2007). As I am not privy to the sales figures of that set, I can only surmise should Mill Creek release a Sci-Fi Vault Vol. 2 on Blu, we might see the “missing” Katzman titles sprinkled into a future U.S. set. This Mill Creek set is not an “all Katzman” edition (ala Icons). The workhorse producer has no connection to either 20 Million Miles to Earth or The Thirty Foot Bride of Candy Rock.

It’s with no disrespect to the late, great special effects wizard Ray Harryhausen that I’m not going to do a deep dive into 20 Million Miles to Earth and It Came from Beneath the Sea. Though these two films are genuine and iconic sci-fi classics, both have previously gotten the Mill Creek Blu treatment and also received transatlantic Blu releases as well. So I can’t imagine anyone interested in these Harryhausen-associated titles not already in possession of copies. Fair to say, if you own Mill Creek’s previously published twofer, their reappearances here are redundant.

This new set, priced at an MSRP of $29.99, is – happily - available far less expensively from any variety of on-line retailers. In some sense, it’s a bargain. This recent edition does offer a new and informative audio commentary on It Came from Beneath the Sea, courtesy of Justin Humphreys and C. Courtney Joyner. So if you’re an enthusiast of commentary tracks, that’s a checkmark in the plus column. On the other hand, there’s no audio commentary included on 20 Million Miles to Earth, a film no less deserving of annotation. So that’s a checkmark lost.

Oddly, Edward L. Chan’s Creature with the Atom Brain (1955), an arguably less-deserving film, does come with a commentary track – this time courtesy of film producer-writers’ Phoef Sutton and Mark Jordan Legan. It’s nice to have a commentary supplied by two established screenwriters since Creature producer Sam Katzman had conscripted the great Curt Siodmak (The Wolf Man) to script his low-budgeter. The often curmudgeonly Siodmak was a pretty productive scripter, memorably knocking off no fewer than nine sci-fi/horror programmers for Universal 1940-44 – and many other original scenarios for other studios.

Though Siodmak provides a decent enough script for Creature, director Kahn’s film proves a B-film guilty pleasure a best. On their commentary, Sutton and Legan provide a breezy, lighthearted narration filled with the usual, occasionally colorful, anecdotes, often based on their rattling off resumes of the film’s various cast and crew member. To their credit, the two honestly acknowledge the film’s shortfalls, mulling that “the first four and a half minutes are the best thing about it.” The film is a bit of slow-going unless one has a sense of nostalgia about it.

It was late October 1954 when Variety reported that Katzman had tapped Kahn to direct Creature, the first of the producer’s first sci-fi feature film forays. News of actor Richard Denning signing on to star was reported the following week. Similar to Katzman, Kahn was a film industry workhorse, a director not identified with any one particular genre. In the 1950s, Kahn helmed war films, westerns, gangster pics and teenage melodramas. But he also managed to put the fright into the “Frightened Fifties,” cranking out no fewer than eight serviceable sci-fi pics in a four-year period: beginning with She Creature (1956) and finishing with Invisible Invaders (1959). Actor Denning provided a face familiar to 50’s sci-fi fans: the actor had lead roles in The Creature from the Black Lagoon, Target Earth and The Black Scorpion, to name only a few.

It was Columbia’s intention to bill the more pedestrian Creature as the supporting feature to It Came from Beneath the Sea. In June 1955 it was reported the double-bill was to be first rolled out to thirty-one theaters in and around the Los Angeles area. Both films would be produced under the aegis of Katzman’s Clover Productions. Though Kaufman’s low-budgeted independent offerings weren’t expected to bring in boffo box-office numbers, Columbia’s accountants were aware the absence of big name stars and inflated production costs brought better returns on investment.

A trade paper reported bluntly that Columbia, “feels it’s better to make a 15% to 25% profit on a picture than to stand to lose 50% to 75% on a wholly-made studio picture.” While Katzman’s pictures for Columbia (Creature with the Atom Brain, The Giant Claw, Zombies of Mora Tau and The Werewolf) might not have produced great art, they did bring in worthwhile returns on investment. It Came from Beneath the Sea, the far stronger film (with a bigger budget) managed great business, helped in part by a combination of Harryhausen’s screen magic, word-of-mouth excitement and a supportive radio-television-print campaign of $250,000. Though It Came from Beneath the Sea was not the first “giant” monster movie of the 1950s, it was among the earliest, and this monstrous sci-fi sub-genre would blossom throughout the 1950s and well into the 1960s.

Which leads us into our discussion of the final “giant” film offered on this set. The working title of Sidney Miller’s The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock was originally titled The Secret Bride of Candy Brock. The film’s co-screenwriter, Arthur Ross, was familiar writing for films featuring gargantuan(s): he had already helped craft the screenplay for Columbia’s The Three Worlds of Gulliver, a soon-to-be- released pic in 1960. But Candy Rock was to serve primarily as a vehicle for comedian Lou Costello. Though his 1940s heyday was behind him, the roly-poly actor had been introduced to a new generation of fans in the ‘50s through airings of The Abbott and Costello Show television series.

The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock was to be the comedian’s first feature film project following the dissolution of his partnership with Bud Abbott in July of 1957. That pair’s final film, the saccharine comedy-drama Dance with Me, Henry (United Artists, 1956) was generally dismissed as a tired re-play of routines long gone cold. Now, as a solo player, Costello was hoping that Bride might reestablish his box-office prowess. This indie production, shot on the Columbia studios lot, saw Costello’s manager, Eddie Sherman, serving as the film’s executive producer. With such leverage Costello was even able to gift a small role to daughter Carole.

Producer Lew Rachmil suggested to a reporter from London’s Picturegoer that Costello’s titular bride, Dorothy Provine (a 22 year-old blonde that stood 5’ 4” tall), was a “born comedienne – nearly as funny as Lou at times.” Provine was a relative newcomer to Hollywood, having worked only two studio soundstages, one for The Bonnie Parker Story and for a two- episode role as a twelve year old (!) on TV’s Wagon Train. Provine told gossiper Erskine Johnson that she hadn’t “missed a day’s work since I arrived in Hollywood, but I was always scared about every job being my last job.” She needn’t have worried, following Bride the actress was picked to star alongside Roger Moore as a regular character on the television series The Alaskans and would also have a prominent role in the 1963 Cinerama comedy It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.

In conception, Bride seems little more than Lou Costello’s attempt to lampoon the popularity of the ongoing “giant monster” craze. Whiling away his days in an amateur laboratory, Costello’s rubbish collector and would-be inventor Artie Pinsetter (‘a world-famous scientist who’s not famous yet”) is determined to unravel secrets: primarily he wishes to learn how the prehistoric beasts that once roamed a local region known “Dinosaur State Park” had achieved gargantuan sizes. He’s investigating an ancient Native American belief that these creatures achieved such measurement due to a mysterious stream of steam emissions emanating from a canyon cave.

To this end he has constructed an elaborate electronic contraption that he calls “Max.” His invention is part time machine – due to its ability for “changing time curves” - and part straight man. Pinsetter hadn’t needed to go through all the trouble of mechanical tinkering. Walking through the canyon, girlfriend Emmy Lou (Provine), accidentally walks through a plume of canyon steam and finds herself having gained an additional 25 feet in height. The steam, we are told, is the castoff of atomic energy escaping from the bowels of the earth.

To make matters worse for Pinsetter, we learn Emmy Lou is the niece of the town’s self-involved and self-important bank president/gubernatorial hopeful Raven Rossiter (Gale Gordon, of Our Miss Brooks fame). Rossiter doesn’t care much for Pinsetter, and his ill-tempered behavior provides much of the film’s lukewarm comic tension. But ultimately, the film’s concentration is whether or not the townies – and alarmed Pentagon officials – can escape the problems wrought by Costello’s foolish inventions or of his skulking thirty-foot bride.

Shot in the fanciful descriptions of “Wonderama” and “Mattascope,” Bride is not a great film by any measure. But having said this, it’s an innocuous 73-minute nostalgia trip that admittedly brought a number of head-shaking smiles to my face. The film is an innocent bit of nonsense, a “family-friendly” movie that I’m certain brought fun to kiddie audiences of its day. My favorite time capsule moment occurs when an airborne Costello nearly collides with the Soviet Union’s recently launched Sputnik 1 satellite.

Sadly, Lou Costello would not live to see the finished film released to the public. The legendary film star would die of a heart attack, just days shy of age 53, on March 3, 1959 – a mere ten weeks following his first day of shooting on Bride in November of 1958 (production wrapped a mere month later). On March 24, 1959, executives at Columbia announced the aforementioned title change. The film was still in editing by June of 1959 – as was the Three Stooges’ sci-fi comedy Have Rocket, Will Travel. In July Columbia shared plans to package Bride as a late summer trip bill of such other family fare films as Rocket and Ted Post’s The Legend of Tom Dooley.

There were studio previews as early as July 7, but when Bride finally was unleashed on movie screens it was not as one-third of the aforementioned package as scheduled - but rather as the under bill to Disney’s Darby O’ Gill and the Little People or Have Rocket, Will Travel. Though there were no critical raves for Bride – truthfully the film was undeserving of such praise – most reviewers found the film harmless and wholesome family entertainment. Which it was. I suppose it would have been in poor taste to completely dismiss the value of the final film of one of Hollywood’s most beloved – and successful – actor-comedians.

In any event, Mill Creek’s Sci-Fi from the Vault collection has made The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock available for the first time on Blu-ray. Previously the film had only appeared on VHS by Columbia/Tri-Star in 1986 and – with a far lesser transfer - on the cheapie Good Times label in 1988. Its first digital appearance was a 2010 release as a DVD MOD from Sony/Columbia Screen Classics. So, regardless of merit, it’s nice to get this one on Blu. Its appearance here should interest fans of both Abbott and Costello-related productions as well as collectors of vintage 50s Silver Age sci-fi. There’s also a light-hearted but informative audio commentary for Bride provided by the Monster Party Podcast team. Think of a few wise-cracking - but informative - movie-buff friends sitting on the couch alongside you. The commentary adds a bit of color to an otherwise monochrome film.

To its credit, the set also includes two bonus features well worth a look: Daniel Griffith’s 25-minute doc They Came from Beyond: Sam Katzman at Columbia as well as his 14:30 minute doc Fantastical Features: Nathan Juran at Columbia. The former gives us a thumbnail tracing of Katzman’s career in film. The producer knocked out dozens of serials for Victory and Columbia - including Superman (1948) and Batman and Robin (1949) - from the mid-1930s on. He later moved on to producing features for Monogram – a studio described here as Hollywood’s “lowest echelon” - where he enjoyed the first of his feature film successes.

Katzman’s films for Monogram and others were usually made on shoestring budgets with tight shooting schedules. The producer didn’t necessarily favor the horror sci-fi genre during his 40+ years working in Hollywood. But having employed Bela Lugosi on the 1936 serial Shadow of Chinatown, Katzman managed to bring the now underworked and underappreciated actor to Monogram for a series of guilty pleasure, fan-favorite cheapie horror-melodramas. But Katzman was not shy on capitalizing on whatever fad was capturing public fancy. His filmography included everything from ghetto dramas, gangster pics, East Side Kids/Bowery Boys comedies, westerns, sword and sandal epics, early rock n’ roll pics – even a couple of Elvis Presley films (Kissin’ Cousins (1964) and Harum Scarum (1965) .

In the mid-1950s, sensing sci-fi was proving popular with audiences, Katzman scored big as the Executive Producer on such less penny-pinching epics as It Came from Beneath the Sea and Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956). Both of these films featured the completely amazing stop-motion special effects of the great Ray Harryhausen, with whom Katzman was happy to collaborate. In all likelihood, it’s the appreciative audience of so-called “Monster Kids” that continues to stoke interest in Katzman’s work.

The second bonus doc, Fantastical Features, has C. Courtney Joyner and Justin Humphreys taking a brief look at the films of the fast-shot flicks Nathan Juran directed for Columbia. Though not necessarily a horror/sci-fi film director, Juran had previously helmed The Black Castle (1952) for Universal and, more importantly, for that studio’s great giant insect epic The Deadly Mantis (1957). Once moving to Columbia, Juran managed a number of sci-fi/fantasy epics including such cinematic touchstones as 20 Million Miles to Earth, Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958) and The 7^th Voyage of Sinbad (1958).

For the most part, all of these black-and-white films look great for their age, though they’re not entirely pristine: one can expect a few not terribly distracting scratches or speckling throughout. Personally, I’m not sure how many more times I will revisit Creature with the Atom Brain or The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock – they’re not great films - but it’s still nice to add these titles to my ‘50s sci-fi film collection. You’ll have to decide if they’re worth adding to yours.

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By Lee Pfeiffer

Stella Stevens, who started in show business after overcoming the hardships of being a single mother at age 17, has passed away at age 84 after a lengthy battle with Alzheimer's Disease. Her death was announced by her son, actor and producer Andrews Stevens. She was born in Yazoo City, Mississippi and her family moved to Memphis when she was four years-old. By the time she was out of high school, she had been married and divorced and had a young son Stevens was always obsessed with movies and was eventually signed under contract with Fox. She earned a Golden Globe for her screen debut in the 1959 film "Say One for Me" as Most Promising Newcomer. With her voluptuous figure, she caught the eye of Hugh Hefner and she appeared as Playmate of the Month during 1960. She would two more photo shoots for the magazine in the years that followed. Fame eventually followed despite the fact that Fox, which had her under contract, released her from the agreement. She balked at co-starring with Elvis Presley in the 1964 film "Girls! Girls! Girls" because she felt the movie had a poor script. Nonetheless, she needed the money and the film was a high profile hit.

Stevens would go on to become an in-demand popular leading lady, appearing opposite the top male stars of the 1960s. She often was cast as a ditzy blonde but these roles proved she had considerable comedic skills. Among the movies she appeared in were "Too Late Blues", the Jerry Lewis comedy classic "The Nutty Professor", "Advance to the Rear", the first Dean Martin Matt Helm film "The Silencers" and again with Martin in "How to Save a Marriage and Ruin Your Life". She gave an impressive dramatic performance opposite David McCallum in the 1968 crime thriller "Sol Madrid" (aka "The Heroin Gang") and earned praise for her comedic skills in Sam Peckinpah's "The Ballad of Cable Hogue". In 1972, she was prominent in the all-star cast in the blockbuster disaster movie "The Poseidon Adventure", which spawned a fan cult that exists to this day. As the good roles began to diminish, Stevens found work in television, starring in the series "Flamingo Road" in the early 1980s. She would appear frequently in guest star roles on series in the ensuing years. Stevens desired to be a director but found few opportunities, though she did direct two low-budget films. Perhaps the her most impressive achievement was overcoming personal challenges through sheer determination to fulfill her dream of becoming a major star on the silver screen. For more about her life and career, click here.

By Lee Pfeiffer

Burt Bacharach, one of the most prolific musical talents in the modern history of the art form, has died from natural causes at age 94. Bacharach was a rare artist who was honored with Grammy, Oscar and Tony awards. His list of pop hits crossed the charts from easy listening to becoming major hits on rock radio stations. He had long and fruitful collaborations with lyricist Hal David and singer Dionne Warwick, who had some of the biggest hits of her career singing Bacharach songs. He had long feuds with both artists but would eventually reconcile with them. Movie buffs are well-acquainted with Bacharach's contributions to the music of the film industry beginning with his campy but beloved theme song "Beware of the Blob" for the 1958 early Steve McQueen sci-fi film. He wouldn't dwell in the "B" movie realm for long, however. He wrote the hit title theme for "What's New Pussycat"?, a major early career success for Tom Jones. He also wrote the classic title theme for "Alfie", which was sung in the film by Cher. However, both Dionne Warwick and Cilla Black would have hit cover versions of the song. Bacharach won two Oscars for the 1969 film "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" for both the musical composition and for the classic song "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head". He would also win a Best Song Oscar for "The Best That You Can Do",  the theme from the 1980s comedy "Arthur". Bacharach also composed "The Look of Love", one of the most recorded romantic songs of all time. The song appeared, perhaps improbably, in the madcap 1967 big screen spoof version of the first James Bond novel "Casino Royale". It was nominated for an Oscar, as well. The song inspired Mike Myers to create the Austin Powers character and films, which were heavily influenced by "Casino Royale". Bacharach did suffer a major career disappointment when he wrote the score for the ill-fated 1973 musical remake of "Lost Horizon", the failure of which was said to send him into a prolonged funk.

Bacharach was good to his word that he would never retire and continued to work almost to the end of his life, writing new songs and even performing with Elvis Costello and Dr. Dre, an indication of the timelessness and wide popularity of his work. For more about his life, click here.

By Sandra de Bruin with Dean Brierly (BearManor Media), 218 pages, Hardback, Paperback & Kindle, ISBN 979-8-88771-028-0

By Steve Stiefel

Overview

Hollywood with a Smile is not your typical self-indulgent memoir. You will find no axe grinding, closet skeleton rattling, or “MeToo” posturing in these pages, just captivating accounts by Sandra de Bruin of her successful and fascinating life as an actress in the film capital of the world. During a career that spanned decades, de Bruin enjoyed professional and personal encounters with countless Hollywood icons. But rather than beating her own drum, she generously directs the focus onto these familiar faces of film and television.

These beguiling narratives enlighten and charm in equal measure: a hilarious fender-bender with Paul Newman; a working relationship/friendship with Charlton Heston; an affecting encounter with Elvis Presley; accolades from Ricardo Montalban, James Garner and Dolly Parton; recurring chance meetings with Cliff Robertson; adventures and misadventures on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson; a romantic relationship with legendary film director Robert Wise. Plus, intimate perspectives on de Bruin’s life and dreams, follies and foibles, friendships and loves.

A poetical prologue sets the book’s tone and tempo and clarifies its raison d’être. Additional context is provided through capsule biographies that introduce each chapter and personality, and which underscore an era in which stars really were stars. This one-of-a-kind book reveals a side of Hollywood rarely remarked upon—its good side. Furthermore, the insights that de Bruin offers into the vagaries of human character and behavior aren’t limited to her star-studded subjects, but have a universal resonance beyond the bounds of the fabled Dream Factory.

Photo courtesy of Sandra De Bruin.

Q&A with Sandra de Bruin and Dean Brierly

Q: One of the most unique aspects of the book is reading about famous stars like Paul Newman and Charlton Heston outside of their familiar movie star personas.

A: This was a conscious decision—to present these iconic figures in a down-to-earth and real-world context in which they behave just like anyone else. We're all familiar with the classic stories that have been endlessly repeated and recycled. But in our book, you will encounter a different aspect, a different side, to people like Paul Newman, James Garner, Jason Robards.

Q: What was your reason for starting each celebrity chapter with their mini-biographies?

A: We did that partly with younger generations in mind who might not be familiar with some of the celebrities from Hollywood's Golden Era. And we tried whenever possible to draw parallels to contemporary entertainers: for example, comparing Harry Belafonte's talents and accomplishments to those of Usher. Not all of the subjects in the book received the same renown during their lifetimes, like actor Frederick Combs, designer Ret Turner, or C. Bernard Jackson, the African-American playwright and founder of the Inner City Cultural Center in Los Angeles, yet all three made huge creative and social contributions in their respective domains.

Q: In fact, not all of the people you write about were superstars.

A: We felt it was important to pay tribute to the working actresses and actors and the behind-the-scene folks who, in a real sense, are the backbone of Hollywood. Their stories can be just as important and inspiring as those of their famous contemporaries.

Q: Talk about the tone of the book, which is uplifting and positive rather than self-indulgent and snarky.

A: This was never intended as a "tell-all" book, which as a genre feels overdone. There are countless books devoted to dishing dirt on Hollywood stars, but we felt it important to take a different approach. Everyone who has read the book says they appreciate how positive and uplifting and funny it is in a nonjudgmental way.

Q: Sandra, to a remarkable degree, you don’t blow your own horn, and willingly reveal, as the book's subtitle reads, your own follies and foibles. The focus really seems to be on the subjects you write about rather than yourself. Why did you opt for this approach?

A: We didn’t want this book to be just another memoir about someone the general public has never really heard of. We wanted it to mainly be about the icons of Hollywood and my encounters with them, not the other way around. However, I also wanted to include some of my own follies and foibles so the reader would have a sense of who I am.

Q: Yet, these anecdotes do reveal a great deal about your character and perspective, not only with regard to the famous people you met, but towards your career as well. Were you conscious of this during the writing of the book?

A: Yes, I certainly was. Acting is definitely an art, but it is also a business. When not actually performing, I always conducted myself according to my instilled values and in a friendly business fashion. I never relied on my looks or my sexuality. Talent, intellect, and tenacity made me a professional working actress.

Q: How did these unique encounters influence your career and career decisions?

A: Meeting all these astonishing and highly successful people in a genre known for its harsh climate made me realize that I could succeed by being true to myself. The powers that be apparently respected that and my talent.

Q: What was the most enjoyable aspect of writing this book and the most challenging?

A: Writing this book brought back wonderful memories. It made me giggle at my naiveté and applaud my tenacity. The most challenging parts of it were the bios and pulling it all together, but those issues were solved by my writing partner, Dean Brierly. What a guy!

Q: Sandra, how did you come up with a limerick for the prologue? It’s heartfelt, inspiring, and delightful.

A: Thank you! Dean and I agreed that most prologues are a tad boring and wanted to come up with something different. After a glass of wine, or maybe two, I just sat down at the computer and rolled it out. It came so easily! It still astonishes me.

Q: What do you hope people will take away from your book?

A: That Hollywood is not just Tinseltown, but is also filled with lovely people, some of whom become well-deserved icons.

Testimonials

“Sandra de Bruin’s memories of a cherished era in entertainment history are sure to keep you captivated from one page to the next. The author’s unforgettable encounters with select celebrities are presented with such authority and clarity you feel as if you’re almost reliving the experiences with her.

—J.R. Jordan, film historian and author of Robert Wise: The Motion Pictures

“What a happy romp Sandra has written: a mélange of memorable vignettes about stars she met or admired as a longtime actress in Hollywood. It’s at once warm, revealing and hilarious. I loved it!”

—Nick Lyons, author of Fire in the Straw

“I always felt that actors who did not achieve superstardom have the more interesting stories, and Sandra de Bruin is no exception. She shares her life as a working actress, describing amusing encounters with some of Hollywood’s biggest stars.”

—Tom Lisanti, author of Carol Lynley: Her Film & TV Career in Thrillers, Fantasy & Suspense

About the Authors

• Sandra de Bruin has appeared in over 200 television shows, several major films, many Los Angeles stage productions, numerous commercials, voiceover and looping...and, oh, yes, danced in a production at the Los Angeles Music Center. Her informative and witty articles have appeared in several magazines, and her scripts have been optioned, bought, sold and dropped by major studios and independent producers alike. She created the "Actor's Audition Log" and the "Performer's Workshop Log" to fulfill the organizational needs of her fellow performers from coast to coast and around the world.

• Dean Brierly is a film historian and writer who has contributed to numerous print and online magazines, including Cinema Retro, Filmfax, Outre?, and others. Among his many celebrity interviews are Gordon Parks, David Carradine, Michael Moriarty, Stella Stevens, Fred Williamson, and Joe Dante. Dean has contributed liner notes for Blu-ray and DVD releases, and publishes several film blogs, including Fifties Crime Films and Classic Hollywood Quotes.

Click here to order from Amazon. Available in hardback, softcover and Kindle versions.

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

Newly restored in 4K Ultra HD, Elvis Presley’s beloved 1961 classic BLUE HAWAII arrives as part of the collectible Paramount Presents line on both 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray™ for the first time ever November 15, 2022!

Enjoy this rollicking Technicolor musical in ultra-crisp 4K Ultra HD with Dolby Vision™ and HDR-10.  Fully restored from the original 35mm camera negative, BLUE HAWAII looks more spectacular than ever with every colorful costume and vivid Hawaiian background brought to life.  The first of three films that Elvis shot in Hawaii, BLUE HAWAII celebrated the brand-new exotic state and features the massive hit song “Can’t Help Falling In Love,” which was certified platinum.

For the restoration, the original negative was scanned in 4K/16bit, however the opening title sequence was very grainy because it originally used duped film.  That sequence was completely rebuilt using the original film elements from the Paramount library.  Brand new text overlays were created for a truly spectacular opening sequence befitting this delightful film.

The Paramount Presents BLUE HAWAII release includes the film on both 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc™ and on Blu-ray, as well as access to a digital copy of the film.  The Blu-ray additionally includes the original theatrical trailer and the following new bonus content:

· Commentary by historian James L. Neibaur

· Blue Hawaii Photo Scrapbook—contains high-res images from the Paramount archives, including behind-the-scenes shots

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Cinema Retro has received the following press release from Time Life:

BY DOUG OSWALD

Aldo Ray, Cliff Robertson and Raymond Massey are soldiers at odds with one another in “The Naked and the Dead,” available on Blu-ray via the Warner Archive Collection. It’s 1943 and America is island hopping in the Pacific during WWII. The film was directed by Raoul Walsh and based on the best selling novel written by Norman Mailer, who was inspired by his personal experiences in the Pacific front during the war. “The Naked and the Dead” is a sibling of sorts to “Battle Cry,” another film directed by Walsh and based on a best selling novel by Leon Uris. Both movies share a similar melodrama and the use of extended transgressions that take us out of the battle front via flashbacks. Both movies also share several of the same actors in lead and supporting rolls. It’s hard not to draw comparisons, but “The Naked and the Dead” is the weaker of the two movies in terms of story and performances and it feels like there’s less at stake.

Aldo Ray is the nastiest of the bunch as Sergeant Sam Croft, the seasoned platoon sergeant and borderline sociopath who cuts out gold teeth from dead Japanese soldiers and carries them in a pouch around his neck. In a flashback we meet his wife Mildred, played by Barbara Nichols, who is caught cheating by Croft. Later in the movie, one of Croft’s men finds a wounded bird which Croft crushes to death in his fist. Ray is perfect for this part and while it’s hard to like Croft, it’s hard not to enjoy Ray’s performance in this movie. He’s the kind of platoon sergeant that would inspire anyone to want to transfer out.

Raymond Massey is Brigadier General Cummings, a man of ambition which may exceed his capabilities. In many ways he’s not much different than Sergeant Croft. Both men are overtly depicted, or at the very least it’s insinuated, as being incapable of pleasing their wives. General Cummings feels soldiers are expendable pawns and if this isn’t clear, he discusses this during a game of chess with his military aide. Cummings is okay with the officers having a few luxuries denied the enlisted men.

Cliff Robertson is Lieutenant Robert Hearn, the personal aide for General Cummings. Hearn comes from a respected and wealthy family and he’s lead the life of a playboy until departing for war. We see him dreaming about a dozen beautiful women catering to his every need, but is he longing for the good old days or a wasted bachelor life? The battle of wills between Hearn and Cummings devolves into pettiness by Cummings resulting in Hearn requesting a transfer. Hearn is reassigned to take command of Croft’s platoon and they are ordered to take a hill controlled by the Japanese ahead of an airstrike being pushed by General Cummings.

Assigning Lieutenant Hearn to command the platoon doesn’t sit well with Sergeant Croft,who sends Lieutenant Hearn through the mountain pass knowing the Japanese are there waiting for them. In what appears to be several days journey through the jungle, across a river and then climbing through a mountain pass, several of the men are killed by various means including a venomous snake, falling from a mountain cliff and enemy fire. When it comes time for the survivors to call in the enemy position and meet up with the Navy transport, they seemingly arrive on the beach in minutes. It’s a small quibble, but the movie is trying to be a“Bridge on the River Kwai” -type epic rather than keeping to small scale melodrama. The movie exteriors are believable and were filmed on location in the Republic of Panama with extensive use of studio interiors and matte paintings.

The film opens at the Jungle Bar in Honolulu where we meet the principal characters including stripper Willa Mae (Lily St. Cyr), the love interest of L.Q. Jones as Woody Wilson, one of several familiar faces in the film. Filling out the platoon is William Campbell as Brown, Richard Jaeckel as Gallagher, Joey Bishop as Roth and Robert Gist as Red. They offer much of the brief comic relief in the otherwise grim movie.

Raoul Walsh’s career was winding down by the time he directed “The Naked and the Dead.” Known for his crime dramas and military themed movies, Walsh created the tough guy personas associated with James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart and Errol Flynn in a wide variety of hit movies throughout the 1930s, 40s and 50s.

The screenplay is by Denis and Terry Sanders. Denis is a two-time Academy Award winning documentarian and is perhaps best known for directing the 1970 documentary “Elvis: That’s the Way it Is” and the 1971 concert movie “Soul to Soul.” Denis also directed the 1962 war drama “War Hunt,” the 1964 drama “Shock Treatment” and the 1973 cult favorite “Invasion of the Bee Girls.” He also worked as a director and writer on several 1950s and 1960s TV series. He would occasionally work with his brother Terry, another two-time Academy Award winner, a writer and also director, mostly for television. He’s probably best known for his military themed documentaries such as 1989s “Return with Honor”, 2008 film “Fighting for Life” and most recently the 2021 documentary “9th Circuit Cowboy.”

“The Naked and the Dead” was a co-production by RKO and Warner Bros. released in August 1958. The movie is presented in widescreen WarnerScope, features a score by the great Bernard Herrmann and clocks in at two hours and 11 minutes. If the movie suffers, it’s because it needs more time to flesh out the characters, especially those played by Cliff Robertson and Raymond Massey, as their parts feel underdeveloped. When we finally get to the climactic action piece, the movie tends to bog down. The Blu-ray looks and sounds terrific with the theatrical trailer as the only supplement on the disc. The movie is a guilty pleasure of mine and, while far from perfect, makes a great weekend double bill with “Battle Cry.” The movie is recommended for fans of gritty military films.

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BY JOHN M. WHALEN

When Trappist Monk Ambrose (Marty Feldman) is told by Brother Thelonious (Alfred Hyde-White), the abbot of the monastery, that he must go out into the world to raise $5,000 to pay off the church’s landlord, he begs him not to make him go. Ambrose was left on the monastery’s doorstep as an infant and has never set foot out in the real world. Universal’s “In God We Trust” (1980) is the story of what happens when a totally innocent character confronts a corrupt world, including and especially those who commercialize and capitalize on religion. In another sense, it’s also the story of Marty Feldman, the British comedian with the bulging eyeballs who believed you could tell the truth and make jokes about society’s sacred cows and not pay a price for it.

Feldman co-wrote (with Chris Allen), starred in and directed “In God We Trust,” (the full title of which is actually, “In God We Trust; Give Me That Prime Time Religion.”) It was the first film of a five-picture deal Feldman made with Universal after having a hit with “The Last Remake of Beau Geste” (1977), and his breakthrough role as Igor, the bug-eyed hunchback in Mel Brooks’ “Young Frankenstein.” “In God We Trust” is a scathing satire on the big business of organized religion as practiced by TV evangelists. The film is prophetic in terms of how it predated the TV evangelist scandals of the mid-80s. Jim and Tammy Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart and others would go down in infamy soon after the film was released. (Although some infamy lasts longer than others. Jim Bakker is back on TV and Tammy is the subject of an Oscar-nominated film.) It also warned of the dangers of mixing church and state, something that has become part of American politics today.

The first person Brother Ambrose meets after he’s kicked out of the monastery is Reverend Sebastian Melmoth (Peter Boyle), a traveling minister who drives around in a church built on top of a truck. The reverend takes him to Los Angeles and sets up his stand selling Levitating Lazarus Dolls. “Step right up, sinners!” the reverend says. “Take a miracle home with you! Get your own Levitating Lazarus Doll! See him rise from the dead in the privacy of your own home!”

His next encounter is with a hooker with a heart of gold named Mary (Louise Lasser). She is, in fact, the first woman Ambrose ever met and he’s surprised when she tries to hide from cops by climbing up under his robe. When they stop at an outdoor lunch counter they have a fairly hilarious discussion about sex, in which he tells her he notices that girls are different from men. “You have legs and those bumpy bits.” He ends up staying in her apartment, sleeping on the sofa.

Next day he goes out to look for a job and is hired as a carpenter for P. Pilate Wholesale Religious Novelties, nailing little plastic Jesus figurines to wooden crucifixes. It’s not long until he has sex with Mary and goes into a church called The World Wide Church of Psychic Humiliation, and tries to confess his sins. But the priest’s hearing aid malfunctions and turns into a microphone blaring out Ambrose’s detailed confession to anyone in hearing distance. When he comes out of the church a crowd on the sidewalk gives him a big round of applause.

Ambrose next encounters TV evangelist Armageddon T. Thunderbird (Andy Kaufman), head of the Church of Divine Profit (CDP). The legendary Kaufman dressed in a White Elvis suit with a snow white bouffant hairdo piled on top of his head gives an amazing performance as a power mad preacher out to take over the world. He’s headquartered in a high rise office building that has a replica of the Capitol Dome on the roof. His private office is modeled after the White House Oval Office. There’s a side door that opens into a private room where Thunderbird converses with G.O.D., (General Operational Directorevator), a giant computer containing God himself (Richard Pryor).

The script contains some ruefully funny lines. When Ambrose tells world- weary hooker Mary that he thought the meek were supposed to inherit the earth, she tells him: “The meek may inherit the earth but not until the strong are finished with it. By that time, it won’t be worth having.”

Rev. Thunderbird gets to toss off one liners like: “You can fool some of the people all the time.” When he discovers Rev. Melmoth’s idea of a traveling church: “Mobile Churches!” he says. “Let’s run that up the crucifix and see who genuflects!” On the importance of money, he says: “It takes money to buy things. Who’s going to clothe you? J.C. or J.C. Penney?” He guilts his audience with: “God is in intensive care and who put him there? You did!”

Thunderbird builds a fleet of mobile churches, designed with familiar looking Golden Arches and a neon sign on top that keeps track of how many million souls are being saved every day. He dupes Ambrose into fronting the mobile church business by offering to pay off the monastery’s mortgage. Things seem to be going all Thunderbird’s way until Brother Ambrose has a private talk with G.O.D.

It’s hard to believe how critics back in 1980 dismissed “In God We Trust” as a total failure. Even Roger Ebert gave it one and a half stars and accused Feldman, among other things, of thinking that “characters will seem funny if you give them a funny name.” The movie deserved a better reception. That’s not to say it’s not without its flaws. A little more care could have been taken with continuity. Some scenes don’t seem to flow naturally into the next, and some of the comedy seems forced. But overall it’s a highly entertaining film that has something important to say.

Kino Lorber’s Blu-ray comes with an exceptional audio commentary by Feldman’s close friend, writer Alan Spencer, creator of the “Sledge Hammer” TV series (1986-1988). Spencer provides his explanation for “In God We Trust’s” failure at the box office. In one scene Thunderbird cites numerous three-letter conglomerates, starting with the Holy Trinity, including “ATT, RCA, GMC, ITT, IBM FBI, MCA, KKK . . . .“ Universal demanded that MCA, its parent company, be removed from the soundtrack. Feldman had the right of final cut in his contract and refused. According to Spencer, the studio cut Feldman’s legs out from under him by refusing to promote the film and compromised its distribution when it was released. On top of that they threw his five-movie deal out. Feldman was devastated. His next film, “Slapstick of Another Kind,” (1984) was a Jerry Lewis flop that Siskel and Ebert called the worst film of 1984. Feldman at least was spared hearing that. He died in 1982 of a heart attack in Mexico while on the set of “Yellowbeard” (1983), a pirate comedy starring Graham Chapman and Eric Idle. Mel Brooks took the high road and attributed his death to his habit of smoking five packs of cigarettes a day, drinking gallons of coffee and eating fried eggs every day.

The disc also includes a separate audio commentary by film historian and author Bryan Reesman. Reesman has a mile-a-minute style of delivery that sometimes is hard to keep up with but his commentary contains loads of information. There are a number of trailers included on the disc including a “Trailers from Hell” for “In God We Trust” with Alan Spencer.

This is an important Blu-ray release that hopefully will inspire a reevaluation of “In God We Trust.” Highly recommended.

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(Check out John M. Whalen's blog)

Elvis in "Charro!", released the same year as "True Grit"- 1969.

BY LEE PFEIFFER 

When John Wayne was signed by producer Hal Wallis for the role of cantankerous marshal Rooster Cogburn in the film version of Charles Portis's bestseller "True Grit", there was immediate speculation as to who would be cast as the young Texas Ranger, La Boeuf. Wayne and Wallis agreed that Elvis Presley would be an ideal choice. In fact, Wayne had approached Elvis on several occasions over the years to appear on screen with him only to have the dictatorial Colonel Parker put the kabosh on any such dream teaming. Parker always insisted that Elvis get top billing, even when it was impractical. For example, in the mid-1950s when Elvis had just emerged as a music sensation, he had the opportunity to co-star with Burt Lancaster and Katharine Hepburn in "The Rainmaker".  Yet, the Colonel insisted that Elvis get first billing despite the exalted status in the industry of Lancaster and Hepburn. The deal fell through, much to the dismay of Elvis who always wanted to stretch his acting abilities beyond the simplistic musicals that were his trademark on the big screen. Indeed, Parker told Wallis that the only way Elvis would appear in "True Grit" is if he got billing above John Wayne! Obviously, that wasn't going to happen and newly minted superstar Glen Campbell got the role opposite the Duke. He acquitted himself very well despite not having had any previous acting experience. The movie turned out to be a blockbuster that saw Wayne win the Best Actor Oscar and Campbell score a hit on the charts with the title song.  Bruised by the collapse of the "True Grit" possibility, Elvis starred in his own western, "Charro!". It was his way of finally exerting independence from the Colonel. In fact, it's the only feature film in which Elvis doesn't sing on screen, though he does warble the title song. "Charro!" wasn't a bad movie, but audiences stayed away and Elvis would soon give up movies forever to concentrate on his concert and recording career, though he did star in a couple of very good feature length documentaries.  As for his elusive pairing with John Wayne, the mind still reels at the possibilities that were never fulfilled.

For more, click here.

(This article has been corrected from an earlier version that stated "Charro!" was filmed in Europe. Reader Angel Rivera pointed out that it's a misconception that the movie was made in Europe, given the fact that it has the style of a spaghetti western. In fact, the movie was filmed entirely in the USA.)

 If you haven't subscribed for Season 17 of Cinema Retro, here's what you've been missing:

Issue #49 (January, 2021)

Lee Pfeiffer goes undercover for Robert Vaughn's spy thriller "The Venetian Affair" .

Cai Ross goes to hell for "Damien- Omen II"

Ernie Magnotta continues our "Elvis on Film" series with "Elvis: That's the Way It Is"..

Robert Leese scare up some memories of the cult classic "Carnival of Souls"

Dave Worrall and Lee Pfeiffer look back on the 1976 Sensurround sensation "Midway"

Remembering Sir Sean Connery

James Sherlock examines Stanley Kramer's pandemic Cold War classic "On the Beach".

Dave Worrall goes in search of the Disco Volante hydrofoil from "Thunderball"

Gareth Owen's "Pinewood Past" column

Darren Allison reviews the latest soundtrack releases

Issue #50 (May, 2021)

50th anniversary celebration of "The French Connection" : Todd Garbarini interviews director William Friedkin

"Scars of Dracula": Mark Cerulli interviews stars Jenny Hanley and Christopher Matthews

Mark Mawston interviews Luc Roeg about his father Nicholas Roeg's "Walkabout"

James Bond producer Kevin McClory- Matthew Field and Ajay Chowdhury interview his family members

John Harty pays tribute to "Young Cassidy" starring Rod Taylor

"The Curse of the Werewolf"- Nicholas Anez pays tribute to the underrated Hammer horror film

Dave Worrall on the moving 1974 adventure film "The Dove"

Lee Pfeiffer on what worked and didn't work in "Goodbye, Columbus"

PLUS! You will also receive our fall issue:

Dave Worrall chronicles the challenges of bringing Cleopatra to the big screen in a 14 page Film in Focus feature loaded with rare photos.

John Harty looks at the ambitious but disastrous Soviet/Italian co-production of "The Red Tent" starring Sean Connery, Claudia Cardinale and Peter Finch

Terence Denman rides tall in the saddle with his story behind "The Savage Guns", the only Western ever made by Hammer Films

Dave Worrall and Lee Pfeiffer unveil the secrets of "Ice Station Zebra" starring Rock Hudson, Ernest Borgnine, Patrick McGoohan and Jim Brown

Rare original U.S. drive-in movie theater adverts

Brian Davidson's exclusive interview with David McGillivray (aka McG), screenwriter of 1970s horror flicks and looks back at "Hoffman", the bizarre film that Peter Sellers wanted destroyed.

Nicholas Anez examines the underrated thriller "The Night Visitor" starring Max Von Sydow, Liv Ullmann, Per Oscarsson and Trevor Howard

Plus regular columns by Raymond Benson, Darren Allison and Gareth Owen

USA/CANADA: SUBSCRIBE TO SEASON 17: (ISSUES 49, 50 & 51)

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BY TODD GARBARINI

During the years that I spent in elementary school, watching movies on television was an exciting prospect. Considering that for me there was no other way to see films other than theatrically, viewing movies on television was something that I looked forward to regardless of the film being shown. In 1979, my best friend at the time was one of only a handful of people I knew who had cable television, in his case HBO. He told me about a great many films that I was not even aware of: Don Coscarelli’s Kenny & Company (1976), Frank Simon’s The Chicken Chronicles (1977), Sidney J. Furie’s The Boys in Company C (1978), and Enzo G. Castellari’s The Inglorious Bastards (1978). I always hoped that some of these films would make their way to television. Some did, some did not. His recollection and explanation to me of what he saw in these films made me regard him as quite the raconteur. These films seemed to make a big impression on him and listening to his enthusiasm for them made a big impression on me.

The Inglorious Bastards also made an impression on film director Quentin Tarantino, who worked at Video Archives in Manhattan Beach, CA for a number of years while in his twenties during the VHS and Beta home video viewing boom. He saw the film on television several times while living in Los Angeles and later the film, to my surprise, was released on home video under the titles of Deadly Mission and, unbelievably, G.I. Bro. He was hired by the video store’s owner as he was already a scholar of cinema and could discuss and recommend movies to the paying customers. His enthusiasm for this film led him to adopt the title to his 2009 film Inglourious Basterds, a two-and-a-half-hour World War II film that he spent at least six years thinking about and writing. It’s his sixth film as a director and he is still in command of his powers.

Inglourious Basterds, a brilliantly entertaining revisionist view of how we wish the war in Europe ended, is separated into five chapters. Chapter One, subtitled “Once Upon a Time in Nazi-occupied France”, is one of the most intense sequences that I have ever seen in a film. At just over 20 minutes, it is a lesson in bravura filmmaking. In 1941, a farmer, Perrier La Padite (Denis Menochet), is cutting wood and his wife is hanging up the family clothing when her mood changes – she hears the distant sound of a motorcycle. She knows that it can only be Germans. As the family prepares for the inevitable interrogation, we know from their body language that something is amiss. Although several German soldiers arrive only one of them, Colonel Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz, in an Oscar-winning performance), approaches. He is complimentary and ingratiating towards Perrier and plays a verbal game with him to ascertain if his family is hiding Jews, an assumption that he already knows to be true. How the director handles this scene cinematically illustrates why he is one of cinema’s best filmmakers. The tension that he builds and the measured sentences that Landa uses to get the information that he wants is first-rate dialog. When the massacre of the hidden Jews in the floorboards occurs, one girl, Shosanna Dreyfus (Melanie Laurent), survives and runs off under Landa’s laughter and admiration.

Chapter Two, “The Inglourious Basterds”, takes place in 1944 and concerns Lieutenant Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt, and his name is a play on actor Aldo Ray, who appeared in many war films) who oversees a group of men who capture and scalp Nazis. Sergeant Donny Donowitz (Eli Roth), aka “The Bear Jew”, is part of this group designed to turn the tables and instill fear in the Germans. This sequence is a joy to watch as it gives the Nazis a taste of their own medicine.

In Chapter Three, “A German Night in Paris”, we are reacquainted with Shosanna under the assumed name of Emmanuelle Mimieux. She now owns a cinema and is harassed by Fredrick Zoller (Daniel Bruhl) who is smitten with her and, like other Germans, won’t take no for an answer. Later, Zoller attempts to interest Mimieux and is again rebuffed. At a restaurant gathering with Joseph Goebbels, Mimieux is strong-armed to permit a Nazi propaganda film, Nation’s Pride, to be shown with all head Nazis in attendance including, amazingly, Adolf Hitler. Sure enough, Landa comes into the picture, and Mimieux does her best to answer his persistent questions about her theatre, trying to gauge if Landa knows her real identity. This sequence, like Chapter One, is extraordinary as the dialog is constantly masking what is going on beneath the surface, and the audience is never sure what might happen next. Unpredictability is just one of Mr. Tarantino’s many talents.

Chapter Four, “Operation Kino”, is similar to Chapters One and Three in that much is going on, however the probability of things going very badly is always imminent. A mixture of undercover agents and Germans ends the scene in a bloodbath that sets the stage for the film’s finale.

Chapter Five, “Revenge of the Giant Face”, is an extraordinary ending to the Nazi’s evil and their ultimate comeuppance as the cinema is packed with Hitler, Goebbels, Heydrich and many of the architects of the Final Solution to the Jewish Question. The Giant Face alluded to belongs to Shosanna who, along with her lover and theater co-worker Marcel, carry out the plan to kill the Nazis by locking the escape routes and igniting a pile of combustible nitrate film stock located behind the screen. The cinema comes crashing down in a conflagration that causes deaths of the Nazis. The Basterds get their machine gun kicks by shooting as many enemies as possible. The ending is surprising, but ultimately satisfying.

Mr. Tarantino burst onto the film scene in 1992 with his debut film Reservoir Dogs. I saw it in New York, and I knew that I was in the hands of a truly gifted storyteller. His follow-up, Pulp Fiction, took the 1994 Cannes Film Festival by storm and won the Palme D’Or, and he snagged an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay (and again in 2013 for Django Unchained). His subsequent films have not disappointed, and the dialog is often just a vehicle for something more tension-filled or sinister. Other times, it’s completely innocuous. The back-and-forth storytelling, jumping ahead at times, makes the action at hand that much more interesting. Inglourious Basterds is a linear narrative and despite there being a myriad of characters, the three major ones are Raine, Landa, and Dreyfus/Mimieux and the film pretty much revolves around them and their motives: Raine wants to kill Nazis, Landa wants to be evil, and Dreyfus/Mimieux wants to be invisible. His salute to war movies and cinema in general is everywhere – just setting a good portion of the action in a theatre is a labor of love. Eli Roth’s character is named Antonio Margheriti, named after the late filmmaker from Italy. So, the references are everywhere. At 2½ hours, the film is fascinating and flies by. He even throws in the obligatory “Wilhelm Scream” for good measure.

The film is now available in a new Universal 2-disc release which comes with a standard 1080p Blu-ray, a 4K Ultra High Definition Blu-ray, and a digital copy. If you have a 4K player and 4K TV, that is the one to go for as the picture is glorious, no pun intended. The extras are plentiful, though I would have loved a commentary track, and they include:

Extended & Alternate Scenes (HD, 11:31) – This section has three scenes: Lunch with Goebbels, extended version in one take; La Louisiane Card Game, extended version, and Nation’s Pride Begins, alternate version.

Roundtable Discussion with Quentin Tarantino, Brad Pitt and Film Critic Elvis Mitchell (HD, 30:45) – This is a funny and informative interview, with the surprising revelation that Brad Pitt received the script and shot the film six weeks later.

The New York Times Talks (HD, 1:08:07) – This is a just-shy-of 70-minute dialog between the director and New York Times Magazine Editor-at-Large Lynn Hirschberg. As usual, the director is enthusiastic about all-things cinema and speaks with a great deal of energy about the film and his desire to make films without regard to the morality of his characters.

Nation’s Pride: Full Feature (HD, 6:10) – This is the film that the Nazi’s watch in the cinema, and The Making of Nation’s Pride (HD, 4:00) is self-explanatory. It’s very cool to see Bo Svenson appear in Nation’s Pride since he was in the 1978 version of The Inglorious Bastards. It would have been great if a restored version of that film had been included as well!

The Original Inglorious Bastards (HD, 7:38) – This is a look at the director of the original film, Enzo G. Castellari, and his cameo in the Tarantino film.

A Conversation with Rod Taylor (HD, 6:43) and Rod Taylor On Victoria Bitter (HD, 3:19) – The late actor Rod Taylor, whom many will recall from the The Time Machine (1960) and The Birds (1963), is virtually unrecognizable in these mini interviews. He talks about the director’s enthusiasm for film, and a funny story about Victoria Bitter, the Australian beer.

Quentin Tarantino’s Camera Angel (HD, 2:41) – This is a humorous collection of slate shots and the funny on-set comments in between takes.

Hi Sallys (HD, 2:09) – This is a bittersweet piece as it pays homage to Mr. Tarantino’s longtime editor, Sally Menke, who tragically passed away at the age of 56 in 2010 due to dehydration while hiking in hot weather conditions.

Film Poster Gallery Tour with Elvis Mitchell (HD, 10:59) – This is very interesting as Mr. Mitchell talks about the history and meaning behind the beautiful posters that can been seen in the cinema in the film.

Inglorious Basterds Poster Gallery (HD)

Trailers (HD, 7:34) – Teaser, Domestic, International, and Japanese trailers for the film.

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BY LEE PFEIFFER

For a film critic, mocking Elvis Presley movies is like reaching for the low-hanging fruit. There's plenty to disparage. Most of the films are predictable and follow a formula that finds the rock 'n roll idol who started off his career as a rebel being morphed into a clean-cut guy whose most threatening behavior is trying to convince a girl who has caught his eye to make out with him. It wasn't always this way with the cinematic Elvis. There were some rare occasions in which he was cast in compelling dramas and acquitted himself very well indeed (i.e "Flaming Star", "Wild in the Country"). However, it didn't take long for the studios and the dictatorial Colonel Tom Parker to realize that those films didn't gross anywhere near Elvis's feel-good, empty-headed musicals. One major factor was the inevitable accompanying soundtrack album which could be used to cross-promote the movie to great success. Thus, by 1963, attempts to build on Elvis's acting talents went by the wayside and he was cast in essentially the same role in each of his films, albeit with the caveat that his characters would have different background stories. He was generally a genial if somewhat flirtatious and mischievous young guy who was sometimes carrying some troublesome personal baggage from his past. He would meet cute with the film's leading lady (who sometimes was initially resistant to his charms) and the romance would brew in between spontaneous musical numbers that were so numerous, it ensured that a compelling screenplay had to be sacrificed on the alter of the soundtrack album. Yet, Elvis was such a charismatic screen presence that even the least of his films still provide some pleasures and what is arguably his best film, "Viva Las Vegas" rose above the mediocrities because he had genuine and sizzling on-screen chemistry with Ann-Margret. But that was the exception. It's safe to say that beginning with "Girls! Girls! Girls!" in 1962, Elvis's films seemed to be produced on a production line. 

"It Happened at the World's Fair", released in 1963, is typical of the watered-down image of Elvis on the big screen. The film plays it safe throughout. Elvis is Mike Edwards, who along with his troublesome best friend Danny Burke (Gary Lockwood), owns an old-time crop dusting bi-plane. Business is grim, however, and when they can't pay their bills (thanks in part to Danny's obsessive gambling habits), their plane is repossessed and the two gravitate to Seattle to explore other opportunities. The city is hosting the 1962 World's Fair with the expected accompanying fanfare as thousands of people crowd into the attraction to get a view of what life in futuristic America will supposedly be like. Once in Seattle, Mike and Danny have a chance encounter with Walter Ling (Kam Tong), who is the caretaker of his adorable little niece Sue-Lin (Vicky Tiu). After Walter is unable to fulfill his promise of bringing Sue-Lin into the fair, Mike reluctantly agrees to be her chaperone for the day. Mike spies Diane Warren (Joan O'Brien), an attractive nurse who works in the first aid office at the fair. In an amusing scene, he pays a little kid (Kurt Russell in his big screen debut) to kick him in the shin so that he can justify having Diane treat him. The ruse works and Mike turns on the charm and finds Diane responsive- until a second encounter with Russell results in Mike's scam being revealed. There's also a cumbersome late sub-plot introduced in which Mike and Danny are hired to run a flight to Canada.Their benefactor pays to get their plane freed up but it soon becomes apparent he wants them to engage in illegal smuggling.

"It Happened at the World's Fair" is a middling but watchable Elvis vehicle. Much screen time is accorded to Vicky Tiu's charming Sue-Lin but does anyone really want to watch Elvis relegated to the role of babysitter for an entire film? Gary Lockwood breathes some life into the film with periodic appearances as the reckless gambler but the lovable rogues he associates with overact under the uninspired direction of Norman Taurog, who had already collaborated with Elvis on three films and would go on to direct five more. Taurog's workmanlike capabilities were generally of the autopilot variety and one can only assume he was greatly responsible for not capitalizing on Elvis's big screen potential to a greater degree. By contrast, George Sidney brought out the best in the King for "Viva Las Vegas" the following year. "World's Fair" also suffers from the fact that Joan O'Brien's character is somewhat less than fun-loving. She treats Mike more like a scolding mother than a potential lover and there is little chemistry between Elvis and O'Brien. Early in the film, Elvis has a romantic encounter with Yvonne Craig and in those couple of minutes there is more sexual chemistry than he demonstrates with O'Brien throughout the rest of the film, as evidenced by the fact that Elvis and Craig had a real-life fling. Elvis gamely sings an interminable number of songs and the scenario isn't helped by the fact that, while they are all pleasant enough, none of them are memorable. What does set the film apart from other Presley films is that the King is seen on location at the World's Fair, though the footage is somewhat limited because MGM found there were so many people crowding around him that private detectives had to be hired to help Elvis shoot his scenes and afford him protection. Indeed, most of the fair scenes were shot in the studio but the brief glimpses afforded here present an interesting time capsule including the introduction of Seattle's iconic Space Needle.

"It Happened at the World's Fair" isn't the worst Elvis movie and it has its moments but it serves primarily as a reminder of how disinterested Hollywood was in developing his skills as an actor. By the time Elvis put his foot down and broke out of the musicals for the 1969 Western "Charro!", it was too late. Despite his good performance in a dramatic role, the film was met with a yawn by critics and the public. If only Elvis had asserted himself a few years earlier...

The Warner Archive Blu-ray is up to the company's high standards. The only extra is a trailer and a menu that allows the viewer to skip ahead to specific musical numbers.

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BY LEE PFEIFFER

Ed Asner, the seven-time Emmy winner who specialized in playing gruff-but-likable characters, has died at age 91. Asner, a Missouri native, served in the military in the 1950s before pursuing acting as a career. He broke into the profession in the late 1950s and appeared in scores of major television programs, generally cast in dramatic roles. He made his big screen debut in an uncredited role in the 1962 Elvis Presley movie "Kid Galahad" starring Elvis Presley. He went on to play a detective in "The Slender Thread" (1966), a nemesis of John Wayne in Howard Hawks' "El Dorado" (1966) and Robert Vaughn's shady C.I.A. boss in "The Venetian Affair" (1966). Asner's distinctive style led him to work almost non-stop between the feature film and television mediums. In 1970, his career skyrocketed when he was cast as Lou Grant, the grumpy boss of Mary Tyler Moore in her iconic TV sitcom. The show proved that Asner was as adept at playing comedy as he was drama. He won multiple Emmy awards for playing Grant and when the series eventually ended, he would win Emmys for playing the same character in the dramatic off-shoot program "Lou Grant". He also won Emmys for two highly-rated 1970s TV minis-series, "Rich Man, Poor Man" and "Roots". Asner's career continued to thrive with a younger generation, as he acted in and provided voice-over performances in major hit films such as "Elf" and "Up". In his personal life, he served as president of the Screen Actors Guild and was a political activist for progressive causes.

For more about his life and career, click here.

Although these clips are tantalizing but brief, they are also rather interesting. The footage was taken at the Sahara Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. In one clip, Elvis Presley welcomes headliners Marge and Gower Champion in 1957 while another clip shows Clint  Eastwood and fellow "Rawhide" cast members on stage in 1962.

BY LEE PFEIFFER

At some point in The Fastest Guitar Alive, a friend tells the character played by rock legend Roy Orbison that he should stick to guitar playing because he doesn't have much of a future as a gunslinger. The same advice appears to have been given to Orbison about his future as an actor, as this proved to be his big screen debut and farewell as a leading man. The 1967 movie was the brainchild of producer Sam Katzman, who was forever associated with schlock that often top-lined popular singers. Often these poorly-made productions proved to be hits with the youth audience and it was that philosophy that obviously led Katzman to think that Orbison could be box-office gold. Katzman had previously brought several Elvis Presley and Herman's Hermits films to the screen with success, but his instincts were off track with The Fastest Guitar Alive. Even by Katzman standards, the 1967 MGM Western comedy is a dud on all levels. The fact that the Warner Archive has released the movie will nevertheless be welcome news to Orbison fans, who will treat this an anomaly in an otherwise distinguished career that saw him write and perform some of the best known songs of his era.

In this dreary vehicle, Orbison plays Johnny, a gentle singer of ballads who is partners with Steve (Sammy Jackson). Together, the men travel through small towns selling snake oil medicine and performing in saloons with a bevy of showgirls who accompany them (though all seem curiously virginal). In reality, Johnny and Steve are spies working for the Confederacy. They use their cover as troubadours to successfully initiate the robbery of a Union gold shipment in San Francisco with the hopes of bringing the loot to the fading Southern cause in Texas. The slight plot is simply a necessary device to frame the numerous ballads that Orbison gets to warble. It becomes clear that this was a film designed to support a soundtrack album, not the other way around. To make Johnny live up to the movie's title, he is given a guitar that must have been designed by a frontier version of Q Branch: it has a recoiling rifle that extends when a button is pressed. He uses this to comic effect on an Indian tribe, the degrading depiction of which must have been the primary cause for the emergence of Native American activist groups. 

The story ambles from one anemic comic setup to the next without generating any evidence of wit on the part of the screenwriters. Although some of Orbison's tunes are fairly good, every time he begins to sing he is joined by an invisible chorus and full band, all hallmarks of Katzman productions. The result is absurd, as Orbison is supposedly plucking away love songs in intimate situations when the soundtrack clearly has him lip-synching to records made in a state-of-the-art studio. These unintentional laughs are the only guffaws in the entire movie. The biggest flaw in the film is Orbison's performance. He looks nervous and uncomfortable and delivers his lines like a frightened 8th grader making his stage debut in the school annual play. With every line he utters, I was reminded of that classic episode of The Honeymooners in which Jackie Gleason's Ralph Kramden has a panic attack when filming a live commercial as the Chef of the Future. He gets scant help from the supporting cast, although old time Western character actors John Doucette and James Westerfield bring a modicum of dignity to the production. There is one curious aspect to the movie's legacy: it's the only vehicle that ever allowed Iron Eyes Cody to co-star with Sam the Sham, the lead singer of the 60s rock group The Pharaohs.

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BY TODD GARBARINI

In January 1998 I attended a book signing in New York City emceed by author Russell Banks and film director Atom Egoyan. They were on hand to autograph copies of Mr. Banks’s 1991 novel, The Sweet Hereafter, which had been made into a 1997 film of the same name by Mr. Egoyan. Despite varying greatly, the novel and the film both concern the aftereffects of life in a small town in the Adirondacks when fourteen children die following an accident involving their school bus when it careens off a slippery, snow-covered road and sinks into the frozen waters of a nearby body of water. Mr. Egoyan claimed that he was inspired to make the film because, he felt, something terrible will happen to everyone at some point in his or her life, and they will need to find a way to move on.

A terrible fate befell nineteen-year-old Jacquelyn M. “Lyn” Helton in 1969 when, just after giving birth to her daughter, she suffered from terrible leg pain that was misdiagnosed as bursitis; it turned out to be osteosarcoma (bone cancer). She sought medical treatment and was dealt grim news: either have her leg amputated and hope that the cancer did not spread or take a chance on chemotherapy and radiation. The former was not an option for her, and so in earnest she began recording her thoughts and feelings about her life with her photographer/musician husband Tom so that her daughter would hear the tapes and know her after she died. This tragic and heartbreaking story inspired the made-for-television film Sunshine which premiered on CBS-TV on Friday, November 9, 1973 (Mrs. Helton passed before the film was made). Reportedly the most viewed TV-movie up to that point in time, Sunshine stars former model turned actress Cristina Raines as Kate, a pregnant divorcee who meets Sam (Cliff De Young), a photographer/musician who has no real means of supporting her but manages to assuage her tantrums by singing John Denver songs to her. The film begins with her death and her ashes scattered, so we know the outcome from the start.

Sam agrees to raise her child, Jill, as his own in the midst of their carefree lifestyle, leftover from the Flower Children of the Sixties, driving around in a small van painted in carefree love motifs. The film deals sensitively with the issues that no adult wants to face in their lifetime: adultery, premature death, and the fear of the unknown. Ms. Raines gives a heartfelt performance as a woman who is both positive and life-affirming but one who also is angry at the fate dealt her. Ms. Raines gave up acting nearly two decades after Sunshine to become a registered nurse, a career path change also shared by former actress Tisa Farrow. Cliff De Young is also a singer and musician and turns in a likeable performance as Sam. Meg Foster is also excellent as Nora, the woman next door who begins an affair with Sam and is ultimately enlisted to help raise Jill. Brenda Vaccaro is also terrific as the doctor who wants desperately to help Kate and tries to convince her to stay the course, to no avail.

Director Joseph Sargent, who honed his craft in directing television series in the 1960’s and helmed 1970’s Colossus: The Forbin Project, would follow up Sunshine with the last project one would expect from him: 1974’s brilliant, hilarious and completely politically incorrect New York City film The Taking of Pelham 123. Bill Butler, who turns 100 this year and photographed The People vs. Paul Crump (1962) for William Friedkin, Something Evil (1972), Savage (1973), and Jaws (1975) for Steven Spielberg, and replaced Haskell Wexler on both The Conversation (1974) for Francis Coppola and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) for Milos Forman, does his best to make Vancouver, BC a suitable stand-in for Spokane, WA. Credit should also be given to twins Rachel Lindsay Greenbush and Sidney Greenbush who both played Jill. The film was produced by George Eckstein, who also produced Steven Spielberg’s Duel (1971).

If the premise of the film seems a bit familiar, a similar story was written by author Nancy Kincaid as Pretending the Bed is a Raft (1997) and was filmed by director Sarah Polley as My Life Without Me (2003), in which Ms. Polley also starred. Whether or not author Kincaid based this short story on Mrs. Helton’s story, I do not know. Ms. Polley, incidentally, also starred in the aforementioned The Sweet Hereafter.

Sunshine has been released on Blu-ray from the Twilight Time sister label, Redwind Productions, however I cannot verify if they released any other titles. There was talk of releasing Loving You (1957), the Elvis Presley movie.

The transfer was made from either the original camera negative, the interpositive or internegative and was scanned in 4K. It looks like the movie was just made.

The Blu-ray comes with a booklet discussing the film’s impact on the world and how it was released theatrically world-wide.

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BY LEE PFEIFFER

It's never good when a film becomes the object of derision and controversy while it is still in production. There's a good chance it will be a dead duck by the time it opens to the public. MGM's ill-fated 1982 screen adaptation of "Cannery Row" may not have been a dead a duck when it arrived in theaters but it was definitely a mortally wounded one. The intent was to tell a sweet story about lovable eccentrics so it's not without irony that the film would be drenched in bad will and a legal case that extended for six years before it was resolved. Things started out swimmingly enough with David S. Ward, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of "The Sting", set to not only write the script (an adaption of two John Steinbeck stories: "Cannery Row" and "Sweet Thursday") but to also make his directing debut. Nick Nolte and Raquel Welch were the two leads and production was underway when Welch received a letter from the studio advising her that she was fired forthwith, ostensibly for making unreasonable demands on the set. Welch was shocked, since the only "demands" she had made had been contractually agreed to and were hardly excessive. She suspected that her name had been used to drum up interest in the project with the intent of ultimately replacing her with a younger actress, in this case up-and-comer Debra Winger. Welch was 40 years-old at the time; Winger was 25. Welch had been hoping that the role would finally allow her to be cast in more mature, intelligent parts than the sex kitten characters that had brought her to stardom. The case resulted in Welch receiving a good deal of sympathy from women who had been battling sexism and ageism in all aspects of life. The case dragged on for six years and Welch prevailed, winning a judgment of $10 million. However, it was a pyrrhic victory, as she found she had been essentially blacklisted from starring in feature films. 

It was against this dramatic backdrop that "Cannery Row"'s first time director had to ensure completion of the film. To his credit, he did just that, although the result was largely negative reviews and measly international gross of $5 million. The film is set in Monterey, California and though no specific date is mentioned, we assume it is in the 1940s. The inhabitants of Cannery Row (so named because it once was home to a thriving canning industry that has now gone defunct) are a motley lot of friendly but not-too-ambitious people from the outer fringes of society. The most prominent residence of this skid row community is Doc (Nick Nolte), an educated man who works as a marine biologist, though it is never made clear how he earns a salary by sitting around his modest home studying the  habits of various octopusses that he keeps throughout the house. He's a confirmed bachelor who lets off steam with the occasional hook-up with a local woman. One day a new person arrives on Cannery Row, a young woman named Suzy DeSoto (Debra Winger). Like everyone else, she's endured a hardscrabble life and is looking for stability. Failing to find a "real" job, she reluctantly visits the local madame, Fauna (Audra Lindley) and agrees to become one of her "girls", only to fail in her single encounter with a client. Doc is immediately attracted to Suzy and they play a cat-and-mouse game of flirting with each other before starting to date. Suzy fits into the community well and is embraced by a group of eccentric homeless men who contentedly reside in makeshift houses on the street constructed from disused massive pipe cylinders from the old canning plant. Most prominent among the homeless men are Mack (M. Emmett Walsh), the de facto leader of the bunch and Hazel (Frank McRae), a mentally-challenged African-American who is near and dear to all.  The street guys are supposed to be a lovable bunch but director Ward makes them cartoonish. At one point I came to the conclusion that they would be better suited in a Disney animated film..then- presto!- they appear at a costume surprise party for Doc in which they are dressed like characters from Disney's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs". One of the other prominent residences of Cannery Row is a character who is so adorable that you suspect he was written into the script simply to bring out the handkerchiefs when he inevitably dies.

Director/screenwriter Ward has his heart in the right place, but not his instincts. The problem with the film is that there is no dramatic "hook", thus no suspense. It's a bit like spending a few days in Mayberry without Andy, Barney and the other funny characters to liven things up. All you get is politeness and boredom. The core of the story is the on-again, off-again romance between Doc and Suzy, but neither one of them is very interesting as a character. Ward tries to inject some intrigue into the story by revealing why Doc abruptly resigned from being a promising pitcher in major league baseball. I don't need to issue a spoiler alert here before telling you what you've probably already suspected: seems he threw a pitch that conked a batter in the head, thus causing him brain damage. This old plot device about the guilt-ridden former athlete who blames himself for a disastrous mishap had moss on it when it was used in "The Quiet Man", "From Here to Eternity" and a couple of Elvis Presley movies. Not helping matters is the fact that Nick Nolte and Debra Winger don't display any fireworks when they are together on screen. Their best scene shows them dancing and allowing Winger to show off some impressive acrobatics.

"Cannery Row" isn't a bad movie, but it isn't a very good one, either. The most impressive aspect is the production design by Richard MacDonald, who constructed a rather imposing street set where most of the action takes place. However, the way the film is lit and photographed makes it always apparent that we are watching actors on well-designed set, complete with large matte paintings. Consequently, the movie begins to resemble a filmed stage production.

The Warner Archive Blu-ray looks very good indeed but the company generally doesn't provide commentary tracks unless they can be ported over from a previous DVD edition. It's a pity because "Cannery Row" has a compelling behind-the-scenes story that is more interesting than what takes place on screen. The only bonus extra is the trailer.

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BY LEE PFEIFFER

Dwight Chapin was the Appointments Secretary to President Richard M. Nixon when he helped arrange the now legendary, if bizarre, meeting between Elvis Presley and the President. Elvis had made an impromptu appearance at the White House entrance and presented a hand-written letter (on airline stationary), respectfully requesting an audience with the President. Chapin didn't automatically dismiss the request and sent it up through the chain of command, eventually getting approval for the King to visit the President on that December day in 1970. In a way, Nixon and Elvis had some things in common. Both of them had revived their flagging careers through remarkable comebacks. Nixon had been in the political graveyard before being elected to the presidency in 1968, thanks in no small part to the fractious state of the Democratic party. Elvis had been mired in mediocre movies before he decided to get back to the basics by honing his craft with the intention of playing before live audiences once again. The strategies proved to be successful for both men, giving them a common bond even though Nixon was hardly a fan of Elvis or rock 'n roll music in general. Nixon did love movies and had recently praised "Patton" and "Chisum" as examples of his kind of Hollywood productions. However, the President loathed the hippie culture and the youth-driven anti-Vietnam War movement. Thus, when Elvis offered to use his influence to bring a social message of healing to young people, Nixon felt he had nothing to lose.

Click here to read Chapin's first-hand account on Politico.

Cinema Retro has received the following press release:

On the occasion of 40^th Anniversary of the movie icon’s untimely death, Steve McQueen: In His Own Words, serves up the most credible and thought-provoking insights of ‘The King of Cool,” spoken by the man himself using more than 450 quotations from McQueen, all drawn from more than five decades of media coverage, memorabilia and detailed research.

In Steve McQueen In His Own Words, we hear directly from McQueen through the widest array of sources: interviews, published articles, personal letters and audiotapes, creating the most intimate picture yet available of McQueen as an actor, filmmaker, racer, pilot, husband and family man in his own words and from his own perspective. The portrait that emerges is not a saint, not a sinner, nor a martyr, but a complex, contradictory man who became one of the greatest icons of cinema.

Accompanying the 450 quotes are more than 500 photographs, personal documents and memorabilia, many of which are seen here for the first time. They illustrate McQueen’s early life and movie career, as well as his passion for automobiles, motorcycles and antique planes.

Steve McQueen, the global superstar and box office champion of the 1960s and 1970s, remains an enduring mythical figure of alpha-male coolness and has left behind a body of work that only a few will attain in motion picture history. His hell-bent-for-leather take on life and pitch-perfect performances are legendary and he is arguably more popular in death than he was in life.

Surprisingly, the laconic actor who was known for his economy of words in film, had plenty to say in real life. He spoke freely regarding topics such as fame, cinema, money, sex, racing, popular culture, and had a forward-thinking approach on the environment.

Steve McQueen: In His Own Words is the perfect book for everyone interested in this American original.

#   #   #

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Author Marshall Terrill is a film, sports and music writer and the author of more than 25 books, including best-selling biographies of Steve McQueen, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Billy Graham and Pete Maravich.

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BY BRUCE CLARK

Australia during COVID is largely a nation in lockdown, some States worse than others, with State borders closed to travel, or exemptive paperwork checked as you cross. The national death toll has now exceeded 700, and the State that has suffered most is Victoria. The comedian Ross Noble has commented that Australia is currently like a Spice Girls reunion – everyone’s trying really hard, but Victoria keeps letting us down. Ouch…

The capital of Victoria is Melbourne, the one Australian city that rivals Sydney in size and appeal, and probably exceeds it in cosmopolitanism. With the city under curfew, the newspapers daily feature disturbing photographs of the streets standing empty and bleak. The images suggest the end of the world, but Melbourne has already been there. In the movies.

These same streets were rendered deserted once before …by Hollywood…for the filming of Stanley Kramer’s apocalyptic movie “On the Beach” in 1959. The contemporary newspaper shots bear a chilly resemblance to the production stills from that film. Did Hollywood get it right again? Was Stanley Kramer more prescient than he could ever have believed?

A final shot in the movie - again filmed in a Melbourne Street, outside the Victorian Parliament House from where today the Premier fights a valiant battle against COVID - features a Salvation Army banner reading “THERE IS STILL TIME…BROTHER”; while the usual overblown publicity called it “The Biggest Story of Our Time”, warning that “If you never see another motion picture in your life, you MUST see ‘On the Beach’.” For once, was the hyperbole deserved? Double Nobel prize-winning scientist Linus Pauling said: “It may be that some years from now we can look back and say that ‘On the Beach’ is the movie that saved the world”. That’s some commendation.

Kramer was big on messages: “High Noon”, “Judgement at Nuremberg”, “Inherit the Wind”, “Ship of Fools”, “The Defiant Ones”, “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” – yes, it’s a mad, mad, mad, mad world. “On the Beach” was another of Kramer’s warnings, a more than appropriate one at a time when the Cuban Missile Crisis was just around the corner.

“On the Beach” is a movie depicting the last days of a dying world; dying from fallout caused by a nuclear war in the Northern Hemisphere. It seems that some “horrible misunderstanding” launched such a war. “Fail Safe” and “Dr Strangelove” were still to come; horrible misunderstandings, it seems, were to become de rigueur as a means of triggering an apocalypse. After all, how else would a nuclear war begin? Life in the North has largely disappeared. The Antipodes have been untouched by the actual war, but guess what, folks…the radiation is on the way, and death is inevitable. Hence those damning empty streets, once cleared for filming, now eerily empty for real.

“On the Beach” was based on a novel by Nevil Shute published in 1957. Shute was a British engineer who worked on the first British airship and helped the Royal Navy develop experimental weapons for D-Day. Following the old story of the insider being the one to see the dangers, he soon began to warn the post-war world of the proliferation of nuclear weapons. The scientist in the movie…one Mr Fred Astaire…yes, that one…explains: “The devices outgrew us. We couldn’t control them. I know. I helped build them, God help me.” The novel is prefaced by the now-familiar T.S. Eliot quote: “This is the way the world ends…not with a bang but a whimper”. The theme, it seems, was self-evident after that.

Shute had started writing adventure novels at night, and was extremely prolific. While his style was highly criticised, he was a top-selling author for some decades, remembering this is the era of such prosaic but successful authors as Alistair MacLean. “On the Beach” is said to have sold over four million copies world-wide, and is reputed to have knocked “Peyton Place” from Number One sales position in the U.S. How did that happen? Critic Gideon Haigh claims that with this novel “Shute had published arguably Australia’s most important novel…confronting (an) international audience to the possibility of…thermonuclear extinction”. So what’s the Australian connection?

Post-war, Nevil Shute had visited Australia and saw in it a place of greater refuge perhaps than war-torn Europe. He moved with his family to Melbourne and proceeded apace with his literary career. Another best-seller of Shute’s was “A Town Like Alice”, the town being Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. This was filmed in 1956 starring Virginia McKenna and Aussie Peter Finch, and re-made as a television mini-series in 1981 with Bryan Brown and Helen Morse. Incidentally, Bryan Brown also starred, along with his wife Rachel Ward and Armand Assante (in the lead role), in the 2000 television series of “On the Beach”. Brown played the Fred Astaire role of the scientist!

Kramer had a number of problems getting “On the Beach” to the screen, not the least of which was Nevil Shute who disowned the soft-soaping of such an important theme, and the immorality of the screenplay with its suggestion of adultery. United Artists also saw problems, requiring the film to be tamed for wider public consumption. There was, after all, explicit reference to euthanasia as a major plot element, and though radiation was the killer here, the film certainly avoids anything like nasty blistering and any other physical deformity. The U.S. Navy was in no mood to supply the nuclear submarine required for the film. A British diesel sub, HMS Andrew, on loan to the Australian Navy, was dressed up for the part, while the Australian Navy had no problem with allowing filming on board the aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne.

BY LEE PFEIFFER

If anyone still needs to be persuaded to believe that the 1960s was the greatest era for popular music, the documentary "Echo in the Canyon" will provide further evidence. It was a time of such diversity that groups like the Doors and the Rolling Stones could share the top of the charts with Frank Sinatra. Writer/director Andrew Slater traces the emergence of the electronic folk/rock scene that came to life in L.A.'s Laurel Canyon area during the years 1965-1967 when many aspiring young singers and songwriters emigrated to there and inspired each other to create a new sound that transfixed America. Much has been written about Elvis Presley defining rock 'n roll in the 1950s and how the Beatles and other British Invasion bands took the nation by storm in the 1960s. But the highly influential folk/rock scene has rarely been analyzed with the same intensity, despite the influence of the talents that emerged from it. Slater's film finally does justice to this incredible explosion of talent. The film is a patchwork of various interviews that somehow blend together to make a coherent central point: that the artists involved in the folk/rock scene knew they were creating something special. In the film, they discuss how they drew from each other's strengths beginning with the Byrds electronic hit version of Pete Seeger's "Turn! Turn! Turn!". They were competitors on one level, but colleagues on another. When one group or singer came up with a hit, it inspired their friends to redouble their own efforts, occasionally subliminally stealing some aspects of others' songs for themselves.

Contemporary folk rocker Jakob Dylan, son of you-know-who, conducts the interviews as we follow him driving around various Laurel Canyon locations that were central to the movement in the 1960s. Dylan, like his legendary father, wears a somber expression throughout but he does a fine job of eliciting interesting observations from such icons as David Crosby, Michelle Phillips, Ringo Starr, Graham Nash, John Sebastian, Stephen Stills, Roger McGuinn, Jackson Brown, Tom Petty (his last filmed interview), Eric Clapton and legendary music producer Lou Adler. Michelle Phillips discusses her sexually liberated lifestyle while in the Mamas and the Papas and recalls how her husband John, founder of the group, discovered she was having an affair with fellow band member Denny Doherty. Out of frustration, he wrote their hit song "Go Where You Wanna Go" to reflect his wife's aversion to monogamy. (Not mentioned was the revelation in later years that John had been alleged to have carried on an incestuous relationship with his daughter.) Ringo Starr recalls how the Beatles were so impressed with the Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds" album that it inspired them to make "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" and David Crosby admits the real reason his friends and colleagues kicked him out of the Byrds was "because I was an asshole." Dylan even coaxes the often reclusive Brian Wilson out of hibernation for some brief, upbeat comments about the glory days of the Beach Boys.

The film shows Jakob Dylan and and his contemporaries (including Fiona Apple, Beck and Nora Jones) performing spirited and reverent cover versions of some of these artist's greatest hits, intermingled with priceless vintage film footage of the original groups playing them. There are also extensive clips from director Jacques Demy's 1969 feature film "Model Shop" that shows star Gary Lockwood in footage in which he is seen in many of the locales where the great folk/rock music was created.

The Blu-ray from Greenwich Entertainment looks great but unfortunately is bare-bones in terms of bonus extras. However, the film is a priceless time capsule of a wonderful era in popular music that we're not likely to experience again any time soon.

CLICK HERE TO ORDER FROM AMAZON (The film is also currently streaming on Netflix.)

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Issue #47 (May, 2020)

Nick Anez covers "Flaming Star", the Elvis Presley drama that remains an overlooked gem.

Director John Stevenson's tribute to animation genius Karel Zeman

Tim Greaves enters "The House That Dripped Blood"

Ian Brown  interviews actress Isobel Black

Barnaby Page takes flight on "Capricorn One"

Lee Pfeiffer reappraises Victor Buono as "The Strangler" and Brian Keith in "The Mackenzie Break"

Candid on set photos from Sam Peckinpah's "Major Dundee"

Dave Worrall visits a Sergio Leone western film location- in America!

Christopher Russell reveals "Where Eagles Dare" film locations, then and now.

George Anna White analyzes the films and TV series of producer Lew Grade

Raymond Benson's Cinema 101 column

Gareth Owen's Pinewood Past column looks at the making of "Victor/Victoria"

Darren Allison reviews the latest soundtrack releases

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BY LEE PFEIFFER

Having grown up in the wilds of New Jersey, my playground was generally Times Square, so I've never developed a full appreciation of country music, at least outside of the realm of such mainstream, chart-crossing greats as Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Glen Campbell and Kenny Rogers. The numerous attempts to launch country stations on New York radio generally ended in financial disaster. Thus, I acknowledge I'm not very well versed in the lives and careers of legendary country singers, including the man who is considered by many to be the greatest of them all, Hank Williams. Watching the Warner Archive's DVD of the Williams' biopic Your Cheatin' Heart arrived, I felt as though the world it was set in would be as foreign to me as a distant planet. The 1964 MGM release, directed by Gene Nelson, is notable in several ways. It is perhaps the last musical to be filmed in black-and-white and it represents a rare mainstream release for producer Sam Katzman, who was known for cheesy cult classics, though he did produce successful Elvis Presley and Herman's Hermits musicals for MGM.  

I found myself surprisingly impressed by the movie, particularly with George Hamilton's performance as Williams. On the surface, it would seemed to have been a bizarre bit of casting: Hamilton was the ultimate Hollywood pretty boy and he was to play a man who was unsophisticated enough to make Gomer Pyle look like Laurence Olivier. However, Hamilton gives an excellent performance - in fact it may be the best work of his career. The film itself is consistently entertaining, though the background on its production is quite fascinating. Williams emerged from an impoverished youth to become an idol to country music fans. His seemingly endless array of chart-topping hits were sung in his distinctive style of crooning, which generally included high pitched vocals that often approached yodeling. In his personal life, however, Williams had trouble coping with the trappings of success and felt his material gains were somehow an insult to his core audience of everyday folks from modest backgrounds.

BY LEE PFEIFFER

Probably no genre illustrates the rapid advance of cinematic screen freedoms than the biker movie. The genre debuted in 1953 with Marlon Brando in "The Wild One". The film, which chronicled the virtual takeover of a small California town by a wild motorcycle gang, was considered extremely controversial at the time. The biker film remained largely dormant until the release of Roger Corman's "The Wild Angels" in 1966, which became a surprising boxoffice and media sensation. Only a year or two before, teenage audiences were being fed a steady diet of white bread rock 'n roll films that bore little resemblance to real life. Suddenly, the biker film blatantly presented raging hormones, gang wars, drug use and group sex without apology. Young people patronized these films in droves. With social constraints falling by the minute, the biker films- cheaply made as they were- spoke to the emerging generation that would be defined by hippies, drop-outs and protesters. Suddenly, Elvis movies seemed like entertainment for their parents and grandparents.  With the success of "The Wild Angels", imitators galore sprang onto drive-in movie screens across America. The biker films were like any other genre in that some of the entries were poorly done efforts designed to reap a few fast bucks at the box-office, while others had a certain crude efficiency about them. Such a film was "The Glory Stompers", one of the better entries in the biker movie genre. Made in 1967, the film was released by (surprise!) American International, which reaped king's ransoms by producing low-budget exploitation movies. Make no mistake, "The Glory Stompers" is indeed an exploitation movie with little redeeming value beyond it's interesting cast. Dennis Hopper, in full psycho mode, top-lines as Chino, the leader of a brutal biker gang known as The Black Souls. After being dissed by members of the rival Glory Stompers gang, Chino and his posse track down a Glory Stomper, Darryl (Jody McCrea) who is with his gorgeous blonde girlfriend Chris (Chris Noel). Chris is badgering Darryl to leave the biker lifestyle and do something meaningful with his life. They are interrupted by the arrival of the Black Souls, who beat Darryl mercilessly. Believing him to be dead, Chino orders the gang to kidnap Chris to prevent her from filing murder charges against them. Chino advises the group that they will transport her by bike several hundred miles into Mexico, where he has arranged to sell her into white slavery. Unbeknownst to them, however, Darryl recovers from his wounds and immediately sets out to rescue Chris. Along the way he meets a former fellow Glory Stomper, Smiley (former Tarzan star Jock Mahoney), who agrees to join the rescue effort. The eventually pick up one other ally and his girlfriend and head into Mexico in hot pursuit of the Black Souls.

The film features a good deal of padding with extended shots of the bikers cruising down highways or navigating over sandy desert roads. There's also a good deal of footage devoted to sexploitaiton, with topless biker women riding rampant through drug-fueled orgies and the requisite cat right between jealous biker "mamas". This was pretty shocking stuff back in the day and gives the movie a relatively contemporary feel (even though today's Hell's Angels are primarily known for organizing charity fund raisers.)  The cast is rather interesting and it's apparent that Hopper's presence in films like this clearly gave him street cred when he decided to make "Easy Rider". Chris Noel is quite stunning as the kidnap victim who must use psychology to avoid frequent attempts by her captors to rape her. She's also a good actress who brings a degree of dignity to the otherwise sordid on-goings. Jock Mahoney is the grizzled biker veteran who puts loyalty above his personal safety and it's refreshing to see him wearing attire that goes beyond a loin cloth. Jody McRae, son of Joel McRae, is a bland but efficient hero. The supporting cast includes ubiquitous screen villain Robert Tessier and future music industry phenomenon Casey Kassem (!), who co-produced the movie. The direction by Anthony M. Lanza is uninspired but efficient and the cinematography by Mario Tosi (billed here as Mario Tossi) is surprisingly impressive, which explains why he became a top name in "A"-grade studio productions. The rock music tracks, produced by Mike Curb, are awful. Curb was a Boy Wonder at the time, producing memorable music scores for American International films such as "The Wild Angels" and "Wild in the Streets". Here, he's clearly slacking. Curb composed the score with Davie Allan but the duo insert jaunty, upbeat tunes during moments that call for suspense-laden tracks. Nevertheless, the film remains consistently entertaining and stands as one of the better entries in this genre. 

MGM has released "The Glory Stompers" as a burn-to-order DVD. Despite some initial artifacts present in the opening sequence, the print is crisp and clean. There are no bonus extras.

CLICK HERE TO ORDER FROM THE CINEMA RETRO MOVIE STORE

BY FRED BLOSSER 

I saw many, many Italian-made sword-and-toga movies as a kid in the early 1960s at the Kayton, my neighborhood movie house, where they usually played on mismatched double-bills with B-Westerns, British “Carry On” comedies, low-budget noir dramas, and fourth-run Elvis movies. Many of these Italian epics were simplistic and formulaic, as if the producers figured that people had come to see spectacle, sex, and sword-fights, and never mind anything else. Regardless, more ambitious productions occasionally surfaced with slightly more dramatic substance and marginally higher production values. One such entry was “The Colossus of Rhodes” (1961), Sergio Leone’s first acknowledged directorial credit preceding his breakthrough success with “A Fistful of Dollars” in 1964. The Warner Archive Collection has released the 1961 movie on Blu-ray with audio commentary by Sir Christopher Frayling, Leone’s biographer and longtime critical champion.

The script co-written by Leone has plenty of plot -- almost too much, when one development begins to get in the way of another. As the film opens, an aristocratic Athenian war hero, Dario (Rory Calhoun), comes to Rhodes to kick back on vacation and ogle the ladies. Meanwhile, rebellion is brewing against tyrannical King Serses, who secretly schemes with Phoenicia to use Rhodes as a base for piratical raids against their mutual rival, Greece. As part of the deal, Phoenicia has agreed to provide Serses with a huge contingent of slaves to complete the 300-foot Colossus of Rhodes that straddles the harbor. The king needs the free labor to finish the construction after losing many of his initial workers -- starved and beaten political prisoners -- in a mass escape. The imposing statue of Apollo symbolically honors “the strength and power of our King Serses,” says the unctuous prime minister, Thar, but the two men also plan to use it to pour burning oil and molten lead on unsuspecting Greek warships when the enemy attacks in reprisal for Serses’ piracy. In the meantime, Thar schemes to depose Serses and make himself ruler. With the connivance of the Russian – oops, Phoenician – ambassador, the “slaves” imported to work on the Colossus are actually foreign mercenaries in disguise, sneaked in to support Thar’s coup. Got that? I haven’t even mentioned that Carete, the elderly, idealistic engineer who designed the monument, is unaware that the king is reconfiguring it as a war machine. Mirte, the sister of one of the freedom fighters opposing Serses and Thar, hopes to sway Dario over to the side of the rebels, while Thar’s mistress Diala (Lea Massari), who also happens to be Carete’s niece, welcomes the Athenian’s romantic advances for her own purposes. The royalists suspect Dario of being a rebel sympathizer. The insurrectionists eye him as a spy for Serses as he cozies up to Diala.

Cineasts today will recognize several familiar faces in the cast, including the wistfully beautiful Lea Massari from “L’avventura” and “Murmurs of the Heart,” and several actors who would later become Spaghetti Western regulars, including Roberto Camardiel (Serses), Antonio Casas (the Phoenician ambassador), and Nello Pazzafini (uncredited as a soldier in one fleeting scene). Back in 1961 on a Saturday night at the Kayton, Rory Calhoun’s would have been the only familiar face on the screen. The movie’s vintage trailer added as a supplement to the Blu-ray identifies Calhoun as “the star of ‘The Texan’,” as if audiences might be slow to remember that they had seen Calhoun on TV as “The Texan” the night before. As Leone’s token American star, Calhoun is dark, good-looking, and up to the physical demands of the chase and swordplay scenes, but his character is more passive than the usual toga heroes played by Steve Reeves and Gordon Scott. Where Hercules and Goliath usually led the revolts against evil kings in their movies, Dario is swept up in a plot hatched by others. Frayling says that Leone modeled the character on Cary Grant’s urbane Roger Thornhill in “North by Northwest,” to tease the usual conventions of the genre. Just as Grant’s accidental spy was trapped on the giant Presidential heads of Mt. Rushmore, Dario scrambles around on the Colossus to evade pursuing enemies, in what appears to be an impressive matte effect. The 220 B.C. costuming requires Calhoun to wear a short skirt and white sandals that Frayling likens to “Go-Go socks.” In fairness to the actor, he doesn’t look much sillier than Brad Pitt or Colin Farrell in similar garb in the more recent epics “Troy” and “Alexander” (both from 2004). There’s plenty of wrestling and hand-to-hand fighting in the story, with choreography only a little phonier than the average WWE smackdown, but except for one prolonged scuffle, it’s mostly executed by the Italian actors and stunt men who play the rebels and not by Calhoun.

Nancy Sinatra and Aron Kincaid are menaced by George Barrows.

Enjoy the original trailer for the so-bad-it's-fun 1966 horror movie spoof "The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini" that somehow boasts an eclectic cast consisting of esteemed movie greats along with cult film favorites. It's painful to see such fine, legendary actors as Boris Karloff and Basil Rathbone so discarded by the major studios that they had to appear in celluloid dreck such as this. There were some brighter horizons for some of those involved: Nancy Sinatra would go on to star in "The Wild Angels" and "Speedway" (opposite Elvis Presley). Karloff would still get to appear in two genuinely good films - "The Venetian Affair" and Bogdanovich's classic "Targets", but poor Rathbone only had one more film on his horizon: the equally abysmal "Hillbillies in a Haunted House". 

The Robb Report focuses on nine airplanes that were associated with famous films or stars and what has become of them over the decades. From a personal jet owned by Elvis Presley to a Spitfire from "Battle of Britain" to James Bond's microjet to a biplane that flew Harrison Ford and Sean Connery, the stories behind these unusual aircraft make for good reading. Click here to read.

BY MARK MAWSTON

In sport people represent their countries. In music it seems, Elvis Presley was and is still, now more than ever, everything America represents. He optimized the ‘American Dream’ but the tale of the man who changed not only music but culture forever, plays out more like a Greek tragedy than an American classic.

There have been many great documentaries on Elvis but few have matched the scope of “The King” mainly because its tapestry onto which Elvis was sewn is America itself. Both follow similar paths.  

There’s a moment when Ethan Hawke, one of the many key figures in this film says “when my grandfather was alive, America’s greatest export was agriculture. By the time my father grew up it was entertainment”.  This one line sums up the entire film. Elvis, like America, started off with humble beginnings and worked hard to reap the harvest that the dry soils and endless toil could produce. When the Presleys lived in Tupelo they didn’t have a cent to pay their bills and Elvis’s father was incarcerated for changing the value of a check in the hope of buying a few weeks extra food. The analogy of Elvis’s life and America’s own growth in the boom during the post-WW2 world go hand in hand; from the lean to the bloated. Elvis grew up in Memphis, a cultural melting pot and there is good reason to say that if the Presleys hadn’t moved here, then the world would never have heard of Elvis and Rock ‘n Roll as we know it would never have happened. When record mogul Sam Phillips said “If I had a white boy that sounded black I could make a million dollars” he wasn’t white-washing music as some people allude to here. What he was hoping for was that he could find a singer who could break down barriers and introduce the world to a new sound, based on old Delta blues, the definitive American musical heritage. In Elvis, Phillips found the perfect mix of beauty and danger, sweat and cologne and more importantly, black and white. The stars and indeed, the stripes, were aligned right there in the tiny Sun studio in Memphis with Elvis simply tearing up the rule book and playing the music he and Sam loved and admired. It changed music forever.

Chuck D, another key figure in the documentary does his usual “Elvis stole from the black artists” monologue but did he really? Did he not merely celebrate it and introduce it to others as anyone wants to do when they fall in love with something or someone? Would the world have even heard of Little Richard or Chuck Berry or Fats Domino, great artists in their own right, if Elvis hadn’t kicked down the doors that taste and indeed racial boundaries had kept segregated up to that point? Elvis took the choice to spend his childhood in Gospel churches and his teens in predominately black areas such as Beale Street where BB King played. Thus, I find Chuck D’s diatribe all a bit tiresome these days and think that he will be more famous for his line “Elvis was a hero for some but meant shit to me” from Fight The Power rather than any of his other contributions to music. If only James Brown or Jackie Wilson, who were there first hand and knew Elvis, were still around to clarify it all. However, it’s the link between Memphis and Elvis that again sums up the analogy that Presley was the spark that lit the fuse, the plunger to the dynamite that enabled the great Memphis music explosion that followed, both culturally and racially. Memphis was, like the country itself, a place of extremes. Not only is it the birthplace of Sun and Stax Records, two of the studios that made some of the greatest music the world has ever heard, it was also the place where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, the shining light who broke down political racial barriers in the way Elvis had done musically, was assassinated. Memphis is America in a nutshell and when Memphis burned in the riots of the 1960’s, both Sun & Stax were left standing. There may have been war on the streets but the places where entertainment emanated from still stood tall and unscathed, their neon still flickering and lighting up the night long after the flames had turned to ash.

It is the parallels between Elvis and America that make this such a fascinating documentary and so it’s strange that Elvis seems to have lost himself to the entertainment industry he optimized. He was the Dr. Frankenstein who couldn’t control or gain the respect of the monster he’d help create. In parallel worlds, while Elvis suffered through those ‘60’s movies, American youth suffered to a far greater extent through Vietnam. The 1970s brought the soul-draining Vegas years for the singer while America itself took a long hard look in the mirror when the Watergate scandal broke. Both brought artist and country to their knees.

BY LEE PFEIFFER

Actor Tab Hunter has died at age 86 after sudden complications from a blood clot lead to a fatal heart attack. Hunter's blonde hair and hunky build made him a natural for the kind of beefcake leading men that characterized 1950s Hollywood. He was put under contract at Warner Brothers and became the studio's top grossing star during the years 1955-1959. Among Hunter's biggest hits of the era was the WWII film Battle Cry and the screen adaptation of the Broadway musical Damn Yankees. Hunter's popularity briefly extended to singing and his recording of "Young Love" was a smash hit, displacing Elvis Presley at the top of the charts. However, changing attitudes among fickle movie-goers in the 1960s swerved away from the traditional studio concept of a leading man. Hunter continued to work but in less-than-stellar productions. He did, however, have memorable cameos in big studio productions such as The Loved One and The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean.  Hunter remained relevant by appearing on television shows and starring in two bizarre hit cult movies of the 1980s: Polyster and Lust in the Dust. Upon publication of his 2005 autobiography, he came out of the closet and stated he was gay. Hunter acknowledged the obvious: that had he done so back in his glory days, his career would have come to an abrupt end. He lamented how he would have to feign love affairs with actresses and be seen on faux dates. Hunter's late-in-life embrace of his sexuality was welcomed in the gay community and figures prominently in the 2015 documentary Tab Hunter Confidential, which was produced by his long-time romantic partner Allan Glaser. For more click here.

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BY LEE PFEIFFER

Newly released documents and a new book unveil heretofore unknown facts about the infamous meeting between Elvis Presley and President Richard M. Nixon in 1970. The King had written to the President in the hopes of being appointed a federal agent so that he could presumably play a role in Nixon's anti-drug war. In fact, his real motive was simply to acquire the badge as part of his collection of law enforcement memorabilia. Nixon aides persuaded the President to meet with the legendary entertainer at the White House. The meeting was initially awkward for both men. Elvis was out of his element in the White House and seemed a bit intimidated in the presence of Mr. Nixon, who, in turn, was not exactly a leading advocate of rock 'n roll music. Elvis was giddy when Nixon arranged for him to get his badge as an "honorary" agent. In the course of their 30 minute conversation, Elvis discussed how he felt he could have a persuasive effect on young people to avoid drugs (though ironically, he was falling victim to addiction himself). He also made some shocking comments about The Beatles that, when they were revealed publicly, alienated the Fab Four, who had idolized Elvis. For more click here

Elvis's bizarre and ill-conceived meeting with President Nixon was among the factors that detracted from his legacy as a musical legend. His garish wardrobe is what many younger people associate with his persona.

BY LEE PFEIFFER

In a report for the web site of The Guardian, writer Thomas Hobbs examines an inconvenient truth- as the 40th anniversary of Elvis Presley's death approaches, the King's legacy is being diminished. Young people are not conversant in his achievements and relatively few listen to his music as opposed to other acts from decades past such as The Beatles. Part of the blame must be placed on Elvis himself, who in his later years, had squandered his 1968 comeback by becoming a benign lounge act in Las Vegas. He remained a popular draw but younger people regarded him as someone their parents and grandparents wanted to see. The world was changing rapidly but Elvis,  under the Svengali-like control of Col. Tom Parker, was still attired in skin-tight, garish pants suits and appealing to the sexual fantasies of aging female fans. The unsavory circumstances of his death also worked against his legacy. Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin all died from drug overdoses but remain hip even to today's young people. Elvis had the misfortune of dying from drug-related problems while sitting on a toilet, something that has detracted from the tragedy of his death. Even the value of Elvis vintage record albums is declining precipitously. There's plenty of blame to go around when it comes to the Presley estate which greedily licensed virtually any product imaginable, allowing him image to be portrayed on many cheesy "collectibles". No one's making the argument that Elvis's legacy is heading towards oblivion- but it has been poorly served by the people who represent it. Hopefully, younger music lovers who can groove to retro rock will one day discover that Elvis was more than an amiable lounge act, but in fact, was a once-in-a-lifetime musical legend.

For more click here. 

BY FRED BLOSSER

The late Sergio Corbucci (1926-1990) had a long, prolific career in the Italian film industry as a screenwriter and director, but little exposure in U.S. theaters by comparison with his total output. IMDB credits him with sixty-three titles as director. By my count, eleven arrived on Stateside screens, none of them earning Corbucci any real notice at the time. All were genre films -- first sword-and-sandal movies, then Westerns -- before it was cool for critics to treat such products seriously, especially dubbed imports. Three toga-and beefcake pictures -- “Goliath and the Vampires” (1961), “Duel of the Titans” (1961), and “The Slave” (1962) -- were released on drive-in and double-feature bills in the Hercules era. “Minnesota Clay” (1964) had a 1966 run disguised as an American B-Western. “Navajo Joe” (1966) passed through theaters in 1967, earning a typically dismissive review from Bosley Crowther in the New York Times (“results aren’t worth a Mexican peso”). You had to use a magnifying glass to see Corbucci’s name on the movie poster. In his 1994 autobiography, Burt Reynolds said he only took the offer to star in the picture because he thought the director would be the other Sergio . . . Leone. “The Hellbenders” (1967) came and went, also camouflaged as an American production and promoting Joseph Cotten’s starring role. Cotten was a fine actor but hardly big box-office in ’67.

“The Mercenary” (1968) enjoyed a higher profile in a 1970 release, but “Alberto Grimaldi Presents . . .” dominated the credits, including the cover blurb on a paperback novelization that touted the movie as “the bloodiest ‘Italian’ Western of them all . . . by the producer of ‘The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.’ ” “Companeros” (1970) didn’t open in the U.S. until 1972, and then only with limited distribution. “Sonny and Jed” (1972) followed in 1974. Neither made much of an impression as the Spaghetti cycle waned here. “Shoot First, Ask Questions Later” (1975), a sad attempt at comedy in the Spaghetti twilight, loped through rural drive-ins. “Super Fuzz” (1980; U.S. distribution, 1982) was a Terence Hill police comedy that the Times’ Herbert Mitgang said had “one funny gag a few minutes before the end.” At least Mitgang noted Corbucci and Hill by name as “longtime makers of spaghetti westerns.”

If you were nostalgic for Italian Westerns in the late ‘70s and ‘80s, after the cycle had come and gone in the States, you could read about Corbucci in Laurence Staig and Tony Williams’ “Italian Western: The Opera of Violence” (1975) and Christopher Frayling’s “Spaghetti Westerns: Cowboys and Europeans from Karl May to Sergio Leone” (1981). There you would learn that one of Corbucci’s Westerns that never made it to the States, “Django” (1966), was as wildly popular and influential overseas as Sergio Leone’s movies. But good luck in ever seeing it or Corbucci’s other Westerns, unless you might catch “The Hellbenders” in a pan-and-scan, commercial-infested print on local TV.

Thanks to the advent of home video, cable, and streaming internet -- and in particular, DVD and Blu-ray in which his films can be seen in the proper aspect ratio and definition -- both the committed and the curious now have access to virtually all of Corbucci’s thirteen Westerns, even the obscure “Grand Canyon Massacre” (1964), his first powder-burner, co-directed with Albert Band. Is Quentin Tarantino justified in praising Corbucci as “one of the great Western directors of all time”? Today, you don’t have to take Tarantino’s word for it, or not; you can judge for yourself.

By most accounts, a Corbucci Top Five would include “Django,” The Great Silence,” “The Mercenary,” “Companeros,” and “The Specialist” (1969). The first four are all in relatively easy reach in various formats and platforms. “Django,” “The Great Silence,” and “Companeros” have had domestic DVD releases. “The Mercenary” hasn’t, but it shows up periodically on cable channels, albeit in an edited version, and you can find good DVD and Blu-ray editions with an English voice track through Amazon and import dealers on the web.

“The Specialist” remains more elusive. Written and directed by Corbucci during his peak period, originally titled “Gli specialisti” and also known as “Specialists” and “Drop Them or I’ll Shoot,” this Western never played in U.S. theaters, has never had an American video release, and is hard to find even on the collectors‘ market in a print with an English-language option. Not to be confused with other, unrelated films of the same name, including a mediocre 1994 Sylvester Stallone crime drama and an obscure 1975 B-movie with Adam West, it is past due for official U.S. release on DVD. Or, better yet, on hi-def Blu-ray to give Corbucci’s compositions and Dario Di Palma’s rich Techniscope and Technicolor cinematography their due sharpness and color on home screens.

Cinema Retro has received the following press release:

The Man.  The Legend.  “The King of Cool.”  For decades, Steve McQueen has captured our hearts and imaginations. His canon of films is filled with classic titles such as The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape, The Sand Pebbles, The Thomas Crown Affair, Bullitt, The Getaway and Papillon.

But his career was almost derailed by a doomsday pet project that took nearly a decade to come to fruition: the ill-fated 1971 film Le Mans.

As it stands, Le Mans is the most discussed, debated, examined and beloved auto racing film of all-time, which is mind-boggling if the initial reviews of the movie are read.  But ask any motoring aficionado what is their favorite racing movie of all-time, and nine times out of ten it will be Le Mans with an exclamation point.

Now Don Nunley, the property master for Le Mans and Marshall Terrill, the star’s preeminent biographer, reveal the true story of the actor and the movie in the new book Steve McQueen: Le Mans in the Rearview Mirror (Dalton Watson Fine Books – April 10, 2017). 

Featuring hundreds of never-before-seen color photos of the superstar in his prime and a lively narrative, Steve McQueen: Le Mans in the Rearview Mirror is an indispensable book on auto racing’s most respected film, Le Mans and one of cinema’s most beloved stars.

“It was a bumpy ride for all of us. It was the strangest picture that I ever worked on in three decades of filmmaking. And I can confirm that it was not a fun experience,” Nunley said. “What was supposed to be a simple, straightforward movie to make ended up being a five-month nightmare of epic proportions. I like to think of myself as an easy-going guy who generally looks for the silver lining in every cloud, but I’m still looking for one in this case.”

There were high hopes about the 106-minute motion picture at the time principal photography commenced in June 1970. Five months later when filming ended, there was no wrap party, no toasts, no grand farewells; every-one just quietly went away, thankful their ordeal was finally over.

Steve McQueen was an honest-to-goodness real life racing fanatic, and Le Mans was supposed to be his cinematic dream come true. But the movie left him with bitter feelings and lasting emotional dents in his armor. There were conflicts with the original director, John Sturges, personal excesses, budget woes, a war with the studio, a shutdown, months of delays, and an unfortunate accident that left one driver without a leg.

At the time, McQueen was at the height of his stratospheric popularity after an amazing string of box-office hits. Le Mans coincided with his mid-life crisis, racking up several casualties along the way. In one fell swoop, McQueen ended a 15-year marriage, severed ties with his longtime agent and producing partners, saw his production company collapse and lost a personal fortune, not to mention control of the film he had planned to make for over a decade.

He was also in constant fear for his life after learning on the set that he was on Charles Manson’s “death list.” And at the end of the snake-bitten picture, McQueen was presented with a seven-figure bill by the Internal Revenue Service for back taxes.

Decades after crash-landing at the box-office and its savaging by critics, Le Mans has left an indelible legacy in the auto racing world and movie industry.

For more on the book and to order from the publisher click here. 

#  #  #

About the Authors:

Since 1959, Don Nunley has worked in the motion picture industry as a property master, set decorator and production designer. Nunley also started the first product placement agency in Hollywood, working to get products into movies and TV shows, including E.T. drinking Coors beer and Tom Cruise sporting Ray Bans for Top Gun and Risky Business.

Marshall Terrill is the world’s foremost expert on Steve McQueen and the author of more than 20 books, including best-selling biographies of McQueen, Elvis Presley and Pete Maravich.

By Lee Pfeiffer

Elvis Presley is almost always associated exclusively with movie musicals. However, he did stray from the genre to make a Western in which he didn't warble one lyric. The film is  Charro!,  which is  available from Warner Bros. Just as seemingly every actor tried to get on board the spy movie phenomenon of the mid-1960s, by the end of the decade they were attempting to similarly capitalize on the spaghetti western genre. This 1969 film is non-descript as a western - not among the best of the era but far from the worst. It does merit special consideration because perhaps more than any other of his films, Charro! exhibits a persona that Elvis had never been able to reflect onscreen - thanks to Colonel Parker's iron-fisted control over his career and his insistence that The King appear in outdated teen musicals. The razor-thin plot has Elvis trying to distance himself from a murderous gang he used to ride with. Gang leader Victor French isn't the kind of guy you quit on so he frames Elvis for crimes he didn't commit then tortures him into participating in an audacious plot that finds them stealing a giant cannon from the Mexican army and using it to blackmail a town.

BY DARREN ALLISON

The Swinger (1967) and The Pleasure Seekers (1964) are films featuring the charismatic Ann-Margret. Both films are considered to be typical Hollywood pop cinema; light and frothy, flawed, but full of period bric-a-brac and stylish music, much like the Elvis Presley movies of the day. In fact, Margret had already made quite an impact starring alongside Elvis in the film Viva Las Vegas (1964). Margret was certainly beginning to shine in all the right places and had come a long way since emigrating from her native Sweden back in 1942.

The title song of The Swinger was written by André and Dory Previn and the score composed by Marty Paich with additional arrangements by Johnny Williams and Quincy Jones. The Swinger was originally released in both mono and stereo and appeared on the RCA Victor label as one of their DYNAGROOVE recordings. It’s a great collection of songs performed by the enigmatic Margret in her own unique style and also features a couple of tracks from the film’s composer Marty Paich. As the title suggests, the album is also woven with ‘other swingin’ songs’ so expect some excellent additional material such as ‘More’ from Mondo Cane (1962) all of which fits rather seamlessly into the overall essence of the album. At just 32 minutes (which was typical of an album for this time), Cherry Red has sensibly taken the opportunity to pair this album up to make a very respectable and ideal twofer release.

The Pleasure Seekers soundtrack was also originally released on the RCA Victor label and featured a score by Lionel Newman and Alexander Courage. In addition the album also featured four songs from the writing team of Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen. The songs are of course performed by Ann-Margret, with tracks such as ‘Bossa Nova’ and ‘Something to think about’ adding a genuine lush, vibrant feel to the album. At 34 minutes, it works perfectly alongside The Swinger and rounds off the CD rather nicely.

The Swinger / The Pleasure Seekers (CD ACMEM324CD) really does have a great deal going for it. Firstly, they are a match made in heaven. Both albums showcase Margret’s distinguished vocal style and clearly reflect her place in popular culture. Secondly, Cherry Red’s CD marks the first time these two albums have ever been released on any digital format. It’s hard to understand how they had previously slipped under the radar and never seen the light of day before now. The audio quality is also very clean. Whilst there is no indication of the source, both recordings are clear, with nice range and are free from any form of background hiss. Cherry Red has also produced a very nice 12 page booklet to accompany this release which is full of relevant and interesting notes. The only minor grievance I have is in the booklet layout. Whilst there is a lovely reproduction of the original album artwork of The Swinger to the front of the booklet, the full page reproduction of the album art for The Pleasure Seekers sits buried inside the booklet. Placing this artwork to the back cover of the booklet renders it far more practical and makes it completely reversible. It provides the owner with an opportunity of choosing exactly what album cover they want to display to the front. It’s a very simple option, but makes a world of difference to the collector. Other than that, it’s a first rate release that I’m sure will be welcomed and enjoyed by a great deal of people. 

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BY LEE PFEIFFER

By  the late 1960s many popular actors found that their family-friendly trademark films were going the way of the dinosaur. Elvis Presley's popularity on screen waned thanks to Colonel Parker's Svengali influence that saw him block The King's desires to expand into meaningful dramas. Don Knotts, whose low-budget Universal comedies were hugely popular, lost much of his audience when he added some sexual elements to "The Love God?" Equally affected was Doris Day, a genuine cinematic legend who, only a few years earlier, could be counted on to bring in big bucks at the box-office through her romantic comedies. The running gag was that Day always played goodie-goodie characters (one comedian quipped "I knew Doris Day before she was a virgin!") This was not entirely true. Day often played mature women who were either married or quite modern in their views of sexual relationships. Still, she was never less than wholesome even in her pursuit of romance. However,  as the Sixties neared an end the sweeping changes in popular culture, spurred by the new wave of rock artists, extended into cinema as well. Doris knew her day was over on the big screen. She had a lifeline of sorts but she tossed it away when she refused to play the role of Mrs. Robinson in "The Graduate". Her manipulative husband, Martin Melcher, wanted to wring the last few dollars out of her film career and often coerced her into starring in middling projects that she had little enthusiasm for. Her final role as a leading lady on the big screen came in 1968 in the comedy "With Six You Get Eggroll" (you have to see it to understand the relevance of the title.) The film is a factory-made concoction that uses the well-worn trappings of other recent films that tried to combine traditional Hollywood elements with the burgeoning youth market and the new cinematic realism that was all the rage. Generation Gap comedies were churned out by studio executives in an attempt to capture the market for both older and teenage movie-goers.  The highly popular "Yours, Mine and Ours" had immediately preceded  "Eggroll"'s release and the desperate-to-be-hip"The Impossible Years" would open a month later. They all played like extended sit-coms but did offer up legendary actors in starring roles. "Eggroll" is as nondescript as the other films in this peculiar niche but it isn't without its simple, unpretentious pleasures. 

The most refreshing aspect of the movie is the one-and-only teaming of Doris Day and Brian Keith, who was then starring in his own popular sit-com "Family Affair", a sugary confection that is all but unwatchable today. Yet Keith had a raw masculinity that allowed him to excel in playing both light comedy and gritty men of action. In any event, he and Day make for a likable twosome. The familiar story line finds Day as Abby McClure, a widowed mother of an 18 year-old son Flip (John Findlater)  who has just graduated high school and his two very young brothers.  Abby seems content trying to cope with being a single mother as well as that rarest of species in 1968: a successful businesswoman. (She is the hands-on owner of a thriving construction firm.) It's all she can do to fulfill her responsibilities to both her business and her family, which gives the otherwise dated script a somewhat topical element that many women of today can identify with. Abby's sister (Pat Carroll) keeps needling her about the need to find a new boyfriend and potential husband and contrives a meeting with Jake Iverson (Brian Keith), a widower with a teenage daughter Stacey (Barbara Hershey). Abby and Jake have known each other on a casual basis for years but sparks do fly when they meet up at an otherwise disastrous house party Abby hosts. Most of the film covers predictable turf: Abby and Jake decide to get married but their bliss is short-lived when they realize that the blending of two families causes major personality conflicts between Flip and Stacey. Additionally, both teens take pride in the fact that they had been relied on heavily by their parent and feel threatened by the presence of a new spouse who might usurp their adult responsibilities. The constant fighting extends to jealousy about what house they all reside in so, to keep the peace, Abby and Jake devise an cumbersome plan where the family alternates their abode every night. Abby and Jake also find they have very little quality time together and a running gag has them sneaking away to a late night coffee house drive-in where they are greeted with familiarity and plenty of wise-cracks by one of the servers, played by up-and-coming comedy legend George Carlin. The gags are all familiar and highly predictable but director Howard Morris, himself a noted comedic actor, keeps the action moving at a brisk pace and prevents blandness from turning into boredom. At times the movie threatens to become almost poignant when it examines the challenges of blending two families together under one roof with the kids having no choice but to accept a new mom/dad. One scene, in which Abby finally breaks through and earns respect from Stacey, is actually quite touching. However, the finale delves into absurdity when a wild car chase ensues that encompasses some lovable hippies (two of whom are played by future "M*A*S*H" TV stars Jamie Farr and William Christopher.) Whenever family films of this era attempted to present members of the Flower Power movement, the results were generally cringe-inducing and this is no exception. The final scene has a chaotic mess in which everyone converges on a police station- a scenario that I believe I have seen played out about a dozen times in similarly-themed films of this time period. 

Despite its flaws, "With Six You Get Eggroll" is never as bad as you probably fear it will be. The sets are cheesy and poorly lit and the laughs somewhat meager, but I found myself enjoying seeing the teaming of Doris Day and Brian Keith. The mind reels at what the possibilities might have been if they had been cast in a mature adult romance. The only hints we have are a few topical references to sex that occasionally surface in the movie. This type of innocent comedy would be all-but-gone by the time Bob and Carol got into bed with Ted and Alice the very next year. Ms. Day would go on to star in a hit sitcom that ran for years before virtually retiring from show business and the public eye (though she did re-emerge with a cable TV show in the 1980s dedicated to her life's passion: caring for animals.) Keith would go on to star in some very worthy films, among them "The McKenzie Break" and "The Wind and the Lion" and scored a hit with the tongue-in-cheek action series "Hardcastle and McCormick". "Eggroll" is elevated from sheer mediocrity by their presence in the film.

"With Six You Get Eggroll" is available as a bare-bones DVD from Paramount.

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BY LEE PFEIFFER

American ex-Presidents occupy a unique place in society. They represent the smallest, most elite club on earth. Each of the living ex-Presidents has known the bizarre ritual that results from transforming from the most powerful person on earth to someone with absolutely no legal powers in the amount of time it takes the new President to swear to the oath of allegiance. An incumbent President in a deeply divided nation can consider themselves to be successful if poll numbers show they left office with an approval rate of the mid-40s or higher. However, the best way a President can make poll ratings soar is to simply leave office. Traditionally the American people, and the world at large, views ex-Presidents from a saner, more nuanced viewpoint and inevitably their reputations improve with time, largely because they are mostly seen doing good deeds and raising money for charities. The ex-Presidents club has also seen some unexpected friendships develop due to the fact that only  someone who has served in the pressure cooker atmosphere of the Oval Office can possibly relate to what his peers have gone through. Thus we saw President George H.W. Bush form a close bond with President Bill Clinton despite the fact that it was Clinton who deprived Bush of a second term. Word has it that the two men have almost a father/son relationship. Consequently, Clinton and President George W. Bush are said to enjoy a very cordial relationship. When Clinton was in office he served as the unlikely vessel that afforded President Richard M. Nixon a degree of public redemption by calling upon him for advice relating to foreign policy. President Gerald Ford also formed a very close friendship with the man who defeated him, President Jimmy Carter. The two traveled the lecture circuit in a quixotic attempt to convince Americans not to demonize people simply because they disagreed with their political beliefs. Yes, we tend to love our Presidents- as long as there is an "Ex" prefix before that designation. However, it's doubtful many would love ex-Presidents Russell P. Kramer and Matt Douglas, the protagonists of the 1996 political comedy "My Fellow Americans".  Directed and co-written by Peter Segal, the film takes a promising premise that ends up being more fun in theory than it is in execution. 

The film opens with Kramer (Jack Lemmon) and his successor-in-office Douglas (James Garner) being summoned to the White House to participate in an event to be presided over by incumbent President Haney (Dan Aykroyd). Neither man wants to be there, as they both detest Haney (who was Kramer's Vice-President)- but not more than they detest each other. En route to the conference, they insult each other constantly using language that would embarrass a Marine drill instructor. Both of the men have their annoying eccentricities. Douglas is a skirt-chasing womanizer (remember Bill Clinton was in office when the film was released) and Kramer is a penny-pinching tightwad who tarnishes his reputation by whoring himself for big bucks by making a speech a in front of Japanese executives (President Ronald Reagan had been lambasted for doing the same thing when he left the White House.) When they arrive at their destination, the real plot device kicks in. Turns out Haney is corrupt and details of a kickback scheme with a defense contractor are about to be unraveled by a snooping reporter. Haney and his equally corrupt staff get to work to concoct a scheme whereby Kramer will be framed as the real culprit and Douglas will be the top suspect in the murder of the defense contractor. Things go awry, however, when Kramer and Douglas manage to escape and go on the lam. They nearly die in a helicopter crash before being stranded in rural America with sinister "Men in Black" types hunting them down. Almost penniless and virtually helpless without their servants and security force, the two men become like a pensioner political version of Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier in "The Defiant Ones". They need each other to survive but can barely tolerate the other man's presence. The scenario is wide open for some great possibilities but director and co-writer Segal can't quite capitalize on the opportunities. Given the fact that the entire story premise is absurd, Segal manages to ratchet up even more absurdities until the film feels enough like a comic book that I expected the Marvel name to appear in the credits. By foot and car, the Presidents wander through the American heartland like modern Woody Guthries. Along the way they encounter an Elvis Presley impersonator, a former sexual conquest of Douglas (who doesn't believe it's really him), endless chases by Haney's Gestapo-like assassins and high speed car chases. They predictably learn a life lesson about the nobility of everyday Americans and the struggles they endure. The whole improbable mess comes to a climax back at the White House where, for reasons far too laborious to relate here, the ex-Presidents end up being chased on horseback in an attempt to reveal the truth about Haney, who is in the process of honoring members of the Dutch Resistance (!)

"My Fellow Americans" does have some pleasurable aspects and moments. Lemmon excels in playing "Odd Couple"- like scenarios largely because he starred in the film version of "The Odd Couple". The film would have been more enjoyable if he had his usual co-star Walter Matthau with him but it is fun to see Lemmon and Garner square off against each other. There are also a few funny one-liners and modestly amusing scenarios including a surprising revelation at the end but Peter Segal's leaden direction ensures that no scene lives up to its potential. There are a number of good character actors in supporting roles ranging from Lauren Bacall (largely wasted), Wilford Brimley and, most amusingly, John Heard as Haney's handsome but dumb-as-an-ox VP (a not-so-subtle jibe at the legacy of Dan Quayle in the days before Sarah Palin would emerge to take the mantle.)  One of the problems with the script is that it is so intent on not offending anyone's political sensibilities that the obsession with being "middle of the road" becomes annoying and pretentious. Thus, there is no bite to the jokes. For every knock against the GOP there is an equivalent knock against the Democrats. For example, in one scene the hitch-hiking ex Presidents are picked up by a destitute family who live in their car. We make sure we learn how both parties adversely affected their lives. The point of the scene is to show the Presidents humbled by these simple but honest people, but the film presents these noble characters as kind hearted idiots who believe Mount Rushmore is a natural rock formation. As I've written before, Hollywood screenwriters always believe that if they want to show an honest patriot, it has to be in the guise of a Gomer Pyle-type, unsophisticated idiot from rural America. It's the ultimate back-handed compliment. The other cliche readily apparent in the script is that all the dapper, educated and sophisticated characters tend to be crooks, schemers and murderers. Isn't just possible that a "real American" can also be sophisticated, patriotic and educated? Such are the predictable aspects of this lumbering comedy. I will say that the film is quite interesting in an unintentional way. Although released only twenty years ago, it's shocking to see how primitive technology was. No one seems to have a personal computer and there isn't a single cell phone seen anywhere, illustrating just how rapidly these devices came about and changed people's lives. 

"My Fellow Americans" isn't some disaster and one hates to be a Grumpy Old Man about any film featuring Jack Lemmon and James Garner (who gets to replicate his jump from a speeding train from "The Great Escape" in this film). It certainly has some moments that afford minor laughs but the movie would have been better off delving completely into the Theatre of the Absurd in the manner of the "Naked Gun" and "Airplane" movies.

The Warner Archive has released the film in widescreen format for the first time. Previously, it was only available in pan-and-scan. Extras include the original trailer and a mildly amusing selection of bloopers that mostly focus on Lemmon cracking up on the set.

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BY TIM GREAVES

The 1968 jungle-based adventure The Face of Eve has been released on DVD in the UK as a constituent of 'The British Film' collection from Network.

Hunting for treasure in the Amazon, Mike Yates (Easy Rider's Robert Walker Jr) encounters taciturn, scantily-clad jungle beauty Eve (The Velvet Vampire's Celeste Yarnall) when she rescues him from certain death at the hands of savages. Meanwhile in Spain, Yates's financier – the wheelchair-bound Colonel Stuart (Christopher Lee) – has knowledge of the location of a fabled stash of Incan riches, but he's unaware that his friend and business partner Diego (Herbert Lom) has been plotting to cheat him out of his fortune. Diego has coaxed his wife Conchita (Rosenda Monteros) into infiltrating the household in the guise of Eve, the ailing Stuart's long lost granddaughter and imminent sole heir. After Stuart divulges the treasure's believed location to Diego, the duplicitous pair take off to find it...with Yates, in the company of the real Eve, in hot pursuit.

Emerging from under the wing of legendary and prolific producer Harry Alan Towers – the man behind some marvellous exploitationers throughout the 60s, including a splendid run of Christopher Lee/Fu Manchu chillers, plus Shirley Eaton star vehicle The Million Eyes of Sumuru and its sequel The Girl from Rio – if nothing else The Face of Eve gives audiences an abundance of plot for their money. What it doesn’t deliver is anywhere near enough of its star attraction. The film was directed by Vengeance of Fu Manchu's Jeremy Summers, a jobbing director whose name will probably be most familiar in that capacity to fans of ITC TV shows of the 60s. Towers himself took on scripting duties under his oft-employed nom de plume Peter Welbeck. As such, its pedigree was certainly sound enough. It's just a shame that the resulting film falls short of expectation, largely because, as already touched upon, the pair failed to capitalise on their main asset: Celeste Yarnall.

Following a fistful of appearances in TV shows (among them The Man from U.N.C.L.E, Land of the Giants and Star Trek), as well as blink-and-you'll-miss-her walk-ons in films such as Around the World Under the Sea and The Nutty Professor, 1968 proved to be Yarnall's big screen breakout year when she secured a major role in Elvis starrer Live a Little, Love a Little and, perhaps a tad less prestigiously, the titular role here in The Face of Eve. The actress plays the ‘Sheena Queen of the Jungle’ bit to perfection, clad in an admirably-filled chamois leather bikini that gives the eye-catching attire of other jungle babes (such as Evelyne Kraft, Marion Michael and Tanya Roberts) more than a run for its money. Thus, unsurprisingly, whenever she's on screen she's very much the focal point, amusingly changing hairstyle as often as she does her outfit. The problem is that Eve is side-lined for the middle third of the picture, which relocates to Spain and gets a little bogged down in the despicable duplicities of the Diegos and their mission to separate Stuart from his wealth. So protracted is the business going on here that viewers could be forgiven for wondering if Summers is ever going to get back to the more interesting vicinage of the Amazon.

Beyond the obvious audience-bait of Yarnall (depicted on posters clinging to a jungle vine far more fetchingly than Tarzan ever did), Lee and Lom bring star name lustre to the aid of the party – though the former's age-augmenting makeup falls some distance shy of convincing – and wiry-framed Walker Jr makes for an unlikely but surprisingly affable hero. Fred Clark is good value too as a nightclub owner-cum-showman who smells $’s-to-be-mined by exploiting the newly discovered jungle nymphet, whilst Maria Rohm (Harry Alan Towers’ wife for 45 years up until his death in 2009) lip-syncs a smoochy musical number as a bar-room brawl gets into full swing around her.

Though it’s enjoyable enough for what it is, The Face of Eve is a criminally unremarkable film; one can’t help feeling that its premise should have birthed something with so much more pizazz. Case in point, it was shot in Spain and Brazil, exotic enough locales that regardless of anything else going on should have gifted the production with a ton of spectacle, yet Manuel Merino's resolutely uninspired cinematography renders most of the jungle sequences cheap-looking and dull.

In summation: a really wasted opportunity.

The colours on Network’s 1.66:1 ratio DVD transfer (sourced from the original film elements) are occasionally a little muted, but aside from a slightly ratty opening titles sequence it's a nice clean print. The only bonus feature is a gallery of posters, stills and lobby cards from around the globe.

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By Don L. Stradley

Nicholas Ray’s Knock on Any Door has been released as part of Sony Pictures’ Choice Collection. The 1949 film starred Humphrey Bogart and a very young John Derek as a defense attorney and his street punk of a client. It's not high on the list of Bogart classics, and it's not even one of Ray's best (It was his second film, made after the far superior They Live By Night). Ray never particularly praised it, saying only that he wished it could've been grimmer. Ray once pointed to Luis Bunuel’s Los Olvidados, a film about Mexican slum kids that came out in 1950, as an example of the sort of film Knock On Any Door could've been. If Bunuel's film had come out first, Ray said, the inspiration would've been there to make a more penetrating, realistic work. "I would have made a hell of a lot better movie," Ray said.

Knock On Any Door is usually labeled as film noir, but nothing in the story has the subversive taint found in the best noir films, and there’s none of the sleek, European ex-pat styling, unless one counts the expressionistic lighting that cuts across the prison floor in a scene where a convicted killer makes his long walk to the death house. Knock On Any Door is more in line with the crime dramas turned out by Warner Bros during the 1930s, which makes sense when one considers Bogart got his start in those Warner Bros crime flicks, and it was Bogart’s film company, Santana Productions, that produced Knock On Any Door for Columbia Pictures.

While it wasn’t a blockbuster, it performed well enough at the box office to establish Bogart’s group as a serious production unit. It also gave us the quote, “Live fast, die young, and have a good looking corpse,” a quote so nice it’s given to us twice by the angry Nick Romano, played by Derek with all the seething anger he could muster beneath his impossibly long eyelashes. According to Bogart biographer Stefan Kanfer, Bogie tried to boost Derek's performance by pointing out that most of the day's top actors, from James Cagney, to Edward G. Robinson, to Bogart himself, had started out in crime movies, and that a good performance as a heel is always eye catching. Not surprisingly, Derek goes for broke in the film, to the point where he appears to be auditioning for a role in Reefer Madness. Look at me! he seems to say in every scene, Look at my perfect profile, my quivering lips; look at how twitchy I am when I play angry! I'm a real actor, damn it!

Derek was just a young, inexperienced actor fresh out of the paratroopers when he was cast as "Pretty Boy" Nick Romano, "the Skid Row Romeo.” Romano, like so many Hollywood hoodlums, is a good boy shoved down the wrong path in life after losing his father at a young age, and then growing up in poverty. Attorney Andrew Morgan (Bogart) has known Romano for years and has watched him struggle. When Romano is accused of killing a cop, Morgan hesitates to help. For one thing, the partners at his law firm don't want the negative attention such a trial could bring. Morgan also isn't sure if he believes Romano is innocent.

Knock On Any Door is actually two films woven together. We see Romano's tale in flashback, as he goes from being a mama’s boy, to a typical slum rat and petty thief, to a beleaguered family man who drinks too much and can't hold down a job. We also see Morgan's crisis of conscious as he works up the enthusiasm to help him. Morgan, a former slum kid himself, believes people should help themselves. Gradually, though, he sees Romano as a kid worth saving. By the film's end, Morgan vows to spend the rest of his life helping kids like Nick Romano.

The Nick Romano character was a bit ahead of the times. He looks and carries himself like a character from a mid-50s juvenile delinquent movie, perhaps The Wild One, or Blackboard Jungle, or even Ray's own Rebel Without A Cause. There were even rumors, possibly apocryphal, that Marlon Brando was interested in the Romano role. Hot off his stage success in A Streetcar Named Desire, Brando would've been an interesting Romano, and with his realistic acting, might have booted this movie into something close to a classic. According to different sources, Bogart was originally planning to make the film under the direction of Mark Hellinger, with Brando as Romano. When Hellinger died in Dec. 1947, the project was temporarily put aside until Bogart started Santana Productions. Brando, who had wanted to work with Hellinger, allegedly turned down Bogie’s offers, paving the way for Derek. (I find it a little hard to believe that Bogart was, as some biographers claim, pursuing Brando to any great degree, considering Bogart was notoriously disdainful of the self-indulgent method actor types emerging out of New York. The thought of Brando and Bogart together is fascinating, but just the fact that Bogart eventually chose Derek, who was light years away from the brooding Brando, makes me think the whole Brando rumor was nothing but a PR flack's pipe dream.)

Derek, with his greasy mop of thick black hair, looks the part of a dashing street hood, but his acting is too melodramatic and hasn't aged well. At the time, though, Derek made quite a splash, inspiring Hollywood gossip columnist Luella Parsons to write, "I predict John Derek will be one of the big screen stars of 1949." Stardom didn't quite find Derek, although he acted regularly for many years, appearing in everything from westerns to bible epics. He's probably best known to baby boomers as the husband/mentor and sometime director of Bo Derek. Even when Derek died in 1998, most of the obits focused on the couple's May/December romance, which was fodder for gossip rags during Bo's brief run at movie stardom.

Bogart is Bogart, and not much more needs to be said. There's an excellent scene where, suspecting Romano has stolen 100-dollars from him, Bogart as Morgan lures Romano into an alley and wrestles him to the ground, pinning him in the dirt with some sort of commando hold and then rifling through Romano's pocket to get back his money. "You're a two-bit punk, and that's all you'll ever be,” Bogart snarls, spraying saliva everywhere. Always a sprayer and a drooler, Bogart’s lips and chin practically shine with spittle in this movie, especially during the courtroom scenes where he has long speeches and no one around to wipe his mouth. Bogart’s forehead also perspires like crazy in the court scenes, until he looks like he's performing on the bow of a ship during a storm. He's great, though, and his closing speech to the jury is among the better scenes of his late '40s period. Heavy-handed? Sure, but Bogart could always make these scenes compelling, whereas if another actor tried it, the bit would come off as grandstanding.

"Knock On Any Door is a picture I'm kind of proud of, and I'll tell you why," Bogart the producer said in a press release trumpeting the film. "It's a very challenging story; different; off the beaten path. The novel (by Willard Motley) was brutally honest. We've tried to be just as direct, just as forceful, in the picture. I think you'll like it better that way. "

Although Variety proclaimed Knock On Any Door "a hard-hitting, tight melodrama," the film's Feb. 1949 release was greeted by mixed reviews. The notion that criminals were not always responsible for their actions was a relatively new and unpopular concept. The film was occasionally praised for its direct look at life in the slums, but Bosley Crowther of ‘The New York Times’ wasn't impressed. "Not only,” wrote Crowther, “are the justifications for the boy's delinquencies inept and superficial...but the nature and aspect of the hoodlum are outrageously heroized." Crowther, who may have invented the word ‘heroized,’ added that the film was riddled with "inconsistencies and flip-flops," and that "The whole thing appears to be fashioned for sheer romantic effect, which its gets from its 'pretty-boy' killer, victim of society and blazing guns."

Actually, the film could've used some more blazing guns. The opening sequence is a stunner, with a cop being gunned down on a dark street, and a sudden swarming of the neighborhood by cops rousting every local man with a criminal record. The scene is a mere tease, though, for the film settles down into a talky courtroom drama and doesn't quite live up to its opening blast. But give Bogie and his Santana crew credit for choosing this project as their debut voyage. They jumped on the juvenile delinquent bandwagon before it had really taken off, predating the screwed-up teenager craze by five or six years. In a way, Derek’s Nick Romano was a forerunner of James Dean, Elvis, Sal Mineo, and every other greasy hoodlum with puppy dog eyes that would populate the movie screens of the 1950s.

The Choice Collection DVD offers no extra features, but the transfer is crisp and clear, all the better to see Bogart sweat.

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BY ADRIAN SMITH 

In 1960 a young Michael Winner began a collaboration with the British producer and distributor E.J. Fancey which would enable him to break into the world of feature films. Fancey had been in the industry for over twenty years, and specialised in "quota quickies": cheap, forgettable films which could play as supporting features and qualify for government tax breaks. The average Fancey production usually combined low-rent comedians, stock footage, long tedious amounts of travelling and a confused crossover between documentary and narrative film. As a distributor of European exploitation cinema he was prolific, being responsible for bringing thousands of equally cheap and forgettable films into British cinemas in the hope of making a fast buck. Into this cut-throat world stepped Michael Winner, who prior to directing had been working in some of the smaller film studios around London as well as at the BBC. The film in question is Climb Up the Wall, a piece of entertainment so peculiar and grating it has even been missed off Winner's filmography on Wikipedia.

Climb Up the Wall begins with typically cheap hand-drawn title cards and some jazzy music before introducing us to our host Jack Johnson, a popular cardigan-wearing comedian of the day. Speaking to camera he explains his latest invention, which is basically a large computer with a television screen. In 1960 this was still somewhat fantastical, but which now looks laughable. Along with his amiable son Malcolm we are bombarded with sketches and music, held together with the vague storyline of Jack Johnson showing us what his computer can do. We are treated to footage of Elvis as a GI, comedians, popular singer Mike Preston, clips from the Goon Show film Down Among the Z Men (1952, also produced by E.J. Fancey) and even footage from old westerns. Before long Jack and Malcolm get bored of this, like the audience, and head into London for a night out. This is an excuse to show us some naked models and exotic nightclub dancing, as well as more singing and an odd sequence in a kitchen where they all decide to do some cooking. The film feels like it was being made up as they went along, which perhaps it was.

Clearly Winner was told to make something out of a load of old stock footage, including some of the Fancey back-catalogue, with the specific mention of making it appeal to the rock and roll crowd. Fancey had recently made one of Britain's first rock and roll films (Rock You Sinners, 1958) so clearly felt like he had his finger on the pulse. For a sixty-three minute film Climb Up the Wall packs in a lot of music by long-forgotten singers and groups, and even manages to reference Cliff Richard. They seem to be targeting a younger audience, yet the focus on an older generation of comedians suggests they did not really know what teenagers would be into in 1960. Climb Up the Wall is something of a curiosity, and is well worth seeking out, not because it is a good film, which it isn't, but because of its authentic shots of London life. It was also an important milestone in the development of one of the most prolific and influential directors to come out of Britain in the 1960s.

Accompanying the film on this DVD are two other E.J. Fancey productions. The first, London Entertains (1951) tries to pass itself off as a documentary, although it is effectively a feature film. Popular television presenter Eamonn Andrews tells us the story of a group of girls from a Swiss Finishing School who come to London to start their own escort agency. The girls, who all look around twenty-five, believe that visiting tourists and dignitaries will want to be escorted around the Festival of Britain, as well as the nightclubs of London. This allows Fancey, who directed it himself, to cram in loads of stock footage, including skiing, synchronised swimming and film star Gloria Swanson inspecting the Festival of Britain building site. We are also treated to the attractions of London, including the Windmill Theatre and an open-air performance at Battersea of Canadian former child-star Bobby Breen. Meanwhile Eamonn has fallen in love with one of the girls, whilst they have to fight off the attentions of a brash American, played by character actor Joe Baker. One of the highlights of the film is the visit to the BBC Radio Theatre for a recording of The Goon Show. This is rare early footage when Michael Bentine was still performing alongside Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan and Harry Secombe, and we even get to meet producer Dennis Main-Wilson and original presenter Andrew Timothy. Moments like this make London Entertains worth seeing for anyone with an interest in the history of comedy.

The final film on the DVD is Calling All Cars (1954), another combination of stock footage and low-rent comedy. Cardew Robinson, better known in those days as Cardew the Cad, plays a hopeless romantic in love with the unattainable blonde across the road. When he finds out she is planning to drive to the continent he conspires with a friend to buy a car and follow them as they head off to the newly-built Dover car terminal. This means we are treated to stock footage of how the terminal was built, accompanied by a relatively unfunny commentary. Cardew's comedy has sadly dated, along with his car. The film mainly consists of shots of driving, and for some bizarre reason Fancey decided to give Cardew's car an internal monologue, voiced by Spike Milligan. The highlight of Calling All Cars is when Cardew pulls into a service station for petrol. The attendant claps his hands and before he knows it they are surrounded by beautiful women in short skirts and stockings who give the car a quick once-over.

This DVD is a reminder that everyone back then smoked, and if you have recently quit it may be a struggle to get through all three movies in one sitting. Renown Pictures have found good quality prints and the sound is clear, given that these films would have looked and sounded cheap back then and were never intended to be seen sixty years later. Whilst worth picking up for Climb Up the Wall alone, the fact that there are three films here makes this disc a must-have for anyone interested in the forgotten corners of British film history.

Renown have also recently launched a free TV channel in the UK called Talking Pictures, where more obscure British films from the 1930s through to the 1970s can be found and enjoyed. You can find more information at www.talkingpicturestv.co.uk.

London Entertains/ Climb Up the Wall/ Calling All Cars is released by Renown Pictures on R0 DVD. CLICK HERE TO ORDER 

BY LEE PFEIFFER

 The mid-to-late 1960s saw such sweeping and rapid changes in politics, sexual mores and popular culture that the mind still reels when thinking about it. Hollywood studios, ever opportunistic, desperately tried to tap into the dramatically changing youth culture. A few years earlier, sanitized Elvis Presley musicals and lame beach comedies satiated younger movie goers. By 1967, Frankie and Annette had been abruptly made irrelevant by Bonnie and Clyde. Suddenly aging studio executives were throwing money at virtually any project that would prove they had their fingers on the pulse of the increasingly important demographic that represented the future of the film industry. In 1969 alone there was a sea change in the types of films that were bringing in big boxoffice. Wife swapping was played for laughs ("Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice"), drug dealers were presented as tragic heroes ("Easy Rider") and an X-rated film would go on to win the Best Picture Oscar ("Midnight Cowboy"). Even the main staple of the traditional studio release- the Western- was often rendered unrecognizable as veteran stars engaged in unprecedented blood-letting in Sam Peckinpah's "The Wild Bunch" and the anti-Establishment tone of "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid". Fox, like other studios, grappled to stay relevant. There was still plenty of business for old-fashioned studio fare that was deemed non-threatening, but the wind was clearly in the sails of those movies that pushed the envelope in terms of making social statements. And so it was that an ill-fated project titled "Che!" went into production at the studio. 

"Che!" was very much  a "Ripped From Today's Headlines!" film.  Ernesto "Che" Guevara had only been killed two years previously and had already become an iconic symbol in international revolutionary movements. The proud communist was born in Argentina but had joined up with Fidel Castro's movement in 1956 that was dedicated to toppling the seemingly indestructible dictatorship of corrupt Cuban president Fulgencio Batista, who was widely deemed to be a bought-and-paid for puppet for American mobsters who had widespread financial interests in the island nation. Che, who started as a lowly medic for Castro's 82 man guerilla movement, quickly rose in stature following a massacre that found the group reduced to only 12 fighters.  Incredibly, within a relatively short period of time, Castro's ragtag band regrouped and won almost fanatical support among the general population. In a stunning turn of events, Batista was abruptly forced to resign and flee the country. Castro triumphantly entered Havana and the rest is history.

The Fox production of "Che!" primarily resonates a bit today only because Cuba is back in the news. Castro, who has been on his "death bed" seemingly for twenty years, is still stirring controversy with the recent decision by the Obama administration to loosen restrictions on Cuba. Though widely supported by public polls, the policy is taking a hit in some quarters because of Castro's predictable penchant for tossing insults at the USA during the most sensitive period. He claims that America owes Cuba many millions of dollars in reparations for damage inflicted on the nation through the 55 year embargo. The seeds of all these issues are addressed in "Che!" but only in the most superficial manner. The film presented the titular firebrand, played by Omar Sharif, as the brains behind Castro's successes. Castro, played by Jack Palance, is seen as a relatively benign figure here; a man who becomes almost completely dependent on the political and military advice offered by his younger protege. Upon taking power, however, rifts come between the two "comrades". Castro installs himself as a ruthless dictator in much the manner that Batista was. Che opposes his cozy relationship with the Soviet Union that saw Cuba become the mistress of the Russians, accepting the placement of nuclear missiles in return for the easy financial supplements that Castro became increasingly dependent on. The Bay of Pigs invasion is mentioned almost in passing and the Cuban Missile Crisis is covered almost entirely through some brief newsreel footage of Adlai Stevenson publicly challenging the Soviets to admit the presence of the missiles during a U.N. Security Council emergency meeting that became infamous. The long-term implications of such momentous events are swept aside. Instead, we see the perpetually brooding Che as a man who is impossible to please. While Castro is content to have won power in Cuba, Che is restless to spread the revolution to other nations. While Che is critical of Castro's abuse of power, he falls victim to his own demons as well, justifying mass murders of former government and military officials on the basis that doing so will satiate the public, which is demanding retribution for years of oppression under Batista. All of this is powerful fodder for a dramatic screenplay, but "Che!" is schizophrenic in its structure. It waivers between being a psychological study of a complex man and being an overview of important political events that were still relatively recent at the time of the movie's release. In the end, the film is unsatisfactory on all levels. Worse, it has a rushed look to it and, despite some fleeting atmospheric scenes shot in Puerto Rico (doubling for Havana). Many of the other sequences were all too apparently shot at the famed Fox Ranch set in Malibu. The movie, which fortunately is at least never dull, begins with Che already dead, having been killed in a gun battle in Bolivia, where he made the ill-fated decision to try to launch a revolution in a country that was not demanding one. His story is then told through flashbacks by the normal competent director Richard Fleischer, who uses the awkward device of having friends, colleagues and enemies of Che relate anecdotes by breaking the "the fourth wall" and addressing the viewer directly. It's a hokey tactic that more than once elicits some unintentional giggles. 

When the film  opened, it was universally panned and helped derail Omar Sharif's status as a bankable leading man. He had made some major hits over the years: "Lawrence of Arabia", "Doctor Zhivago" and, more recently, "Funny Girl". But there were the high profile bombs "Mayerling" and "Mackenna's Gold". With "Che!", both Sharif and Jack Palance found themselves ridiculed by critics who savaged their performances. Ironically, it is only their performances that seem to have withstood the test of time. Not only do they both bear remarkable physical resemblances to the historical figures they are playing, both also give quite credible performances. Sharif is appropriately a brooding, humorless figure and Palance, who was known to chew the scenery, is quite restrained and content to chew some fine Cuban cigars instead. Director Fleischer had assembled an impressive cast of character actors including Cesare Danova, Robert Loggia and Barbara Luna but gave them nothing of any consequence to do. They serve primarily as window dressing. Even the great Woody Strode is bizarrely cast in an almost wordless role that sees him reduced to marching through the jungle and firing machine guns. The screenplay never digs beneath the surface to examine either Che or Castro's motives for their actions. The abuse of the Cuban people by Batista is all but ignored, for example, and the film takes an agnostic attitude towards the actions of Che and Castro, probably because passing judgment one way or the other might well have alienated the intended audience. The strategy didn't work. "Che!" became a notorious bomb at the time of its release and its reputation remains tarnished though it's attributes are probably more apparent today than they were back in the day. This makes the new Twilight Time limited edition (3,000 units) Blu-ray release  all the more welcome. In viewing the movie in retrospect, it still resonates as a misfire but doesn't seem nearly as awful as critics made it out to be in 1969. The transfer looks great and there are some bonus features: an interesting vintage "making of" featurette, a TV spot and the original trailer. There are also the usual excellent liner notes by film historian Julie Kirgo, who points out the irony in the fact that to today's generation, Che is primarily known as an anonymous image on bestselling T shirts that have made a fortune for capitalist hucksters. One hopes that the company might reissue this title some day and include commentary tracks by political historians in order to separate fact from fiction. 

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BY LEE PFEIFFER

Actress Yvonne Craig, who specialized in playing perky and sexy characters in TV shows and feature films, has died after a long battle with breast cancer. She was 78 years old. Craig broke into the film and TV industry in the late 1950s, making her big screen debut in the exploitation film "Eighteen and Anxious". Before long, she was not only co-starring with Elvis Presley in "It Happened at the World's Fair" and "Kissin' Cousins", but also dating him as well. There was no shortage of work for the attractive Craig during the 1960s and she appeared on numerous TV series including "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." In fact, Craig filmed extra sequences for extended two-part episodes of the show that were released theatrically under the titles "One Spy Too Many" and "One of Our Spies is Missing".  However, it was when producer William Dozier cast Craig as Batgirl in the "Batman" TV series that she became a TV icon. Although the show's popularity was on the decline by that point, Craig did appear in the final 26 episodes of the series and built a loyal following that extends to this day.

Her other feature films include "Quick Before It Melts!", "Advance to the Rear", "Ski Party" and the Don Knotts movie "How to Frame a Figg". She also had a brief but memorable role as a Russian ballerina/spy opposite James Coburn in the 1967 hit "In Like Flint". Craig became an independent businesswoman later in life, producing pre-paid promotional phone cards and working in real estate while also providing voice-over work for the TV series "Olivia". For more click here

BY LEE PFEIFFER

Christopher Lee and Boris Karloff collectively made countless films that varied widely in terms of quality. However, they always brought dignity to every role they performed. Sadly, the two icons of the horror film genre only worked together twice.The first time in the late 1950s in "Corridors of Blood" and the second and last time in what turned out to be the final film of Karloff's career, the 1968 Tigon Films production of "The Crimson Cult" (released in the UK as "Curse of the Crimson Altar" and in some territories as "The Crimson Altar" and "Black Horror"). Karloff barely got through the arduous shoot during a particularly cold and unpleasant British winter. However, always the ultimate professional, he persevered and continued the film until completion, even after having been hospitalized with pneumonia. The result is a film that is not particularly well-loved by horror film fans but which this writer enjoyed immensely on my first viewing, which came courtesy of the Blu-ray release from Kino Lorber Studio Classics. Perhaps the film looked better to me than it should have. It's got some loose plot points and the production doesn't fully utilize the skills of it's marvelous cast, which includes character actor Michael Gough and the iconic Barbara Steele. However, given the fact that we don't get lineups of great stars like this any more, I found the entire movie to be a joy to watch (despite of- or perhaps because of- it's sometimes blatant exploitation scenes.)

Things get off to a rather rollicking start with the very first frames of the movie which depict a woman clad only in leather panties and pasties who is mercilessly whipping another sexy young woman who is chained to an altar in a dungeon-like environment. Watching the action is Peter Manning (Denys Peek), who we learn is a respected antiques dealer who runs a high end shop with his brother Robert (Mark Eden). Peter looks completely out of place in this S&M scenario, even more so when we see the others who are witnessing what becomes evident as a Satanic Black Mass ceremony, which is taking place amid other scantily-clad men and women. Peter is approached  by an exotic beauty who we will later learn is the reincarnation of a notorious witch named Lavinia, who was executed by local villagers a few centuries ago. As played by real life exotic beauty Barbara Steele in a largely wordless role, the character exudes both danger and sexual deviancy. She insists that Peter sign an ancient ledger after which he is given a dagger which he uses to promptly murder the young woman who is chained to the table. 

The scene then switches to the antique shop where we find Robert concerned about his brother's whereabouts. He tells his secretary that Peter had gone to search for antiques for a few days in the remote rural village of Greymarsh, which coincidentally is the ancestral home of the Manning family. The only clue he has to his brother's movements is a cryptic note he had written to Robert from a manor house in the village. Robert decides to visit the house to see if he can trace Peter's location. Naturally, he chooses to arrive at the place in the dead of night and finds the villagers are engaged in riotous celebrations for an annual festival that rather tastelessly celebrates the execution of witches in a bygone era. The locals playfully recreate pagan rituals including the execution of an effigy of Lavinia. Arriving at Greymarsh Manor, Robert finds a wild party underway with a group of young people in an orgy-like state. The girls are pouring champagne over their nearly naked bodies and there are "cat fights" intermingled with lovemaking. Robert is understandably amused and fascinated. He makes the acquaintance of Eve (Virginia Wetherell), a fetching blonde with a flirtatious nature who informs him that she is the niece of the manor's owner, a sophisticated and erudite man named Morley, who greets Robert warmly but denies any knowledge of his brother. Morley says that he can't explain how Robert received a note from Peter on Greymarsh Manor stationary but nevertheless invites Robert to stay a few days at the manor while he continues his investigation. Predictably, Robert and Eve form a romantic bond in short order and she assists him in his efforts to find Peter. Meanwhile, Robert is introduced to Professor John Marsh (Boris Karloff), an elderly, wheelchair-bound academic who is the village's most prominent local historian. Fittingly, he is also a collector of ancient torture devices.  

Most of the film centers on Robert and Eve attempting to track down Peter's doings in the village and his present whereabouts. It becomes pretty obvious that either Morley and/or Marsh are hiding some explosive secrets. The only question for the viewer is whether one or both of them have been complicit in Peter's vanishing.  Robert's stay at the manor house is  decidedly mixed experience for him. In the evenings he gets to enjoy rare, expensive liquors as he sits around chatting with Morley and Marsh. He also gets a willing bed mate in Eve. However, he is terrified by recurring nightmares that find him in the midst of a Black Mass ceremony where he finds his brother. In these bizarre dreams, Lavinia insists that Robert sign the ancient ledger, as Peter did, but Robert steadfastly refuses because he believes he will be murdered once he does. Robert discovers that his arm has been seriously cut by a knife- a key part of his nightmare. He thus begins to suspect that these aren't dreams at all, but real experiences that are taking place when he is in drugged condition. A trail of clues leads to some red herrings until Robert and Eve discover that the manor house has a hidden room where it is apparent Satanic ritual ceremonies are taking place.  From that point, key plot devices begin to fall into place with a few minor surprises along the way. The movie is a great deal of fun from start to finish and seeing both Lee and Karloff on screen together is a real treat.  Michael Gough  makes welcome  frequent appearances as an Igor-like butler who tries to warn Robert about the dangers of staying at Greymarsh Manor and Rupert Davies has a nice cameo as the local vicar. A few other observations: Virginia Wetherell is a first rate leading lady in this type of genre film so the fact that she never achieved greater name recognition seems unjust. Also the production design is first rate, as it generally is in British horror movies of this period. Kudos also to veteran director Vernon Sewell who crafts a consistently interesting film from a script that has some loose ends and weak plot points. He also has to contend with a good amount of T&A that seems to be inserted largely for exploitation reasons. The film's dramatic conclusion is meant to be intriguing and ambiguous but comes across as somewhat unsatisfying. However, in the aggregate, the movie is a great deal of fun- largely due to the presence of Lee, Karloff and Steele. 

The film has been released by Kino Lorber as a Blu-ray special edition under its American title. The company has wisely ported over some of the content of special bonus materials that were available on a previous UK-only Blu-ray edition. These include a wonderful commentary track with Barbara Steele and well-known horror film historian David Del Valle, who has also produced a number of documentaries. Del Valle is uniquely suited to conduct the discussion of the film, as he personally knew many of the legendary figures of the horror film genre and his knowledge is encyclopedic. He and Steele have a good rapport because they are old friends. Both of them, however, denounce the movie because of its missed opportunities. The main criticisms revolve around the misuse of Christopher Lee and Boris Karloff in their only film together. Del Valle feels that there isn't much for them to do other than sit around parlors sipping drinks. He points out that this was Karloff's last film and  he was in poor health during its production, yet was valiant enough to complete filming- and insist that a scene be rewritten so he could rise from his wheelchair, an act of defiance and courage considering his fragile state. Steele bemoans the fact that the screenwriters didn't allow her character to share any scenes with either Lee or Karloff, although she did spend time with them off set and clearly adored both men. However, the way the story is structured simply wouldn't allow the three characters to interact without fundamentally changing the story. One can understand Steele's frustrations as an actress, however, in not having the opportunity to share screen time with these cinematic legends. Del Valle also dismisses leading man Mark Eden (who resembles young George Lazenby) as a lightweight, a charge that seems debatable. I personally found Eden to be a likable and charismatic leading man. Both Del Valle and Steele acknowledge the film has some merits but you'd barely know it by the time they get done slicing it up scene by scene. Steele also provides some very interesting discussions about her non-horror films including quitting the production of "Flaming Star" in which she was Elvis Presley's leading lady. She also discusses her work with Fellini. In all, I found myself not agreeing with Steele and Del Valle's overall assessment of "The Crimson Cult" but I did find this to be an excellent commentary track, filled with wonderful anecdotes.

Barbara Steele as Lavinia, The Black Witch of Greymarsh.

The Kino Lorber Blu-ray contains other bonus extras. The most interesting is an interview with composer Kendall Schmidt, who relates why he receives screen credit for the musical score in the video versions of the film. (Peter Knight is still the composer of record on the theatrical prints.) Schmidt, who is now a well-regarded photographer, relates that when Orion acquired video rights to the American International Pictures library in the mid-1980s, there were many films they could not secure the music rights to. Thus, Schmidt, who was a 24 year old starving composer, was hired to re-score these films. In some cases, he emulated the original composer's scores while in most other cases he created wholly original compositions. His score suits this film well but, not having seen the theatrical version, I can't compare his work with Peter Knight's. The Blu-ray also includes both the U.S. and British trailers with their respective title differences.

It should be pointed out that the picture quality of this release is as close to perfect as you can get. Colors practically leap off the screen and the transfer does full justice to the production design. In all, I found this to be a first rate release of an extremely underrated film from the "Golden Age" of British horror productions.  

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Star Vista/Time Life has released "The Best of the Ed Sullivan Show" as a six-DVD collection. The following is the official press release:

No one had a better eye for talent than Ed Sullivan. That simple fact was confirmed by the broad range of incredible acts he brought into America's living rooms from his Broadway stage between 1948 and 1971 on the greatest, longest-running prime timevariety show in the history of television.  This May, StarVista Entertainment/Time Life will bring home audiences front row seats for THE BEST OF THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW, a 6-disc collector's set never before available at retail.  Priced to add to every TV aficionado's collection at $59.95srp, the special edition release delivers the biggest names in music, comedy and variety captured in the prime of their careers, as well as all the astonishing novelty acts selected by Ed as his personal favorites, culled from over 1,000 hours of classic television! 

Comedian Alan King famously said,"Ed Sullivan can't sing, can't dance and can't tell a joke, but he does it better than anyone else."  And while the host of the eponymous show may not have been as talented as his guests, he had an uncanny ability to spot top-notch talent and welcomed everyone to his stage: politicians, poets, sports idols, Broadway stars, musicians -- be they rock, classical, jazz, opera, gospel, pop, rhythm and blues -- as well as comedians, novelty acts, children's entertainment legends, and acts that defied label.  Sullivan filled his weekly showcase with something for everyone, and he was so successful at it that he became America's most powerful cultural arbiter.  Presiding over many "firsts" on American television, including appearances by Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, Jack Benny, Hank Williams, Jr., Itzhak Perlman and Harry Belafonte, Sullivan is probably best remembered for bringing us Elvis Presley's  three historic appearances in 1956/'57, and the Beatles' three earth-shattering performances  in 1964. 

In its 23-year run, The Ed Sullivan Show presented a remarkable array of over 10,000 performers and celebrities, including the most spectacular ensemble of stars in show business and THE BEST OF THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW reflects that across 6 carefully curated DVDs: "Unforgettable Performances," "The All-Star Comedy Special," "World's Greatest Novelty Acts," "Amazing Animal Acts," the "50th Anniversary Special" and an exclusive bonus disc never before available at retail.  The collection includes:  

· Rare appearances by Barbra Streisand, Bobby Darin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Marlon Brando, Humphrey Bogart, Fred Astaire and more

· Rock 'n' roll's greatest -- including Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Buddy Holly, The Rolling Stones, The Doors, The Byrds, Janis Joplin and more

· Comedic talents Milton Berle, Carol Burnett, George Carlin, Rodney Dangerfield, Phyllis Diller, Jackie Gleason, Bob Hope, Richard Pryor, Joan Rivers, the Smothers Brothers, Flip Wilson and more

· Classic Broadway performances from My Fair Lady, Man of la Manchaand West Side Story

· The best of the daring acrobats, challenging balancing acts and dexterous jugglers-selected by Ed as his personal favorites

· Zippy the roller-skating chimp, Heidi the Talking Dog, the legendary Lipizzaner stallions and more than a dozen other amazing animal acts

· Sullivan in a rare comic sketch with comedy legends Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz 

This historic DVD set contains over 2 hours of special bonus features, including the only surviving on-camera interview with Ed and Sylvia Sullivan, exclusive interviews with Milton Berle, Phyllis Diller, Shari Lewis, Johnny Mathis, Michelle Phillips, Joan Rivers, Smokey Robinson, Señor Wences, Flip Wilson and more. 

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BY LEE PFEIFFER

One of the most rewarding byproducts of reviewing movies for a living is that you will often encounter some prominent gem that somehow managed to escape your attention previously. In certain cases, it's arguable that a film might well be more appreciated many years later than it was during its initial release. Such a case pertains to the 1965 crime drama Once a Thief. Directed by the under-rated Ralph Nelson, the film successfully invokes the mood and atmosphere of the classic black-and-white film noir crime thrillers of the 1940s and 1950s. Although this movie was widely credited as being Alain Delon's first starring role in an English language production, he was among the all-star cast seen the previous year in the big budget Hollywood production of The Yellow Rolls Royce. It is accurate to say, however, that Once a Thief afforded him his first opportunity to be the male lead in a major American film. The film was also significant in that it provided Ann-Margret with her first opportunity to show her skills as a dramatic actress. Her meteoric rise to fame had resulted from her roles in the musicals State Fair, Bye Bye Birdie and, most recently, opposite Elvis Presley in the smash hit Viva Las Vegas. In 1964, she made her dramatic film debut in Kitten with a Whip playing a deceitful "bad girl" in a film so bad it ultimately ended up being "honored" as a segment on Mystery Science Theatre 3000. Another dramatic role the same year in The Pleasure Seekers was similarly unimpressive. However, 1965 proved to be her breakout year in terms of earning critical respect with back-to-back impressive performances in Bus Riley's Back in Town, Once a Thief and The Cincinnati Kid. Over the course of a few years, Ann-Margret would prove she was much more than just a talented singer and dancer. The decision to team her with Alain Delon proved to be an inspired one, as they practically smolder on screen together. 

The film opens in a hip jazz club. Over the credits, we watch an astounding drum solo by Russell Lee, the likes of which had not been seen on screen until last year's Whiplash. The viewer is immediately impressed by the camerawork of veteran cinematographer Robert Burks, who had shot numerous Hitchcock classics in the 1950s and, most recently, The Birds and Marnie. The crowd at the jazz club indicates before we even see an exterior shot that we are in a very progressive place. At a time when the American South was still deeply embroiled in attempting to practice segregation, we see that the customers of the jazz club consist of both black and white patrons, all grooving almost hypnotically to an African American musician, whose drum solo almost transcends what seems to be humanly possible. We soon learn that we are in San Francisco, the American city that would most prominently embrace the on-going cultural revolution. The scene quickly shifts to a couple of thugs who rob a liquor store and needlessly murder its owner, a middle-aged Chinese woman, in front of her horrified husband. The scene switches again, as we are introduced to Eddie Pedlak (Delon), a handsome young immigrant from Trieste who drives the same classic sports car and wears the same sheepskin coat that were identified with the gunman in the liquor store robbery. Still, if Eddie is hiding his participation in such a heinous crime, he is able to put on the ultimate poker face. He eagerly greets his gorgeous wife Kristine (Ann-Margret) and their young daughter Kathy (Tammy Locke). Although they live in a modest apartment in a poor neighborhood, Eddie is eager to show his wife and daughter a major investment he has just made. Driving them to the bay area, Eddie proudly brings them aboard a small private boat that he says he has just managed to put a down payment on. When Kristine asks how he could afford to do so, he says he had been secretly squirreling away money from his modest paycheck as a truck driver. Yet, the viewer is suspicious. We have just seen a man who seemed to match Eddie's description rob a liquor store. Could the funds have come from those ill-gotten gains? Veteran detective Mike Vido (Van Heflin) certainly thinks so. He is convinced that Eddie is the man who once shot him in the stomach some years earlier when he attempted to thwart a robbery that was in progress. Since then he has haunted Eddie and refused to believe that he has gone straight. Vido is convinced Eddie was the man behind the liquor store robbery and murder, though his boss, Lt. Kebner (Jeff Corey), chides Vido for allowing his personal obsession with nailing Eddie for a crime to cloud his better judgment. 

For much of the screenplay by Zekial Marko, who adapted the script from his own novel, the story plays like a modern version of Hugo's Les Miserables, with Eddie as the Jean Valjean character- a once minor criminal now trying to go straight-  and Vido as the relentless detective Javert, who is determined to prove he is still engaged in illegal activities. Marko's script rings with a feel for street life and has an authenticity not found in most crime movies of this era. (Marko also turns in a sterling supporting performance as a career criminal who is acquainted with Eddie.) Vido's constant harassment of Eddie costs the young man several jobs, including his latest occupation as a trucker. In the film's most poignant sequence, he applies for unemployment insurance and must deal with an emotionless bureaucrat who tries to deny him benefits based on his criminal past. It's a moving and very emotional sequence and it's superbly played by Delon, who demonstrates that Eddie is a man at the end of his rope. The film takes an unexpected turn when he is acquitted of the liquor store robbery/murder, but his career is in ruins and he is distraught at his inability to provide for his family. Against his wishes, Kristine takes a night job as a waitress. This being 1965, Eddie is shamed by the fact that his wife has become the family breadwinner. He barely tolerates the situation until he learns that Kristine is actually  employed by a nightclub and is being forced to pose as a single woman and wear a revealing uniform. He goes into a rage and forces her to quit. Their once happy marriage is now a shambles. At this point, fate intervenes with the unwelcome appearance of Eddie's older brother Walter (Jack Palance) who tries to enlist him in a major robbery of platinum from an industrial complex where Eddie recently worked. Walter estimates the haul to be worth over a million dollars but he and his sleazy henchmen need Eddie's knowledge of the place. At first Eddie heeds Kristine's pleas not to get sucked back into the world of crime, but with financial pressure building and no prospects for a legitimate job, he reluctantly consents to help plan the caper. The latter part of the film depicts the enactment of the plan, which is imaginatively staged and is filled with suspense. As these things generally turn out in crime movies, the robbery is a success, but double crosses between Walter and his henchmen prove to have disastrous consequences. Eddie finds himself marked for death and must enlist the most unlikely of allies- Detective Vido- when he learns that his daughter has been kidnapped and is being held for ransom until he turns the platinum over to his former partners. 

Once a Thief offers a treasure trove of superior performances. In addition to Delon's impressive work, Ann-Margret excels as the young wife and mother who simply wants a "normal" life. We see her transformed from a happy-go-lucky woman who is both a doting mom and vibrant woman with a healthy love life (she is married to Alain Delon, after all) to a nerve-wracked emotional basket case who must cope with her husband being marked for death even as he frantically promises to get back their kidnapped daughter.  Van Heflin brings understated dignity to the role of the world-weary detective and Palance does what Palance did best: play a charismatic heavy.  The real scene-stealer is character actor  John Davis Chandler as Walter's chief henchman, James Sargatanas. He is creepy to look at, with a slim build, premature white hair and omnipresent sun glasses. He resembles the guys from the hit team played by Lee Marvin and Clu Gulager  in Don Siegel's 1964 version of The Killers - - only he's somehow even more menacing than those psychopaths were. This should have been a star-making role for Chandler, but it was not to be. Another familiar face among the crooks is Tony Musante, who would go on to appear in many memorable crime flicks. A special word about young Tammy Locke, who plays Kathy. She was only six years old when she appeared in the film and gave an amazingly accomplished performance.  Director Nelson always possessed a skill at emphasizing the human aspects of his films and this one is no exception. You care deeply about the protagonists and their individual dilemmas. The film ratchets up the suspense in the final moments and Nelson manages to avoid a cliched happy ending. 

The Warner Archive DVD boasts an excellent transfer and includes the original trailer and a very interesting production short in which we see composer Lalo Schifrin discussing with Ralph Nelson his theories for scoring the film. During an era in which film composers were largely taken for granted, it's nice to see the spotlight on Schifrin, who has been responsible for some of the most memorable TV and film scores of all time. Put this title on your "must-have" list.  

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Lizabeth Scott, the sultry blonde who epitomized cinematic "bad girls" in film noir productions, has passed away at age 92. Scott specialized in playing hard-bitten, self-confident femme fatales usually from the wrong side of the tracks. Her leading men included Robert Mithchum, Burt Lancaster, Michael Caine, Charlton Heston, Elvis Presley, Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis and Kirk Douglas. Her film credits include "Loving You", "Dark City", "I Walk Alone", "Too Late for Tears", "Pitfall" and "Scared Stiff". Her last screen appearance was in director Mike Hodges' acclaimed 1972 cult movie "Pulp", which was a send-up of the film noir genre. Scott's career began to fade in the late 1950s though she did make occasional appearances in TV series in the following years. In more recent years, she occasionally appeared at film festivals to discuss her work and career. Click here for more. 

BY LEE PFEIFFER

In her excellent analysis of the 1962 Elvis Presley film "Follow That Dream"- which is included in the limited edition Twilight Time Blu-ray release- film historian Julie Kirgo concisely but thoroughly explores the one aspect of The King's career that brought him more frustration than satisfaction: his stature as an international movie star. When Elvis first exploded on the international music scene in the 1950s, Hollywood came calling immediately. Presley, under the guidance of his Svengali-like manager Colonel Tom Parker, found himself starring in films that were primarily designed to promote his music but which afforded him intelligent story lines and the opportunity to showcase his considerable charms as a leading man. The word on Presley was that, given the proper nurturing from established screenwriters and directors, he could become an acclaimed actor in his own right. Then Uncle Sam intruded and Presley was drafted. Elvis' two-year stint in the U.S. Army became the stuff of pop culture legend. Without any fuss or any attempt to dodge the draft, he did his duty and was honorably discharged. When he re-entered civilian life, however, the Colonel had a different vision for his star's big screen career. Instead of holding out for roles that would have allowed Elvis to progress as an accomplished actor, the Colonel signed him to a long contract with legendary producer Hal Wallis, who agreed with the Colonel that the main objective would be to quickly crank out low budget flicks that would be highly profitable. If that offended Elvis' sensibilities, too bad. They pointed out that on the few occasions where Elvis had been allowed to play mature characters in intelligent films, the boxoffice receipts lagged behind his upbeat, teen-oriented musicals. Thus, the King found himself not in control of his own destiny, at least when it came to the silver screen. Before long, he was churning out indistinguishable lightweight fare that served as little more than an extended music videos to sell the accompanying soundtrack albums. The ploy worked, financially, at least, but left Elvis feeling frustrated and betrayed by the two mentors he had entrusted to guide him to a long, satisfying movie career. 

One of Elvis' more accomplished and satisfying films was the aforementioned "Follow That Dream". The story was based on a humorous novel titled "Pioneer, Go Home!' by Richard Powell, who also authored the source novel for the fine 1959 Paul Newman film "The Young Philadelphians". It's an amusing, whimsical yarn that finds Elvis as Toby Kwimper, a hunky young man who is traveling through Florida with his father, known as Pop (Arthur O'Connell) and a comely teenage companion, Holly Jones (Anne Helm), who- for all intents and purposes- is his adopted sister. Also in tow are two young twin toddlers. Seems like Pop has a soft spot for caring for orphans and inviting them into his home. His motive, however, isn't entirely based on compassion. In the case of the twins, he has been getting child welfare payments from the state. Pop is adverse to doing an honest day's work and is systematically exploiting "The System" itself, figuring out how to maximize government handouts that are designed to help the genuinely poor. Pop and Toby are poor, alright- but it's by choice. They live a spartan, nomadic existence and learn to do without materialistic things. All the while, Pop prides himself on maintaining a staunch conservative political viewpoint- that big government is bad and corrupt and that everyone should fend for themselves. As Julie Kirgo points out in her liner notes, he is not unlike some hypocrites today who denounce all aspects of the government but seem to be first in line for any payouts when it comes to exploiting government programs. Pop's car breaks down on a patch of remote government land in central Florida. With the car immobile, Pop announces that the group will simply make this their home. Before long, he and Toby have constructed a ramshackle home complete with outhouse.   When a local official tries to evict him, the wily Pop discovers that the precise land he is squatting on falls under an archaic law that allows him a loophole to claim it as his own. Much of the film is dedicated to Pop using his guile to outfox the city slickers who want him to move on. Meanwhile, he finds it beneficial to declare his one room shack a legal "community", which necessitates the appointment of a sheriff. Toby reluctantly accepts the job. The young man is more honest than his father but is naive in the ways of the world. Like the Clampetts of "The Beverly Hillbillies", Toby is more innocent than stupid and somehow finds a way to get the upper hand in every attempt made by others to undermine his family's homestead. Before long, he and Pop have built a successful fishing business that begins to thrive and deliver some legitimately-earned cash into their coffers.

British movie edition paperback tie-in.

The film is a bit off-kilter when it comes to explaining why Toby is so adverse to getting involved with girls. The explanation is shallow especially when one considers how hormones rage at that age. Joanna Moore is a social worker who attempts to seduce him but he turns her down. This sets in motion a major plot device in which she attempts to use loopholes in the law to take the twins away from the household unless they agree to leave the state. Meanwhile, "Sheriff" Toby has another problem: two big city gamblers (Simon Oakland and Jack Kruschen) have opened a adjoining all-night gambling den next to the Kwimper household. The two men pretend they want to be friends with the naive Toby, who they actually exploit to their benefit. The film climaxes in Toby taking on both the threat of the gamblers as well as the local officials, the latter in an amusing courtroom sequence.

"Follow That Dream" has Elvis croon a relatively light load of only five songs. They are of varying quality and, frankly are presented in ridiculous fashion. Elvis will be laying on the grass staring dreamily into the sky and when he begins singing, the sound of a band appears out of  nowhere as he unconvincingly lip-synchs the lyrics. Nevertheless, the paucity of songs does allow Elvis to emote and he gives a fine, low-key and self-assured performance. He is helped by the fact that there are so many good character actors in the film and that the entire production is under the hand of an accomplished (if criminally underrated) director, Gordon Douglas. The screenplay is by another respected screen veteran, Charles Lederer. 

Elvis sang five songs in the film but so hated the one titled "Sound Advice" that he refused to include it on the soundtrack album.

The film does end on a relatively uncomfortable note, with Toby and Holly becoming a romantic couple. They might not be blood relatives but they have been living in a brother/sister relationship, which gives this aspect of the story a bit of a disturbing aspect, much as similar relationship did in John Huston's "The Unforgiven" in which Audrey Hepburn seemed to have the hots for her adopted big brother Burt Lancaster. Still, "Follow That Dream" is one of Elvis' more impressive movies and illustrates the potential he would have had if he continued to be nurtured as an actor by seasoned professionals in the industry. What isn't explored in the Twilight Time liner notes are the specific missed opportunities. He had been offered a key role in "The Rainmaker" but the Colonel insisted that Elvis get top-billing in any motion picture- an absurdity considering this production wasn't a musical and top-lined two screen legends, Burt Lancaster and Katharine Hepburn. Years later, Hal Wallis did consider him for the second male lead in his 1969 production of "True Grit" but the Colonel would have none of it because Elvis wouldn't get top billing over John Wayne. The part went to Glen Campbell and the film was internationally hailed as a classic western. Frustrated, Elvis finally put his foot down and did his own western, a production called "Charro!" that was inspired by the Italian westerns made famous by Clint Eastwood and Sergio Leone. It wasn't half bad and Elvis acquitted himself well enough but by then his boxoffice appeal had dwindled. He would make only two more feature films, although he was the subject of two other acclaimed documentaries about his concert performances in the 1970s. The legendary performer had managed to salvage his musical career by ignoring the Colonel and getting back to basics with his sensational 1968 comeback TV special. Sadly, the same fate did not await him in the film industry and we are left to ponder what could have been. 

The Twilight Time release of "Follow That Dream"  is right up to the company's  usual high standards. In addition to an illustrated collector's booklet, there is an isolated score track and an original trailer. 

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Donna Douglas, the former beauty queen who became an icon of 1960s TV, has passed away at age 82. Douglas started as a model in the 1950s and landed small roles in feature films before being cast as Elly May Clampett, the sexy but naive daughter of backwoods millionaire Jed Clampett on the smash hit TV series "The Beverly Hillbillies". The show was met with open disdain by CBS brass, who felt it was beneath the dignity of the network. However, viewers warmed to the Clampett clan immediately and the show became a smash hit that ran for nine seasons. It was still near the top of the ratings when it was canceled in a purge by network executives of its rural-themed hit shows in the early 1970s. Douglas' character was always relentlessly jovial and upbeat on the show and Elly May's penchant for bringing exotic animals onto the Clampett estate generated many laughs. Although she was type-cast, Douglas never complained. She went on to record gospel music, co-star with Elvis Presley and in her later years, attend autograph shows where she greeted her many fans. With her death, actor Max Baer Jr., who played Jethro,  is the last living member of the cast of "The Beverly Hillbillies".-Lee Pfeiffer

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