Cinema
Retro has
featured articles and reviews of several titles in the “American Film Theatreâ€
series.
To
recap: Back in 1973, producer Ely Landau and his wife Edie launched a daring
and unprecedented cinema series that played in the U.S. for two “seasons,†with
a total of fourteen titles (but only thirteen were shown), all renowned
works—classic and modern—originally produced on the stage. It was called the
American Film Theatre. (A review of a DVD box set of the entire series appeared
on Cinema Retro. Click here to read.)
The
concept tried something different. The directive was to take a great stage play,
not change a word, and in most
cases, use the actual play script as the screenplay. The next step was to hire
an accomplished film director to interpret the text for the film medium but stay faithful to the play.
Sometimes the director was the same person who helmed the original stage
production. A further step was to persuade the original casts from the Broadway
or London productions of those plays to star in the film; or, when that wasn’t
possible, to cast big-name Hollywood or British actors. Thus, the result was
indeed a filmed play—but you as an audience member wouldn’t be watching it from
the middle of the orchestra or from the side or from the first balcony; instead
you were up close and personal in a realistically-presented world (on studio
sets and/or real interior or exterior locations)—just like in “regular†movies.
You had the best seat in the house, so to speak, but there’s no proscenium
arch. It’s a movie. But it’s a play.
Kino
Lorber has slowly been re-releasing the titles from the American Film Theatre
in individual packages, upgraded to high definition Blu-ray. The newest—and
most anticipated for me personally—is Harold Pinter’s The Homecoming, directed
by Peter Hall (who also directed the original London production), and featuring
the original London cast, including the likes of Ian Holm, Vivien Merchant, and
Paul Rogers.
Pinter
is extremely difficult to stage, and even more problematic to film. Very few
adaptations of Pinter’s works have made the transition from stage to screen,
all with varying degrees of success (Cinema Retro recently reviewed Kino
Lorber’s Blu-ray release of William Friedkin’s adaptation of The Birthday
Party). When the American Film Theatre released The Homecoming,
movie critics and theatre people were in unanimous agreement—this was the best
representation of Harold Pinter we had seen (and probably will see, not
counting screenplays Pinter wrote that were not adapted from his stage
works).
The
style, the mood, and the pace are extremely indicative of Pinter’s plays. There
is an underlying, subtextual menace in nearly every line of dialogue.
Famous for the pauses that are clearly written into his scripts, Pinter
always insisted that every word (and pause) was adhered to when his plays were
produced. It all amounted to the flow of the language and to that sinister and
very black comedy which was the playwright’s hallmark. Yes, his plays can be
extremely funny—and The Homecoming is very much so once one becomes
accustomed to its heightened delivery.
Director
Peter Hall was a regular interpreter of Pinter on stage, and here he beautifully
adapts the writer’s Tony Award winning work. Yes, it takes place entirely in a
shabby, austere working-class home in Britain, but there was no need to “open
it up,†save for a few establishing shots of the street and tenement buildings.
The goods are all in the acting and the dialogue.
The
story? Well. It’s about an all-male household. The rooster is Max (Paul
Rogers), who rules over the place like a dictator. His brother, Sam (Cyril
Cusack), essentially serves as the butler, since he has always lived under
Max’s shadow. Two grown sons—Lenny (Ian Holm) and Joey (Terence Rigby)—live in
the house. Teddy (Michael Jayson), however, went off and got married to Ruth
(Vivien Merchant). When Teddy brings Ruth home for a family “visit,†things
become… well… tense. As the play/film unfolds, the situation becomes
increasingly bizarre and creepy.
Ian
Holm steals the picture with his acerbic, cynical take on his family and self. Those
readers here who only know Holm from his appearances in The Lord of the
Rings films or in Chariots of Fire need to see this performance. It
is masterful. Paul Rogers is also spectacular in the showiest role. He’s not
someone you want for a father.
Kino
Lorber’s new Blu-ray is a 1920x1080p restored transfer and looks decidedly
better than the previous DVD version. There are optional English SDH subtitles.
The main supplement is an interesting, long interview with cinematographer David
Watkin (who also shot the AFT’s A Delicate Balance). Repeated from other
AFT Blu-ray titles are an interview with Edie Landau, who with her husband Ely
produced the films in the series; a short promotional piece featuring Ely that
was shown in theaters during the initial run; and several trailers for other
AFT titles.
The
Homecoming belongs
on any list of “greatest black comedies.†For viewers unfamiliar with Pinter’s
stage work, this is the definitive adaptation. For my money, it’s also the
crown jewel of the American Film Theatre series.
(Above: the famed Pinewood mansion house that served as Spectre HQ in "From Russia with Love")
Since the early days of the British film industry, Pinewood Studios, located on the outskirts of London in Iver Heath, has been an iconic presence in the motion picture industry. The long time home of the James Bond series has also seen countless other major franchises and other blockbusters utilize the studio's sound stages and nearby rural settings as backdrops for some of the most memorable films of all time. Now, however, the studio will be taken in a very different direction. Variety reports that Disney has signed a long-term deal to effectively take over all of the studio for a period of ten years commencing in 2020. With the exception of a few minor television studios on the premises, the deal will allow Disney to dominate production in the British film industry for the next ten years. Film production in England has been booming in recent years, a far cry from decades ago when draconian tax laws threatened the very existence of the studios.
Vintage trade magazine advertisement from 1965.
Variety reports that Netflix has signed a similar deal with Shepperton Studios, the other major historic setting of classic British films. Not coincidentally, Shepperton is under the ownership of Pinewood. Thus, available space for non-Disney or Netflix productions in Britain will be very limited in the years to come. Even Agent 007 would seem to be affected, as the franchise belongs to MGM and Eon Productions. Presumably, future Bond films might be excluded from the studio that has served as the franchise's home base since the early 1960s. The irony is that the fabled "Albert R. Broccoli 007 Stage" might be off limits to James Bond for the next decade. For more, click here.
Kino Lorber has released a Blu-ray edition of the obscure 1984 thriller "The Ambassador". Despite it's impressive cast, the film was barely seen in the United States and had only sporadic distribution in other parts of the globe. The movie was a production of the Cannon Group, the now legendary schlock factory owned and operated by passionate Israeli movie buffs Yoram Globus and Menahem Golan. Cannon specialized in building often sub-par movies on limited budgets around stars with name recognition. Usually backed by sensationalist ad campaigns, Cannon became the toast of the film industry for churning out product at an almost surreal pace. Initially, Cannon was awash with cash but as moviegoers tastes became more sophisticated their ratio of misses-to-hits increased and ultimately the company folded. Although Cannon is synonymous with low-end action films and tasteless comedies, the company did occasionally seek to elevate the quality of its output by producing higher quality productions. "The Ambassador" was one such instance. It was ambitious in terms of aspirations even if it fell short of delivering on them.
The film was shot entirely in Israel and was based on Elmore Leonard's crime novel "52 Pick-Up". However, when Leonard learned that the screenplay by Max Jack had discarded virtually all of the characters and set-pieces from his book, he disowned the film. (Curiously, Cannon would make this up to Leonard by producing a more literal version of the novel a couple of years later. It was released under the book's title and Leonard wrote the screenplay.) The titular character is Peter Hacker (Robert Mitchum), the U.S. ambassador to Israel. Hacker is an idealist who is determined to use his influence to bring about a two-state solution to the Middle East crisis that will allow Israelis and Palestinians to finally coexist peacefully. However, he not only has to overcome skepticism from mainstream people on both sides, there are also fringe terrorist groups determined to undermine his efforts. The film opens with Hacker and his embassy security man Frank Stevenson (Rock Hudson) attempting to broker a secret meeting in the desert between armed Palestinian and Israeli combatants. Against all odds, both parties send representatives but a terrorist group attacks by helicopter and slaughters most of the attendees. Undeterred, Hacker concentrates on courting young people on both sides in the hopes that he can convince them to use peaceful means to settle their differences. Hacker has other pressures in his personal life: his wife Alex (Ellen Burstyn) is suffering from alcoholism and makes a spectacle of herself at a high profile social occasion. More disturbingly, she's been carrying on an anonymous affair with a local Palestinian merchant, Mustapha Hashimi (Fabio Testi). He doesn't know that his lover is the wife of the American ambassador and she doesn't know that he is a bigwig in the Palestinian Liberation Organization and is under constant surveillance by the Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency. It turns out someone has secretly filmed the lovers in bed. Hacker receives a phone call threatening to release the film unless he pays a million dollars ransom. This sets in motion a complex but interesting plot in which Hacker and Stevenson work to find the culprits and retrieve the film by any means necessary. The trail leads to mysterious and dangerous characters who attempt to assassinate Hacker even as he doggedly continues his obsession with finding a peaceful solution to Middle East violence.
"The Ambassador" features the three principals in very fine performances. An aging Mitchum still shows charisma and can deliver the goods in terms of a dramatic performance, despite the fact that he was said to be drunk throughout much of the shoot. Burstyn (in a role originally intended for Elizabeth Taylor) gives a daring performance for an actress over 50 years old by appearing topless in several scenes. Hudson, in his final feature film, cuts a handsome figure. He was still in fine athletic shape and performs quite a few action scenes with credibility. Mores the pity that the AIDS that would take his life within the next year was probably already beginning to take its toll on him. Donald Pleasence appears fleetingly but impressively as the head of the Mossad. The direction by the once-esteemed J. Lee Thompson is a step up from the celluloid claptrap he had been churning out for Cannon in recent years. It's also interesting to note that 22 years previously, he and Mitchum had teamed for the classic thriller "Cape Fear". "The Ambassador" has plenty of well-staged action scenes and Thompson makes the most of capitalizing on the Israeli locations, bringing a good sense of exotic atmosphere to the production. The script is more problematic because some aspects of the story stretch credibility. Ambassadors are to follow directions from the administration they serve. Peter Hacker is constantly freelancing by taking on well-intentioned but absurd secret missions and rendezvouses. In reality, he wouldn't last a day in the job. The film ends with a bloodbath but tries to mitigate the shock by tacking on a feel-good ending that comes across as contrived.
The Kino Lorber release has a very impressive transfer. There is a commentary track with film historians Nathaniel Thompson and Howard S. Berger, who present an informative discussion the film's editor, Mark Goldblatt. They provide a wealth of great information about the film (i.e. Rock Hudson was a last minute replacement for Telly Savalas). Goldblatt discusses the pros and cons of working for Cannon and bemoans the fact that the film was not widely seen. (He speculates it might have been made for tax shelter purposes.) There are times when the volume on Thompson's voice drops significantly, which is a bit annoying and, unless my ears deceive me, the track consists almost entirely of Thompson and Goldblatt with Berger only weighing in very infrequently. But the track is a great addition that gives valuable insights into a film that should have received more respect. The disc also contains two trailers: one for the American market and another for the international campaigns.
The checkered career of director Fritz Lang is amply illustrated by "Moonfleet", the 1955 MGM adaptation of the novel by J. Meade Falkner. Lang was arguably Europe's most esteemed filmmaker but the rise of National Socialism saw him immigrate to America before the worst aspects of Hitler's government were put into place. Lang was initially embraced by Hollywood studios but he soon wore out his welcome. His abrasive attitude and dictatorial style alienated studio brass and actors alike. He made some good films in America but the Hollywood studio system was still operating under the creaking conservative dictates of the Hays Code, which acted as a defacto censorship board. Fritz still managed to sneak through some progressive messages in his films but he was also often consigned to formula productions that didn't fully exploit his considerable talents. One such production was "Moonfleet". The story is set in Dorset, England in 1757 and casts Stewart Granger as Jeremy Fox, an aristocratic ladies man who has just returned from an extended trip to Europe with a beautiful mistress, Mrs. Minton (Viveca Lindfors) as his live-in lover. Fox has surrounded himself with a rogue's gallery of drunks and thieves who welcome him back to the fold, which in this case, is a successful smuggling operation that Fox oversees in the coastal community. He is also in cahoots with an equally disreputable noble, Lord Ashford (George Sanders) and his wife (Joan Greenwood), who openly attempts to seduce Fox. Into this mix arrives a young boy, John Mohune (Jon Whitely), who has been sent by his dying mother into the care of her former lover, Fox. (It is implied but not stated that Fox is the boy's father.) Fox is instantly dismissive of the lad, who he fears will infringe upon his lifestyle. He intends to send him to an upscale school but through a complicated set of circumstances, reverses his decision. Seems that the Mohunes were once a rich family in Dorset but their fortunes were undermined by another family that also victimized Fox. Young John has some clues to the whereabouts of his family's long-lost fortune, a revelation that gives Fox a reason to keep John in his care. The lad comes to idolize Fox even though the feelings of love aren't reciprocated. However, as the two share dangerous adventures and uncover the fortune in the form of a large diamond, Fox takes a more paternal view of the child.
"Moonfleet", which is the name of the town in which the action takes place, is a fairly mundane affair and a bizarre choice for a CinemaScope production since virtually every scene had been filmed in the cramped confines of MGM's sound stages in Hollywood. The film has a cheap look to it and most of it is set in dank locations in the dead of night, which also robs the movie of any visual splendor. The performances are all very good with Jon Whitely especially impressive and holding his own against his prestigious older co-stars. (For some reason, the cherubic Whitely never found stardom as a child actor.) Granger plays a more subdued character than usual in a costume drama but he does get to display some derring-do and Sanders is quite good playing a typical George Sanders role, the effete, morally bankrupt snob. The atmospheric score by Miklos Rozsa is another asset and the film's emotionally moving conclusion compensates for some of its drab production values. "Moonfleet" is never boring but it never rises to its potential, which may explain why it was a major bomb for MGM. Even Granger was said to have denounced it because if veered far off course from the source novel. However, "Moonfleet" is revered in France as one of Lang's greatest films. Viva la difference!
The Warner Archive Blu-ray presents a wonderful, top-notch transfer. The only bonus feature is an original trailer complete with sensationalistic narration and graphics.
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The Warner Archive has released the 1966 spy spoof "The Glass Bottom Boat" starring Doris Day and Rod Taylor, who had teamed for "Do Not Disturb" the year before. Everyone was riding the James Bond-inspired mania for espionage flicks and Day and director Frank Tashlin came up with a winner. The action takes place entirely in and around Catalina Island, California. Day plays Jennifer Nelson, a widow who recently started a job at a NASA facility where she works as a tour guide. She also moonlights by donning a mermaid costume and swims beneath the glass bottom boat tour boat owned and operated by her father Axel Nordstrom (Arthur Godfrey), much to the delight of the customers. One day, her costume gets snagged on the line of Bruce Templeton (Rod Taylor), who is deep sea fishing. As in most films of this type, their initial encounter is unfriendly, which is a necessary ingredient for the couple to inevitably become lovers. When Jennifer is guiding a tour at NASA she is stunned to learn that Bruce is a world-acclaimed scientist who has developed a top-secret gravity simulation device that the government has hailed as a major step forward in the Cold War space race against the Soviets. Bruce hires Jennifer as his personal secretary despite her lack of credentials just so he can attempt to seduce her. She is immediately smitten by him but keeps his advances at arm's length even when she is agog at at his state-of-the-art mansion that is equipped with inventions of the future that seemed fantastic in 1966. (They include a forerunner of the microwave oven and a self-guided vacuum cleaning device.) Things start to heat up when an abundance of other characters are introduced who are either allied in keeping the formula for Bruce's invention (known as "Gizmo") secret or who are serving as enemy agents trying to steal it.
"The Glass Bottom Boat" afforded Doris Day one of her best roles from films of the 1960s. Once again, she disproved the myth that she only played over-aged virgins. True, she doesn't jump at the chance to bed Bruce, even though he's a millionaire who looks exactly like Rod Taylor. But it's made clear that she just wants to ensure he isn't going to treat her as a one night stand. By today's standards, this would be commended as a sign of female empowerment. When she does get ready to move their relationship to the next level, in true family comedy style, fate keeps intervening with a series of interruptions. Day plays well alongside Rod Taylor and they exhibit genuine screen chemistry. The multi-talented Taylor was always woefully underrated as an actor even though the native Australian could portray American, British and Irish characters with equal conviction. Most of the belly laughs are provided by the sterling assembly of great comedic character actors of the day. Dick Martin is Bruce's perpetually horny business partner who is willing to sell his friend down the river in his desperate attempts to bed Jennifer. There's also the great Edward Andrews as a pompous U.S. army general who is reduced to the level of fawning schoolboy in Jennifer's presence. The inimitable John McGiver turns up as a NASA paper-pusher who is enlisted in an ill-fated spy assignment and Alice Pearce (in her last screen role before succumbing to cancer) and George Tobias blatantly recreate their popular roles as the nosy neighbors from the sitcom "Bewitched" to very funny effect. Even Eric Fleming (recently fired as the lead actor in TV's "Rawhide) turns up in a rare comedic role as a double agent and acquits himself surprisingly well. Arthur Godfrey is equally funny as Jennifer's crusty-but-lovable dad and one can only ponder why this icon of American TV and radio eschewed pursuing a career on the big screen. The most inspired bits come from Dom DeLuise as a bumbling spy and Paul Lynde as a snarky security man obsessed with revealing Jennifer is really a Soviet agent. The script by Everett Freeman is racier than most Doris Day vehicles and even includes some gay-themed humor. (Martin and Andrews end up in bed together and Lynde gets to dress in drag.) If all that isn't enough, there's a blink-and-you'll-miss-him cameo by a tuxedo-clad Robert Vaughn set to the theme from "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.". (This was shrewd marketing on the part of MGM. When word leaked out about Vaughn's appearances, countless "U.N.C.L.E." fans went to see the movie for that reason alone. I know. As a 9 year-old fan of the show, I was among them, persuading my dad to take me to see "The Glass Bottom Boat" at a drive-in.)
Although the film isn't a musical, Doris Day does get to do some crooning, singing a love song ("Soft as the Starlight") that was co-written years before by Joe Lubin and Curly Howard of the Three Stooges! This song is reworked into the catchy title theme for the movie that will have you humming it to the point it becomes annoying. (Think "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang"). Day also does a duet of the song with Arthur Godfrey and slips in a few bars from her signature song "Que Sera Sera". She also gets to indulge in a fantasy sequence in which she appears as a scantily-clad Mata Hari.
The Warner Archive Blu-ray ports over all the extras from the previous DVD release. There are three vintage featurettes. One has Godfrey providing narration about the Catalina locations in a droll, humorous fashion. Day takes us on a tour of a NASA facility in another and there is a third featurette in which a young model tours the MGM back lot, which will afford retro movie lovers some glimpses of very familiar sets from movie and TV productions. There is also a trailer and a vintage cartoon. The transfer is right up to the Archive's generally high standards but the trailer could stand a facelift.
I won't make the case that "The Glass Bottom Boat" is a comedy classic. It isn't. There's plenty of corn and gags that don't come off and some of the rear and front screen projection effects are crude even for 1966. But the film made me laugh quite a bit back then and revisiting it through this Blu-ray, I found that it still does. Highly recommended.
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(Above: Lynley in the 1972 hit "The Poseidon Adventure")
BY LEE PFEIFFER
Actress Carol Lynley has died from a heart attack at age 77. She began her career as a child model before gravitating to the movie industry. With her stunning looks, Lynley showed great potential in an era in which studios groomed starlets to become full-blown stars. Lynley gained fine notices for her starring role in the 1959 drama "Blue Denim" in which she and Brandon DeWilde played middle-class teenagers dealing with the secret of her unintended pregnancy in an era in which such scenarios were met with repression instead of compassion. Prominent roles followed including "Hound Dog Man", "Return to Peyton Place" and "The Last Sunset" in which she co-starred with Hollywood icons Rock Hudson and Kirk Douglas. Other major films of the 1960s include "The Stripper", "Under the Yum Yum Tree", "Shock Treatment", "The Pleasure Seekers", "The Maltese Bippy", "Danger Route" and as a memorable villainess in "Once You Kiss a Stranger..." She worked twice with mercurial director Otto Preminger during the decade, first in "The Cardinal" and next in one of her most prominent roles in "Bunny Lake is Missing". By the end of the decade, however, it was clear that her star power had diminished. Lynley came back into prominence with a major role in Irwin Allen's 1972 disaster movie blockbuster "The Poseidon Adventure" but the film didn't jump-start her career.
(Above: Lynley with Robert Vaughn in "The Man from U.N.C.L.E."
Lynley had always worked simultaneously in television and appeared in many hit shows including "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour", "Run for Your Life", "The Virginian", "The Invaders","The Virginian", "The F.B.I.", "Hawaii Five-0", "Kojak", "Quincy, M.E.", "The Love Boat", "Fantasy Island", "Charlie's Angels" and the classic TV movie "The Night Stalker". She also appeared in a two-part episode of "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." that was also released as the feature film "The Helicopter Spies". Lynley recently collaborated with Cinema Retro columnist Tom Lisanti on a forthcoming book about her life and career. For more click here.
Deane was crowned Bunny of the Year in 1969 by the screen's new James Bond, George Lazenby.
The terrific retro web site Spy Vibe pays homage to the glorious mod era of London in the 60s and 70s with a special look inside the Playboy Club. Bunny Deana, who worked at the club between 1969-1972, takes a trip down memory lane. To read the interview CLICK HERE
Any movie fan who has enjoyed watching The Remains of the Day should also view the 1973 film TheHireling, a far more obscure production that nonetheless had been praised by critics at the time of its release (it also shared the Palm d'Or grand prize with Scarecrow at Cannes that year). Like Remains, The Hireling explores the rigid class structure in Great Britain. The film is set in the 1920s, a period when social mobility in England was limited by virtual caste-like economic barriers. Lady Helen Franklin (Sarah Miles) is a young woman who returns to her elegant country estate (and her snobbish and unfeeling mother) after a stay in a sanitarium where she was recovering from a nervous breakdown following the death of her husband. The fragile Helen finds it difficult to return to a normal life and shuns attempts to reintroduce her to the upper crust crowd she once associated with. She forms a friendly bond with Steven Ledbetter (Robert Shaw), a working man who is proud of the fact that he owns his own car hire company. The enterprise consists of a couple of cars and precisely one chauffeur- Ledbetter himself, as well as a helper who serves as a mechanic. Ledbetter is hired to drive Lady Franklin on pleasant outings in the countryside as well as the occasional picnic. The two form a friendship and before long Lady Franklin breaks social barriers by sitting upfront with Ledbetter- a development that starts tongues wagging in gossip circles.
Over the course of the story, Ledbetter dares to imagine that the obsessive romantic interest he has developed for Lady Franklin is secretly shared by her. This sets in motion a series of events with Ledbetter trying to summon the nerve to express his feelings for her. Before he can do so, however, she is actively wooed by a handsome young artistocrat, Captain Hugh Cantrip (Peter Egan), an opportunist who is trying to use his distinguished military record as a stepping stone for a political career. Ledbetter has to silently endure chauffeuring the couple to various high society functions, while he is constantly reminded of his status as an employee. He becomes especially disturbed when his outings with Lady Franklin all but disappear as she spends more time with Cantrip. When Ledbetter discovers that Cantrip is a womanizer who is merely using Lady Franklin's social status to enhance his political ambitions, he comes to a dramatic decision that leads to the film's powerful conclusion.
The Hireling is about unrequited love told in a heartfelt and moving way. We recognize early on that Ledbetter's dream of establishing a romantic relationship with the woman he adores is more than likely doomed. Neither he or Lady Franklin are villains, but both of them are flawed human beings. Ledbetter's tendency to turn to drink in times of personal turmoil leads to making disastrous decisions; Lady Franklin's naive belief in Cantrip leads to their engagement- and she remains in denial of his unfaithfulness despite being presented with convincing evidence. The film is sensitively directed by Alan Bridges, who had been heretofore primarily known for his work in the British television industry. (Surprisingly, the critical success of this movie did not lead to a fruitful career in feature films.) The production values are excellent, adding immeasurably to establishing a convincing sense of period; Michael Reed's cinematography is superb and the script by Wolf Mankowitz (based on a novel) is brimming with terrific dialogue. The real pleasure of the movie, however, is watching two of England's best actors- Shaw and Miles- in their prime and delivering magnificent performances.
The Hireling is, in the end, a soap opera....but a grand one, indeed.
Sony has released the film as a burn-to-order DVD title. The quality is excellent, though there are no extras.
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It was never his intention to be remembered as the Alfred
Hitchcock of the Chester-Delaware Counties of Eastern Pennsylvania.Director Irvin S. Yeaworth Jr. was a devout
Christian whose real passion was turning out religious-themed short films that
would bring the Gospel to the masses.But
such proselytizing was cost prohibitive.So, at the suggestion of - and in partnership with - Philadelphia-based distributor/producer
Jack H. Harris, Yeaworth signed on to direct a handful of low-budget teenage
dramas and science-fiction films.Harris
had convinced Yeaworth that there was a cash-grab market for such indie films,
and these productions would bring in enough revenue to fund projects with
loftier aspirations.
Yeaworth’s first feature film (as co-producer), The Flaming Teenage (1956), was not
really his at all.It was instead a
cobble of pre-existing footage from a drug-abuse morality fable now disguised
and sold to distributors as an exploitation film.Things would evolve in the summer of 1957
when, working in tandem with the movie business-savvy Harris, Yeaworth’s Valley
Forge Productions cameras cranked out the soon-to-be-cult-classic science-fiction
film The Blob (1958) featuring twenty-seven
year old Steve McQueen.
The partnership of Harris and Yeaworth proved to be a brief
but modestly lucrative teaming of two disparate souls on separate life missions.
Two additional sci-fi films, with Yeaworth directing and Harris co-producing, would
follow in The Blob’s successful
box-office wake:The 4D Man (1959) and Dinosauraus!
(1960). Though neither of these subsequent films would inculcate their way into
the American pop-culture psyche as had The
Blob, The 4D Man, the first of
the two, is an intelligent, under-praised minor contribution to the 1950’s
sci-fi canon.
One of the bonus features included on this new Blu-ray
release of The 4D Man from Kino
Lorber is “Reflection from the Fourth Dimension,†a featurette ported over from
the German SubKultur 2011 DVD issue of the film.These dimensional reflections come courtesy
of Jack H. Harris (1918-2017) who muses unapologetically on a career of
bringing exploitation films to the big screen.Aside from his participation in The
Blob, Harris might be best remembered as the man who helped bring such
post-college student cult films as Schlock!
(1973) and Dark Star (1974) to movie
houses.His penny-pinching patronage of
young talent undoubtedly helped launch the careers of directors John Landis and
John Carpenter, respectively.
Harris brags in the featurette that he never had to
license any literary works to bring a story to the screen.There were, he muses, plenty of ideas already
out there, so why pay to license any literary material?Having said that, the wily producer would
admit the idea for The 4D Man was not
entirely self-generated.It came to him
courtesy of an illustration on the cover of Weird
Tales magazine, where a man was pictured walking through a wall, his body mass
co-mingling seamlessly with the atoms of the brick.
Harris was a film economist of the Roger Corman School,
and Yeaworth was a dependable enough filmmaker to stay on budget.Shot entirely in Chester and Delaware
Counties, Pennsylvania, fans of The Blob
will recognize many of the same faces from that film in small supporting roles
here: actors from Yeaworth’s personal troupe (George Karas, John Benson, Elbert
Smith et. al.).And, in much the same
manner that The Blob had helped
introduce Steve McQueen to movie audiences, The
4D Man would mark the feature film debut of actress Lee Meriwether.
Crowned as Miss America in 1955 during the pageant’s very
first televised edition, Meriwether would tour as a spokesman for the organization
during most of the following year. She then began to pick-up small roles in
early, live television productions, before being offered the substantial role
of Linda Davis in The 4D Man.Looking back on her experience, Meriwether
fretted that she was perhaps still “too green†as an actress for the assignment
and unsatisfied with her performance. She thought the film’s screenplay (co-written
by Theodore Simonson and Cy Chermak) was, in her own words, “very
involved.â€
She had a point.Trying to explain away the complex concepts of a scientist moving in and
out of the fourth dimension was a tough task, though it must be said that the
movie’s special effects are relatively impressive for a regional film shot on a
modest budget.Meriwether’s character
works at the Fairview Research Center, where some sort of secret federal
government experimentations are underway.It’s no secret that she has to contend with her fair share of sexual
harassment in the workplace.She’s
engaged to Dr. Scott Nelson (Robert Lansing), in love with the doctor’s
brother, Tony Nelson (James Congdon) and is routinely and unwelcomingly being hit
up for dates by the shifty Roy Parker (Robert Strauss).
Tony Nelson is, to put it politely, a disruptor.Obsessed with his experimentations with the
fourth dimension, he accidentally burned down the workplace of his previous employer.Understandably dismissed from his position
following that inferno, he resurfaces at Fairview where his older brother Scott
serves.The two appear to have a frosty
relationship.Their grudging
interactions become understandable when we learn that Tony has a history of
running off with Scott’s paramours. Unfortunately for Scott, his inability to
hold on to women will soon be the least of his troubles.
Not only are his inventions being co-opted by both a
shifty coworker and an unscrupulous boss, he’s also beginning to suffer
symptoms of muscular stiffness.The
laboratory’s medical officer suggests his ever-worsening condition may be the
result of exposure to excessive amounts of radiation.It’s also determined that he is sending out
strong “electro-magnetic impulses†and other tests reveal his brainwaves are registering
“different than most people.â€Perhaps
even enough to drive him mad.
These conditions ultimately result in his being able to
pass through glass, metal, drywall, brick, and steel.The only way he can renew his personal energy
and appearance is to literally suck the life out of his flesh-and-blood victims
through a kiss or simply a mere touch.Having an intimate knowledge of the science brother Tony rues, “A man in
the fourth dimension is indestructible.â€Perhaps.
If The 4D Man
was ambitious in its cerebral storyline, the final project pairing Harris and
Yeaworth was ambitious in its scope…CinemaScope.Harris was able to sell an idea for a
combination prehistoric monster/children’s film Dinosauraus! to Universal-International… where the film would play
in some markets as the under-bill to the more adult-orientated Brides of Dracula.It’s the mostly visually impressive of
Yeaworth’s films.Gone from the screen
are the low-budget locations shoots mounted in and around the sleepy hamlets of
the director’s hometown.They’ve now
been replaced by the exotic beaches and townships of St. Croix, in the Virgin
Islands, and the film comes replete with colorful underwater sequences, boasts
its very own team of special effect experts and features a great Ronald Stein
score.
The Kino Lorber Blu-ray release of Stephen King’s 1993 Needful
Things comes in the midst of Hollywood’s current remake fever. With such
projects as Carrie (2013), IT (2017), Pet Sematary (2019)
and the upcoming IT: Chapter Two (2019), this author’s works continue to
draw movie audiences and infuse the horror genre as they had during the 1980s
and 90s. Revisiting this original production of King’s 1991 novel - whereupon
the devil comes to visit the small Maine town of Castle Rock - one is reminded
why both his novels and films alike are regarded as iconic horror set pieces.
Following along on the heels of previous successes such as Carrie (1973),
The Shining (1980), Pet Sematary (1989), and Misery (1990)
- and released only a year before the iconic Shawshank Redemption (1994)
- Needful Things shares many similarities to King’s other works.
Meditating on the theme of human evil, this film puts the hateful hearts of the
townspeople of Castle Rock in the forefront. The supernatural element of Needful
Things’ shopkeeper Leland Gaunt’s omniscient devil is present as he
instigates many of the townsfolk to action.But the most heinous and horrific acts are ultimately committed by
ordinary people, those of whom are fueled by an underlying anger against their
neighbors.
Unlike other Stephen King adaptations, this film does not bury its
ideas in subtext. Gaunt reminisces boastfully about how, over the centuries, he
has sold weaponry - but it was always the ordinary people around him that put
these tools of mortality to work. So while supernatural elements certainly exist
in this film, it’s also a morality play that begs us to look critically at
ourselves. It’s only by doing so that we can make sure we don’t become
the Danforth Keetons, the Chris Hargensens, or the Annie Wilkes of the
world.
Max Von Sydow’s performance as the shadowy shopkeeper Leland Gaunt is
particularly compelling.The
townspeople's desired treasures he sells comes at a steep price, causing them
to commit acts of sabotage and violence against one another. Ed Harris, who
plays Castle Rock’s sheriff, is a central figure in a dangerous cat-and-mouse
game… one that only intensifies when petty feuds drive the townspeople to
commit heinous acts in retaliation for perceived wrongdoings. Amanda Plummer’s
interpretation as the mousy and skittish Nettie Cobb should be recognized, as
her character’s life is the first to be manipulated. One is not entirely
empathetic to the sad consequences of Gaunt’s cynical game until Nettie finds
the remains of her beloved dog and is finally pushed to her breaking
point.
The quality of the film’s print is exceptional, presented here in a 1.85:1
aspect ratio and 1920x1080P, with a DTS a soundtrack. Bonus features include
the original theatrical trailer and an informative and entertaining audio
commentary with film historian Walt Olsen and director Fraser C. Heston. The
commentary provides interesting insights into the production of the film, the
on-set relationships between crew and cast, and the back stories to Heston’s
first feature film. Film historians and Stephen King fans alike should enjoy
this behind the scenes look at the making of the film.
The Warner Archive has released a slew of worthwhile 60s spy movies and TV series. Among the under-rated gems is The Double Man, a 1967 Cold War thriller starring Yul Brynner, who gives a powerful performance as American intelligence agent Dan Slater. His teenage son is killed while skiing in Switzerland and Slater suspects it was actually murder. He finds he's been lured to Alps as part of a complex plot to kill him and replace him with an enemy agent with his identical facial features and characteristics. The plot was covered with moss even at the time since it formed the basis of a two-part Man From U.N.C.L.E. episode, The Double Affair, that was released theatrically the previous year as The Spy With My Face. Still, this is a highly intelligent, gritty film with Brynner as the most hard-ass hero imaginable. Devoid of any humor, Slater suspects both friend and foe as he leaves no stone unturned in trying to thwart the plot. The film benefits from a good supporting cast including future Bond girl Britt Ekland who finds herself unable to distinguish between the two Slaters. Clive Revill and Anton Diffring are excellent in supporting roles. There are some spectacular aerial sequences photographed by the late great cameraman Johnny Jordan, whose work on On Her Majesty's Secret Service bears a strong resemblance to this film, though both movies suffer from the shoddy rear screen projection technology of the time. The score by Ernie Freeman is sometimes overly-bombastic, but in the aggregate, this is one of the better spy films of the era thanks in no small part to the direction of Franklin J. Schaffner, who would win the Oscar several years later for Patton.
The transfer is crisp and clean and the DVD features the original theatrical trailer.
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RETRO-ACTIVE: THE BEST FROM THE CINEMA RETRO ARCHIVES
BY LEE PFEIFFER
Scorpion has released the complete version of the 3-part 1978 mini series "The Dain Curse" as a double DVD set. The show has a checkered history in terms of home video. A truncated version was available for a while on VHS, then Image released the full three episodes on DVD. Now Scorpion has done the same and the quality of the set is very good, capturing the relatively rich production values of the series. Those of us of a certain age can remember when the pre-cable major networks put a great deal of time, talent and financial resources into mini-series. In the 1970s and 1980s, many of these shows constituted "must-see" TV. In an age in which the average household didn't have video recorders, some shows were so special that people altered their lifestyles to ensure they could catch each episode. Today, those days seem long gone, with network TV now a haven for trashy game shows, indistinguishable cop shows and so-called "reality shows", most of which don't bear any resemblance to the world most of us live in. To top it all off, even if you are inclined to indulge in this fare, you have to sit through such a mind-numbing number of commercials, you'll probably forget where the story left off before the last break. The good news, of course, is that magnificently entertaining mini-series are still thriving. The bad news is that you have to pay even more to watch them via "premium" cable TV channels. "The Dain Curse" was produced smack in the middle of the prestige craze of the 1970s when TV networks tried to outshine each other in terms of producing acclaimed mini-series. Unfortunately, this series, despite a promising concept, falls far short of the mark.
The story, set in 1929, is based on a Dashiell Hammett novel, ordinarily a good source for a film noir production. Robert Mitchum had gotten the formula right a couple of years before with his portrayal of Philip Marlowe in "Farewell, My Lovely". Coburn would seem to be an appropriate leading man for another Hammett protagonist, private eye Hamilton Nash. However, whereas Mitchum looked sleepy, worn-out and perpetually pissed off, Coburn looks too much like a movie star. He's immaculately attired and supremely self-confident. He does suffer the fate of all noirish detectives: he makes the occasional misjudgment that sees him beaten and battered, but for the most part Coburn is a bit too Hollywood to ever convince you that he's an employee of a private eye agency. Nonetheless, even miscast Coburn is a joy to watch, especially as he trades wisecracks with cops, crooks and dames. The problem with "The Dain Curse", however, is that there are far too many of all these characters. The plot is overly-complex and virtually impossible to follow. It opens with Nash investigating the alleged robbery of some diamonds from the home of a rich, middle-aged couple. In the process, he suspects there never was a robbery and begins to unravel the reasons for the staged crime. In the process, he meets the couple's daughter, a twenty-something beauty named Gabrielle, who turns out to be real handful. She's a head-turner, but she's also insufferably cynical and self-obsessed and her party girl habits lead to a complicated scenario that ultimately involves murder, phony religious cults, drug addiction and kidnapping. (This is another staple of the private eye genre: the errant "wild daughter".) Throughout, Nash has to deal with the usual eccentrics found in any detective story of the era: incompetent cops, a kindly boss who is exasperated by his star detective's independent streak, corrupt public officials and more red herrings than you would find in a fish factory. Within ten minutes, I found myself confused. By the one hour mark, I had given up in terms of trying to follow the plot and the character's motivations and just decided to sit back and enjoy the often impressive performances. These include Beatrice Straight as Gabrielle's mother, Hector Elizondo as a small time sheriff who assists Nash and, most impressively, Jason Miller, playing against type as a dandy writer in the Truman Capote mold (though he favors the opposite sex.) The best performance comes from Nancy Addison in the challenging role of Gabrielle. Addison successfully conveys the wide range of emotion the character has to display over the film's five hour running time. There are also welcome appearances by Jean Simmons, Paul Stewart, Roland Winters and New York's favorite raconteur, Malachy McCourt.
The film has some riveting sequences such as Nash's investigation of a cult religious temple where a human sacrifice is being planned and his subsequent drugging by hallucinogen-causing gasses. The Long Island locations are also pleasing to the eye and Charles Gross's period jazz score is admirable. However, the screenplay drags on for far too long, testing one's ability to follow the nature of pivotal relationships and motivations. By the time the movie grinds to what should be a compelling courtroom climax, the revelations aren't shocking because you can barely understand their implications- and there is little that director E.W. Swackhamer (we love that name!) can do to sew these disparate elements into something comprehensible.
The Scorpion DVD package features the cool original promotional art on the sleeve and also includes trailers for other Scorpion releases including Coburn's "The Internecine Project", Burt Lancaster in "Go Tell the Spartans" and an unusual trailer for "Saint Jack" hosted by director Peter Bogdanovich.
Once upon a time a highly successful film director named Blake Edwards teamed with his very popular actress wife to make a big budget Paramount musical called "Darling Lili". Released in 1970, the WWI-era movie was a major flop. Edwards blamed studio head Robert Evans for having made significant cuts to the final version of the film, though Paramount maintained that the film's budget had gone out of control and they had to exercise their right to salvage it through whatever means necessary. Several years later, Edwards had a contentious relationship with MGM that was exacerbated by the studio altering his final cuts of "The Carey Treatment" and "Wild Rovers". Hell hath no fury like a director scorned, especially a director who was not lacking in self-esteem. Ultimately, Edwards sought his revenge with the release of his notorious 1981 madcap comedy "S.O.B." The movie is a take-down of the film industry, presenting an ugly picture of Hollywood as a place populated by crooks, shnooks, disreputable studio brass and disloyal hangers-on all willing to sell their souls to advance their careers. Doubtless, Edwards was done wrong by certain studio executives but by all accounts, he wasn't "Mr. Popularity" either. Edwards had fractious working relationships with many people including Peter Sellers, with whom he made several successful "Pink Panther" films despite the fact the men came to loath one another. I was having lunch with a former studio big wig in 2010 when I informed him that the news just broke that Edwards had died. His response: "It's a shame it took so long." Ouch!
Edwards was indeed multi-talented. He was capable of directing successful dramas ("Days of Wine and Roses") and the occasional thriller ("Experiment in Terror") but his niche was comedy and for a period of years he produced some great successes including "Operation Petticoat" and "Breakfast at Tiffanys" as well as the best-received Inspector Clouseau films ("A Shot in the Dark" and "The Pink Panther".) By the 1970s, however, his films were under-performing. In 1975, more out of necessity than sentimentality, he and Peter Sellers returned to the "Pink Panther" franchise and scored three more hits. "S.O.B." was his most personal film, however, and allowed him to figuratively put his considerable list of enemies in his cross-hairs. Edwards wrote, produced and directed the film which boasted an impressive all-star cast, including Julie Andrews, who would break new ground in her career by famously baring her breasts (thus causing Johnny Carson to quip to Andrews that he was thankful to see that "the hills were still alive!")
The film begins with a comical suicide attempt by once-esteemed film director Felix Farmer (Richard Mulligan), who can't cope with the demise of his career due to the catastrophic boxoffice returns on "Night Wind", his mega-budget family musical starring his wife Sally Miles (Julie Andrews). Felix bungles the attempt which will become a running gag throughout the film as fate keeps preventing him from taking his own life. Now suffering from a mental illness, Felix is convinced that he has heard advice from God about how to salvage his film and career. He approaches the Machiavellian studio chief David Blackman (Robert Vaughn, whose character is supposedly based on Robert Evans.) Felix offers to reimburse the studio for their investment in the musical so that he can own all the rights and reshoot it as a pornographic production complete with the songs intact, only with an S&M take. Blackman jumps at the chance to redeem his own reputation and agrees, but Sally is a tough sell. Her entire career has been built on playing sweet, innocent characters, much as Andrews's career was defined in the early days. She is appalled at Felix's mental state and the fact that he hocked their entire net worth to pull off this madcap scheme. She turns to the film's original director, Tim Culley (William Holden) for advice and he and their mutual friend, quack physician Irving Finegarten (Robert Preston) for counsel. They both convince her the daffy scheme might work and would prove to be a good career move. With Sally reluctantly immersing herself into a sex-filled musical, word around Hollywood gets out that Felix might actually be creating a potential blockbuster. This causes Blackman to renege on the deal. Felix now goes entirely off the deep end and "kidnaps" the reels of his completed film in order to thwart Blackman from exploiting him.
Movies that present Hollywood as a soulless climate are as old as the film industry itself but "S.O.B." is in a class of its own in this regard. There are no sympathetic characters. As Felix devolves into complete madness, his family, confidantes and friends all conspire to take advantage of him for their own selfish purposes. Edwards presents a Devil's Playground of cheating lovers, emotionless sex and untrustworthy partners. It was a parlor game back in the day to guess which real-life personalities were being portrayed on screen. For example, there was little doubt that Shelly Winters' obnoxious talent agent was based on the much-feared Sue Mengers. Loretta Swit, playing the film's most grating character, seems to be a compilation of every gossip columnist who Edwards grew to loathe. Other well-known stars are also used to good effect including Larry Hagman, Robert Webber, Robert Loggia, Marisa Berenson, Stuart Margolin and Craig Stevens. Ostensibly, the star is Richard Mulligan, who gives a very spirited performance that is ultimately undone by Edwards having him cross over into theater of the absurd. Because of the large cast, most of the actors don't get much screen time but those who do resonate very well especially Andrews, Holden, Preston, Webber and Vaughn. The latter has a show-stopping scene that almost rivals the unveiling of Andrews' prized bosoms when it is revealed that his character of the macho studio executive has a passion for making love to his mistress (Berenson) while he is attired in female lingerie.
"S.O.B." is genuinely funny but, as previously stated, Edwards goes overboard into silliness especially in the last third of the film. Until then the events that we witnessed have been mostly plausible but Edwards goes over the top and resorts to almost slapstick as well as introducing some characters such as a manic Asian chef and an Indian guru (played respectively by Benson Fong and Larry Storch) who would be far more at home in a Pink Panther movie. Still, it remains a biting satire that is mostly quite enjoyable- and it's all accompanied by a score from Edwards' frequent collaborator, Henry Mancini.
The Warner Archive Blu-ray looks gorgeous and contains the original trailer.
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Alfred
Hitchcock’s early British period of work (1927-1939) has been in the public
domain and/or out of copyright and available in poor quality renditions online
and cheap home video bargain collections for many years. Most of these are
unwatchable, not due to the films themselves, but because of the wretched
condition of the images. Granted, not everything the Master of Suspense did
during these years is up to par with his later Hollywood output that most of us
know. Nevertheless, of the 25+ films Hitch made then (nine of them silent),
there are indeed some select winners (The Lodger, The Man Who Knew
Too Much, The 39 Steps, Sabotage, and The Lady Vanishes
all come to mind).
There
are also a handful of other admirable and worthwhile gems from the British period,
and Kino Lorber has recently issued new high definition restorations of two
that have been crying out for facelifts for some time.
Blackmail
(1929)
is touted as Britain’s first talkie, although it really isn’t. Nevertheless, as
audio commentator Tim Lucas says, we’re not going to argue with that notion. Blackmail
was such a step forward in technical innovation with its inventive use of sound
that the picture deserves to be recognized as, at least, the first British
talkie that did sound well. Interestingly, the film exists as a silent
film, too. As in the USA, many cinemas across Britain were not yet wired for
sound, so Hitchcock made two versions—a silent and a talkie. Originally, the
silent picture was longer than the sound version, but some of that material is
lost. A recent restoration brings the silent entry in at around 75 minutes,
whereas the talkie is roughly 85.
It’s
a rather sordid story (then again, it’s Hitchcock!). Alice (gorgeous Anny
Ondra) is angry at her police detective boyfriend, Frank (John Longden), so she
goes out with an artist, Mr. Crewe (Cyril Ritchard). Crewe attempts to rape
her, so Alice murders him with a knife. Unfortunately, shifty street bum Tracy
(Donald Calthrop) figures out she’s the one who did it, and he attempts to
blackmail both Alice and Frank. Without giving too much away, let’s just say
the picture ends with a moral ambiguity.
For
an early sound motion picture, Blackmail is surprisingly engaging and
suspenseful. Hitchcock’s playful use of the technology (such as in the
now-famous scene in which Alice hears the word “knife†repeated and loses her
cool over it) is apparent throughout. The picture is also notable for the director’s
first big climactic sequence at a famous landmark (in this case, the British
Museum).
That
said, film buffs may very well find that the silent version of Blackmail to
be superior. There is an economy to the purely visual storytelling that the
sound entry subtly lacks. They’re both terrific, though.
Note:Although the packaging does not adequately
make it clear, Blackmail comes with two Blu-ray disks. The first
contains the silent version and the sound edition in 1.33:1 aspect ratio. On
the other disk is the sound version in 1.20:1 aspect ratio, which is apparently
closer to what the movie was when first released. There is some speculation
online regarding the accuracy of these two aspect ratios (see the discussion at
https://www.hometheaterforum.com/a-few-words-about-blackmail-in-blu-ray/),
but these eyes can find no egregious fault with either presentation. Compared
to what we’ve had before with Blackmail, the Kino Lorber release is a
godsend. Ironically, the silent version looks the most pristine. Supplements
include the previously mentioned audio commentary by Lucas (always listenable),
an intro to the film by Noël Simsolo, an audio
portion of the conversation between Hitchcock and François
Truffaut conducted for the Hitchcock/Truffaut book, Anny Ondra’s
celebrated brief screen test, and trailers for this and other Kino Lorber
titles.
The
fashions, set designs, and social conventions of “Midnight Lace†were finely
tuned to the expectations of audiences who trooped to their local theaters to
see the film on its release in 1960, making it the year’s eleventh
highest-grossing production.Nearly
sixty years later, those same glossy Hollywood trappings have an almost campy
quaintness.How often do you see anyone
wear a pillbox hat anymore, outside of a drag parade?Regardless, the film’s basic plot would still
fit nicely into any of today’s TV soap operas.The principal characters would be a little younger, they’d sleep
together in the same bed instead of by themselves in separate twin beds, and
the male lead would take off his shirt at least once an episode to display his
ripped physique -- that’s all.
Kit
Preston (Doris Day), an American heiress newly married to British financier
Anthony Preston (Rex Harrison) and relocated from the U.S. to London, begins
receiving obscene, threatening phone calls from an anonymous stalker.Her husband and her friends are sympathetic
at first, but gradually they begin to express skepticism because Kit is the
only one who hears the calls.Inspector
Byrnes of Scotland Yard (John Williams) is even more cynical: “We waste half
our time looking for crank phone callers who don’t even exist, except in the
minds of unhappy women.You’d be
surprised how far a wife would go to make a neglectful husband toe the
mark.â€Today a comment like that would
get a senior police officer censured for insensitivity if not kicked off the
force, but in the mindset of 1960, his opinion seems to be supported by the
circumstances.The charming but work-obsessed
Anthony spends more time in the boardroom than at home, and as a newcomer to
the U.K. the lonely Kit feels isolated.Even her visiting Aunt Bea (Myrna Loy, sharp as a tack and looking
terrific at fifty-five) begins to wonder.
From
the outset, though, the viewer knows that Kit is telling the truth, and the
mystery for us becomes not whether she’s delusional, but who’s behind the
threats?The script serves up a rich
array of suspects.Is she being menaced
by her housekeeper’s smarmy nephew (Roddy McDowell)?By her husband’s financially troubled
associate (Herbert Marshall)?By
Anthony’s assistant Daniel (Richard Ney), who seems to be nursing other
ambitions under his obsequious facade?“So many red herrings!†as critic and writer Kat Ellinger observes in
her fine audio commentary on a new Kino-Lorber Blu-ray release of the
movie.A handsome construction manager
overseeing a renovation next door seems to be a good guy (John Gavin), but he’s
troubled by lingering wartime PTSD, and he’s been using the phone in the back
room of the local pub to make calls of an undisclosed nature.When a stranger intrudes into Kit’s
apartment, inconveniently disappearing when she summons help, he’s likely to
become the viewer’s prime suspect, and not only because of his black overcoat
and sinister cast of features.He’s
played by Anthony Dawson, well-remembered (like John Williams as the police
inspector) from “Dial M for Murder.â€In
the Hitchcock thriller, Dawson was the guy who attempted to strangle Grace
Kelly.By and large, the script plays
fair in planting its clues and casting our suspicions first on one character
and then another, although the resolution may not surprise hardcore
movie-mystery fans.The phrase “Midnight
Lace†is uttered once in the film as the style of a black negligee that Kit
promises to wear if Anthony takes her on their deferred honeymoon to Venice,
but it doesn’t have any real bearing on the character’s plight.Still, it’s a classy and evocative title that
was repurposed for an inferior, unrelated made-for-TV movie in 1981.
Although
apparently it was not a hit when it was first released in 1956, Jean-Pierre
Melville’s Bob le flambeur (aka Bob the Gambler) grew in
reputation over the ensuing years and soon became a classic French film noir,
often cited as one of the better crime films from that country in any decade.
Melville
was an artist known for his minimalistic style that influenced many of the
younger rebels who initiated the French New Wave. While Melville himself is
usually not considered to be a New Wave director, he has been called the
“godfather†of the movement. Both Jean-Luc Godard and François
Truffaut have acknowledged him as a mentor of sorts, and in fact, Godard cast
him in a small role—as a filmmaker—in his debut picture, Breathless.
The
picture is an early one in Melville’s career, and he would go on to direct
other, perhaps better, titles (Le Samouraï,
Army of Shadows, Le Cercle rouge), but Bob le flambeur may
be his best known work because of its striking style, the melancholic mood it
evokes, and the central performance by Duchesne. It is a standout among the
many French noirs being made in the 1950s.
Kino
Lorber presents a beautifully restored 1920x1080p high definition transfer that
looks gorgeous, and it comes with an audio commentary by film critic Nick
Pinkerton. Also included is the approximately half-hour documentary, Diary
of a Villain, about the influence of the picture and its striking style.
The theatrical trailer and other Kino Lorber trailers round out the package.
Bob
le flambeur is
recommended for any fan of film noir and/or French cinema. You’re sure
to be a winner with this one.
Eon Productions have announced that the official title of the next James Bond film will be "No Time to Die". Daniel Craig returns for what is said to be his final appearance as 007. The film is scheduled to open in April, 2020. Here is the official press release:
LOS ANGELES – August 20, 2019 – James Bond Producers, Michael G.
Wilson and Barbara Broccoli today released the official title of the 25th
James Bond adventure,No Time To Die. The film, from Albert R.
Broccoli’s EON Productions, Metro Goldwyn Mayer Studios (MGM), and Universal
Pictures International is directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga (Beasts of No Nation,
True Detective) and stars Daniel Craig, who returns for his fifth
film as Ian Fleming’s James Bond 007. Written by Neal Purvis & Robert Wade (Spectre,
Skyfall), Cary Joji Fukunaga, Scott Z. Burns (Contagion,The Bourne Ultimatum) and Phoebe
Waller-Bridge (Killing Eve, Fleabag) No Time To Dieis currently
in production. The film will be released globally from April 3, 2020 in the
U.K. through Universal Pictures International and in the U.S on April 8, from
MGM via
their United Artists Releasing banner.
In No Time To Die,Bond has left
active service and is enjoying a tranquil life in Jamaica. His peace is
short-lived when his old friend Felix Leiter from the CIA turns up asking for
help. The mission to rescue a kidnapped scientist turns out to be far more
treacherous than expected, leading Bond onto the trail of a mysterious villain armed
with dangerous new technology.
Other members of the creative team are; Composer Dan Romer,
Director of Photography Linus Sandgren, Editors Tom Cross and Elliot
Graham, Production Designer Mark Tildesley, Costume Designer Suttirat
Larlarb, Hair and Make-up Designer Daniel Phillips, Supervising Stunt
Coordinator Olivier Schneider, Stunt Coordinator Lee Morrison and Visual
Effects Supervisor Charlie Noble. Returning members to the team are;
2nd Unit Director Alexander Witt, Special Effects and Action Vehicles
Supervisor Chris Corbould and Casting Director Debbie McWilliams.
Casino
Royale, Quantum Of Solace, Skyfall and Spectre have
grossed more than $3.1 billion in worldwide box office collectively. Skyfall ($1.1
billion) and Spectre ($880 million) are the two
highest-grossing films in the franchise.
Paging through a dog-eared magazine in a doctor’s waiting
room, I happened across a checklist of the American
Film Institute’s 100 Greatest Films.With a combination of surprise and disappointment, I was made aware that
I’d only caught about fifty-percent of the films listed.Of the remaining 50% there were about half,
assuming the proper mood, that I would be interested in seeing sometime.The remaining twenty-five percent were, to be
perfectly honest, films too far out of the scope of personal interest.Regardless, I convinced myself that if I can
hold on long enough to manage a pension… Well, perhaps there remained a possibility
of catching up on a few of those titles as well.
Regardless, it was soul-searching time.While I have been issued an AARP card, I’m
not a bona fide senior citizen yet.So why, I asked myself in painful
self-reflection, have I not seen half of the one hundred greatest American
films ever produced, yet have somehow managed to sit through Billy the Kid vs. Dracula at least a
dozen times.Now that I think of it,
I’ve sadly probably sat through this cinematic train wreck a dozen more times
than even that calculation.
It goes without saying that John Carradine’s turn as
Transylvania’s crown Prince of Darkness in Universal’s House of Frankenstein and House
of Dracula was not nearly as iconic as Bela Lugosi’s.Carradine’s Dracula was certainly less menacingly
foreign in his manner and accent.His was a more gentlemanly vampire,
soft-spoken, elegantly dressed with top hat, cravat and walking stick.Though the “Immortal Count†had visibly aged
since Carradine’s 1944 appropriation of the role, his sartorial style would not
change a great deal when Billy the Kid
vs. Dracula was unleashed in 1966.There
were a few changes.While the top hat
and cape remained in place, the well-manicured moustache he sported in the
Universal films has been replaced with a drooping “Snidely Whiplash†soup
strainer.Hanging from the pointed chin of
Carradine’s triangular noggin sat a Salvador Dali-style goatee.
It was the same character in name only.In the 1940s, Carradine’s Dracula was an otherworldly
figure, distinguished and mysterious.In
this William Beaudine cult film he’s cast as more of a lecherous, carpet
bagging lunatic with obvious bedroom eyes for the sweet and sassy Betty Bentley
(Melinda Plowman).And while we’re on
the subject of eyes; if Lugosi’s eyes were mesmerizing and hypnotic and Christopher
Lee’s bloodshot and primal, Carradine’s are just… Well, plain goofy.Stretching his eye sockets to ridiculous parameters,
Carradine’s sclera and pupils resemble a pair of bulging ping pong balls.The result is a gaze neither mesmerizing nor
terrifying, but merely ridiculous.He bears
the facial expression of man who witnessed in amazement as someone swallowed an
enormous sandwich from the Carnegie Deli in a single bite.
“There are
pictures I wish I hadn’t done,†Carradine would confess to interviewers on more
than one occasion.Usually citing Billy the Kid vs. Dracula as one of
these films, the actor routinely excused his signing on to such disasters since
an aging actor still needed to work to pay the bills.Though the actor’s reflection is both
gracious and understandable, a grain of salt is necessary to digest his belief
that, “I started turning down the bad [roles following Billy the Kid vs. Dracula].My conscience took over and I’d say I won’t read lines and vomit at the
same time.â€If this was true, then 1966
would have marked the demarcation line between the good, the bad, and the ugly
of Carradine’s prodigious filmography. But if this is the case, then how does one
explain Carradine’s presence in such delicious post-1966 cinematic trash as The Astro Zombies, House of the Black Death, Satan’s
Cheerleaders, and Vampire Hookers
– not to mention the four exploitative quickies he made in Mexico City in 1968?This, sadly, is to list only a few of his mid-to-late
career titles.One must also graciously
choose to ignore most of his walk-on work from 1970 through 1988.
There’s no point in describing the film’s ridiculous
storyline in any detail.In the final
tally, Billy the Kid vs. Dracula is
neither a very good horror film nor a serviceable western.That’s not to say that the film is not
entertaining.It’s just not entertaining
in any commendable way.Director William
Beaudine – famously referred to as “One Shot Beaudine†due to his economic,
time-crunched shooting schedules – had been kicking around Hollywood’s second
and third tier studios since near the beginning of the silent era.His specialties were second features - mostly
westerns and mysteries - but he wasn’t opposed to taking on any film project if
it helped to keep him employed.
Though not considered a “horror†film director by any
measure, Beaudine would nonetheless helm two Bowery Boy comedies that brushed
against the supernatural: Spook Busters (Monogram,
1946) and Ghosts on the Loose
(Monogram, 1943).He would also work
with Bela Lugosi on two “Poverty Row†horrors for Sam Katzman: The Ape Man (1943) and Voodoo Man (1944).In fact Carradine was cast in the latter film
- a vintage horror film guilty pleasure if there ever was one - though the
actor sadly relegated to a small supporting role with little dialogue.He and Beaudine would work together again.On this occasion the Shakespearian-trained Carradine
managed top-billing status in the mad scientist flick The Face of Marble (Hollywood Pictures Corp., 1946).
Time-tested vampire tropes are pretty much honored and
utilized in Carl Hittleman’s script for Billy
the Kid vs. Dracula.Unless, of
course, these folkloric blends might interfere with Beaudine’s frantic shooting
schedule.One crew member suggested that
that Beaudine managed to shoot Billy the
Kid vs. Dracula in all of five days, though Beaudine insisted he shot both
that film and its companion film Jesse James
vs. Frankenstein’s Daughter in sixteen days total.In any event, this is the one vampire film
that is unusual as it takes place almost entirely in the light of day.If a night scene had to be included as a
dramatic necessity, nightfall is usually suggested – and not too convincingly -
by setting a blue filter over the lens.The film’s shortfalls weren’t lost on Carradine.Once speaking of his career in film,
Carradine opined, “I have worked in a dozen of the greatest, and I have worked
in a dozen of the worst… I only regret Billy
the Kid vs. Dracula.â€
Writing in Variety, Joe Leydon outlines ten key retro films that feature in Quentin Tarantino's ode to 1969, "Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood". As one might expect from the director, the films range from boxoffice hits ("Valley of the Dolls", "Easy Rider", "The Wrecking Crew") to obscure titles the average viewer will not be familiar with ("Fort Dobbs", "Model Shop"). Click here to read.
The
French caught on to Hollywood’s wave of crime movies in a big way. In fact, the
French critics coined the term film noir to describe the types of
B-budget, angst-ridden, expressionistic, hard boiled flicks that were made
throughout the 1940s and 1950s in America. French filmmakers had been toying
with this style of crime picture since the late 1930s, but in the 50s, they,
too, emulated what Hollywood had been doing—only they notched up the violence
and the darkness.
Razzia
sur la chnouf (1955),
which translates to, roughly, “Raid on the Dope, or Raid on the Drugs,†was
released in the U.S. as simply Razzia. In this picture, Gabin is “Henri
from Nantais,†another high-level gangster working in the U.S., who is summoned
to France to take over and improve the heroin distribution operation run by a
large syndicate. Henri manages a restaurant as cover, and then proceeds to
clean house. In the process, he becomes romantically involved with the
restaurant cashier, Lisette (the scintillating Magali Noël).
As Henri lays down the law among the men, the body count increases, culminating
toward an explosive climax.
Both
pictures are terrific, but the edge goes to Razzia. While Grisbi employs
a fascinating character study in Max, the first half is a slow burn and doesn’t
become truly thrilling until the final third—which does indeed erupt in a
brutal violence that was uncommon for the 1950s. Razzia is better
constructed and is more “colorful†(even though it’s shot in black and white)
with the depiction of Chinese and black user drug dens, underworld politics,
and the details of the drug operation. Razzia also has a very satisfying
twist ending. In both cases, the directors, Jacques Becker and Henri Decoin,
respectively, handle the material with firm hands.
Kino
Lorber’s two sold-separately Blu-ray packages contain gorgeous, sharp high
definition 1920x1080p restorations, in French with optional subtitles, and both
also feature an audio commentary by film critic Nick Pinkerton. The Grisbi disk
has some supplements: a fun vintage interview with Jeanne Moreau; an interview
with the director’s son, Jean Becker; and an interview with professor/film
critic Ginette Vincendeau. Note that the information on the back of the jewel
box states that the film’s run time is 83 minutes, when in fact it is 96. Razzia,
unfortunately, does not contain any extras. Both disks offer the original
theatrical trailers, plus other Kino Lorber title trailers.
Any
fan of film noir, the actor Jean Gabin, and/or gritty crime pictures,
will enjoy these two French gems. Sacrebleu!
CLICK HERE TO ORDER "Touchez pa au grsibi" FROM AMAZON
Ben
Kingsley is an escaped Nazi living in Argentina in “Operation Finale†available
on Blu-ray from Universal. Kingley is not just any escaped Nazi, but Adolph
Eichmann, the highest ranking Nazi to escape justice after World War II. The so
called “Architect of the Final Solution†has been living a quiet life in
Argentina for 15 years when Israeli intelligence, Mosaad, receive information from
blind German ex pat Lothar Hermann (Peter Strauss) and they set a plan in
motion to kidnap Eichmann and bring him to Israel to stand trial.
The
German community in Argentina is filled with former Nazis who gather for
reunions and discuss their mutual hatred of Jews. Lothar’s daughter, Sylvia
Hermann (Haley Lu Richardson), meets a boy named Klaus (Joe Alwyn) at the cinema.
He invites her to a German party where she is appalled by the overt
anti-Semitism. Lothar gets word to the Israelis that Eichmann may be the father
of the boy his daughter is seeing. The Mosaad encourage Sylvia to visit the
Eichmann home where she meets Vera (Greta Scacchi) and the children as well as
Adolph Eichmann himself who is living under an assumed name and working as a
mid-level manager. A Mossad agent confirms it is Adolph Eichmann, but they will
not know for certain until they capture and interrogate him.
Mosaad
agent Peter Malkin (Oscar Isaac) is part of the team assigned to develop a
precision kidnapping and escape plan. As we know from history, the Israelis succeed
in getting Eichmann in May 1960 and bringing him to Israel for a public trial. The
agents held Eichmann at a safe house for nine days in order to confirm his
identity and smuggled him out of Argentina on an El Al flight. The movie
depicts the tense moments when the flight plan was waiting final approval until
the flight was released for departure.
The
days at the safe house are interesting as Eichmann was kept isolated, blindfolded
and handcuffed to his bed. His interrogators finally get him to confirm his
identity when the head of the Mosaad, Isser Harel (Lior Raz), purposely misreads
Eichmann’s SS service number several times until Eichmann’s perfectionism gets
the better of him and he corrects Harel. Eichmann states his desire to set the
record straight on his role in the Third Reich as little more than a bureaucrat
ensuring the trains ran on schedule. The fact that the trains contained human
beings who were being transported to their deaths was of no concern to Eichmann
and he took no responsibility for his role in the murder of millions under Nazi
Germany.
The
film was directed by the multi-talented actor, writer and producer Chris Weitz,
best known for his work as director and writer on “About a Boy†and “The Golden
Compass†as well as the writer of “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.†The movie
does a nice job dramatizing this post-script to World War II and the defeat of
Nazi Germany. Oscar Isaac is very good as agent Malkin, especially his
interrogation scenes with Kingsley. I do have a problem with Kingsley playing
the younger Eichmann in flashback scenes during World War II which make him
look like a wax-work figure. The movie ends with Eichmann departing Argentina
followed by brief scenes of him on trial. The film includes a coda running prior
to the end credits including film of the actual trial and profiles of the
agents involved with Eichmann’s capture.
Peter Fonda, the actor, screenwriter, producer and director, has died at age 79 from lung cancer. His family represented one of America's most legendary acting dynasties. His father was Henry Fonda, his sister Jane Fonda and he was the father of actress Bridget Fonda. He and Jane had a fractured relationship with their father that ultimately saw them reconcile in Henry's later years. Their mother committed suicide when they were very young and they were initially told she had died of a heart attack. Peter almost died as a teenager when he accidentally shot himself in the stomach. He and Jane both found success as actors, following in their father's footsteps. Peter's early films found him in supporting roles but his breakthrough role as a leading man came in Roger Corman's 1966 biker film "The Wild Angels", which was made on a shoestring budget but ended up being a high grossing hit. He had another cult hit for Corman the following year with the drug-themed drama "The Trip". Fonda's position as an icon of Sixties pop culture was cemented with the 1969 release of "Easy Rider", which he co-wrote with Dennis Hopper (who also directed the film) and Terry Southern. Fonda produced the movie on a budget of less than $400,000 and sold the distribution rights to Columbia. The movie revolutionized international filmmaking and went on to staggering grosses and great acclaim, although Fonda and Hopper would have a personal falling out relating to the movie.
An iconic image of Fonda in Roger Corman's 1966 film "The Wild Angels".
In the years after "Easy Rider", Fonda had a checkered career. He directed and starred in the 1971 revisionist western "The Hired Hand" which was a boxoffice flop but which went on to become an acclaimed cult movie, similar to Thomas McGuane's 1975 movie "92 in the Shade" in which Fonda also starred. He dropped out of acting and filmmaking for extended periods of time before gaining an Oscar nomination for Best Actor in the 1997 film "Ulee's Gold". Fonda had been back in the news in recent months in relation to the 50th anniversary of "Easy Rider". He was scheduled to introduce the film at a high profile screening of the movie this September at Radio City Music Hall. For more click here.
Scream
and Scream Again (1970) is the second of three films horror
maestro Vincent Price would sign onto in his late-stage years of working for
American-International Pictures.This film,
a very peculiar one by many standards, was bracketed by two other British
horrors for A.I.P., The Oblong Box
(1969) and Cry of the Banshee
(1970).All three films of these films were
helmed by director Gordon Hessler, who also doubled as producer of these first
and third efforts.
From 1960 through 1964 A.I.P. enjoyed great success with
Roger Corman’s cycle of stylistic Gothic horrors.These films were similar in many ways, often featuring
a tortured and/or haunted Vincent Price in Corman’s somewhat liberal
adaptations of stories by the likes of literary horror masters Edgar Allan Poe
and H.P. Lovecraft. The successes of these films were mostly in the studio’s
rearview mirror by 1965.With the
ticket-buying public’s interest in Gothic horror and costume period pieces
clearly on the wane, A.I.P. was doing their best to exploit the talent and
drawing power of their most bankable contract star.Depending on who you ask, some argue that this
trio of British A.I.P. film projects (1960-1970)
ministered by Hessler and starring Price were satisfying only to a base of faithful
devotees.
Both Hessler’s The
Oblong Box and Cry of the Banshee
– not to mention Michael Reeve’s controversial Witchfinder General (1968) – were unrelentingly grim in the
presentation of their subject matter.They were all very good films, mind you – some consider the Reeves’ film
a masterpiece - but their dark and serious themes and depressing atmospherics simply
did not allow Price to bring his trademark mix of Devilish charm and menace to
his assigned characters.It wasn’t until
the releases of The Abominable Dr. Phibes
(A.I.P., 1971), Dr. Phibes Rises Again
(A.I.P., 1972) and Theatre of Blood
(United Artists, 1973), that the ship would be righted, all three capitalizing
on the veteran actor’s talent as a colorfully self-mocking, blood-letting, and black-humored
eccentric.
In Scream and
Scream Again, a modern day sci-fi thriller rather than a traditional
horror, Price again was burdened again in a humorless role as “Dr. Browning.â€The not-so-good doctor is, in fact, a mad
scientist engaged in the creation of super-human “composites,†whiling away his
days in the laboratory of his stately manor house.Price is, sadly, wasted in a role that could
have been played by anyone.Then again
none of this film’s top billed players – Price, Christopher Lee and Peter
Cushing – were given much to do.If
Price’s is the principal star of this film, it’s simply by default.He merely enjoys the most screen time of the
three principals listed… but a bit more on that later.
Dr. Browning is not a terribly interesting character;
he’s too thinly drawn by screenwriter Christopher Wicking and we don’t see much
of him until the film’s closing minutes.The best of Vincent Price’s on-screen characterizations are the ones
where he seems relishing the role.One
is never really certain if Price even has any idea what is going on around him
in Scream and Scream Again.Director Hessler would more or less confirm
this in subsequent interviews, confiding to one writer that he thought Price
was not particularly fond of the three films he made under his direction.In the case of Scream and Scream Again, Hessler believed the actor “didn’t know
what he was doing in the picture; he thought it was all weird and strange.â€
If this was the case, Price was not alone in his
confusion.Co-star Christopher Lee (who
tragically only shares a brief single scene with Price) expressed similar sentiments.As Lee’s on screen time in this ninety-four
minute film (U.S. version) lasts little more than eight minutes or so in total,
he could more easily dismiss the film’s shortfalls as he wasn’t burdened with the
responsibility of carrying the picture.And for a film that teamed the three-biggest horror movie icons of the
1960s and 1970s for the first of only two full-length features together, it’s something
of a tragedy that poor Peter Cushing’s role is little more than a cameo.The scourge of missed opportunity is
ever-present throughout Hessler’s opus.
Scream
and Scream Again is credited as having been based on Peter
Saxon’s 1966 sci-fi-novel The
Disorientated Man.But, as with
seemingly everything relating to this is film, even that’s vague.In fact there was no actual Peter Saxon; the
name was a general pseudonym given to a stable of authors over-used and
underpaid by a certain British publisher of mass market sci-fi paperbacks.As I’ve never read Saxon’s novel, I cannot say
with any certainty if Hessler’s film is in any form a faithful, cinematic
reproduction of the source material.I
can attest that the director most assuredly captured the spirit of the book’s
title.In the final analysis, it could
be argued that Hessler’s multiple, shifting and confusing scenarios in Scream and Scream Again produced The Disorientated Viewer.
I won’t attempt to explain the film’s storyline
here.In short Hessler’s mosaic narrative
is a series of seemingly incongruous episodes bewilderingly stitched together.These threads do come together, somewhat
un-satisfyingly, in the end.It was an
unusual approach in telling this complex story cinematically but, in my
personal opinion, only occasionally successful.On the other hand, the film is never dull, just confusing in its structure.It can also be argued that for a film masquerading
as a police case or espionage caper, there’s no palpable sense of tension
building to a satisfying climax.Nonetheless,
many of the film’s scenes are memorable in standalone instances.Not particularly suspenseful, but memorable.
The mysterious villains of this film are adorned in both
business suits and ersatz-Nazi regalia.It’s never overtly explained if these schemers are jack-booted Communists
or Fascists, but they’re most certainly totalitarians.The bad guys are seemingly based out of some
unnamed East European nation.The
Stasi-like military helmets, the term “Comrade,†and a well- guarded checkpoint
suggest a hostile regime resembling that of Communist East Germany.But their interest in scientifically developing
an army of super-humans is… well, straight from the Nazi playbook.
Disappointingly, and as referenced earlier, the better
part of the film does not prominently feature Price, Lee, or Cushing despite
their shared star-billing.The film
mostly follows the violent doings (and ensuing police investigation) of a
renegade composite; a handsome but
murderous, synthetic flesh-eating Cyborg who drives a nifty red sports coupe. His modus operandi in choosing victims is by befriending
them at “The Busted Pot,†a swinging and noisy London nightclub. To tell more is to give things away.Should you require a more detailed synopsis
there are plenty of erudite and thoughtful treatises on Scream and Scream Again published in books, magazines, and on-line.
If you’re
wondering whether the original Aston Martin DB5 from “Goldfingerâ€
is as beautiful in person as it is on screen, wonder no more:it is a pristine specimen, a preserved and
likely restored testament to not only the greatest franchise in film history,
but a metaphor for ingenuity and quality living.
Displayed
prominently recently at New York’s Sotheby’s Auction House on Manhattan’s Upper
East Side, I took pictures through the plate glass window, over the course of a
few days, once to see the car with the bullet-proof plate raised over the trunk
of the car, only to find it lowered back into the car the next day (I assumed
that any shooting had stopped) and found the spike protruding from the hub of
the rear wheels, which was designed to shred a pursuing car’s tires.
Now if you ask me
what it was like to drive what is arguably the most famous car in world history
(with the possible exception of the 1966 Batmobile, which I had the privilege
of driving), I cannot help you.When I went
back for a private media event and asked if it were possible to drive the car,
I was politely dismissed by the event’s host and eyed carefully by a powerfully
built security guard whose eyes send me a clear message:if I touched the car I would be both shaken
and stirred.
The car, one of
four James Bond 007 DB5 models built for the two films, of which only three
survive, is schedule to be auctioned off this week, August 15, at the Monterey
Conference Center in Monterrey, California.Estimate pre-sale for the auction is between four and six million
dollars.According to the sleek auction
catalog: “Both car and gadgetry have been fully restored by Roos Engineering in
Switzerland, ensuring all gadgetry functions as Q intended.â€
I am a few weeks
away from my 20th anniversary as a film and entertainment journalist
and of the hundreds of articles and reviews that I have written, the most often
quoted back to me is the following:
“Mounted
on the dashboard of my black convertible are two plastic switches,
"Grenade Launcher" and "Ejector Seat." They amuse friends
and concern wary parking lot attendants. I own high tech gadgets ranging from a
big screen television that can do virtually everything except fly, an IBM
laptop with a Celeron processor (I do not know what that is either), to the
George Foreman Grill, on which I can broil a steak in eight minutes. But I have never disarmed a thermonuclear
device with seven seconds left to detonation, and I have never killed or
otherwise disabled a dozen enemy agents while skiing backwards down the Swiss
Alps. I have never devised a creative escape from a windowless room as the two
opposite, spike-laden walls were closing in on me, and I have never had an arch
enemy with plans for world conquest. But
not unlike most men, regardless of race, religion, or age, I cannot look at
myself in a mirror in a tuxedo without smiling wryly and thinking: "Bond,
James Bond."
007 survived the Cold War, eleven sitting presidents, and
after almost 60 years, still amasses millions of new fans each year, who watch
the same movies over and over, and who quote dialogue like gospel. Bond has
become the most enduring movie franchise in history. The signature theme
punctuated by the four note riff that plays at the beginning of every Bond entry,
where 007 walks to the center of the gun barrel, turns and shoots, is arguably
the most recognizable movie theme and opening in history.
To anyone growing up in the 1960s and 70s, it was hard to
escape the cultural influence and lure of James Bond and his imitators and
progeny, ranging from Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin, The Men from U.N.C.L.E
to Maxell Smart and Agent 99 from “Get Smart†to Jay Bondrock from “The
Flintstones†and “The Beverly Hillbilliesâ€â€™ Jethro Bodine, who after seeing
“Goldfingerâ€, decided he was going to be a “double-naught spy.†At least once a
year for the last 20 years I ask my still good friend and now editor, Lee
Pfeiffer to walk the streets of Upper East Side near the United Nations in
search of Del Florias’s Tailor Shop, where pulling the hook in the fitting room
opens the secret entrance to U.N.C.L.E headquarters, New York.. While he politely declines each year,
I remain hopeful despite the fact I realize the tailor shop was located on
MGM’s back lot.
Bond is still a powerful archetype–a blend of escapism
and the need to put order to an otherwise disorderly world. The real enemies in
Bond's world are boredom, frustration, and complacency. Bond was and is the
rebel within the system: he “gets the job done.†He is a “closer.†In his world
there are no complicated decisions or murky choices, no mortgage payments, or
unavailable baby sitters. Megalomaniacs are not the people you want to work for,
as they get sucked out of airplanes at 30,000 feet or get tossed off their own
space platforms. Someone who cuts you off on the highway can be dispatched with
a wing machine gun or a laser beam activated from a control panel concealed
beneath the armrest and bad dates (despite the fact that they carry guns and
scalpels) get killed by hulking silent adversaries with no necks or get dropped
into tanks filled with piranha.
Bond was created and nurtured in the hopeful era when it
was believed that one intelligent, passionate, and resourceful person could
change the world for the better. President John F. Kennedy said “I wish I had
James Bond on my staff.â€
Ian Fleming created Bond as "an interesting man to
whom extraordinary things happen." He appropriated the name "James
Bond" from the author of Birds of the West Indies (which he pulled off his
shelf) because he felt the name suitably "dull" and
"anonymous." The prescient Fleming’s early insight about
globalization was that it would be non-states and stateless organizations, not
other countries, that would become villains and antagonists in an increasingly
globalized world. In a way, Fleming predicted Google and Facebook having the
influence they have today.
The James Bond Aston Martin DB5 represents the enduring
legacy of 007 not only as quality entertainment but also as an iconic character
of hope and progress. To borrow from another classic icon, “The Maltese
Falconâ€, “it is the stuff that dreams are made of.â€
Cinema Retro contributor Eddy Friedfeld
teaches film classes at NYU and Yale, including the history of James Bond
(For additional information about the Aston Martin that is up for auction, click here.)
If
you’re familiar with the work of that French New Wave revolutionary, Jean-Luc
Godard, you may not think that he was the type of filmmaker who would make a
science fiction film. He did, though, in 1965, and he merged the genre with
that of film noir to create a unique hybrid that also contains many of
the jarring stylistic elements with which Godard loves to bombard his
audiences.
Godard
was the “bad boy†of the French New Wave. He seemed to take pleasure in
angering viewers and being controversial by choice (unlike, say, Truffaut,
whose films were decidedly more commercial and accessible). That said, though,
there is much in Godard’s canon that can be not only shocking and challenging,
but truly wonderful.
Such
is the case with Alphaville.
Western
audiences may not be familiar with the character of Lemmy Caution. He’s a
private investigator of the Philip Marlowe/Sam Spade type, an American, created
by British writer Peter Cheyney, and featured in nine novels published in the
1940s as pulp P.I. mysteries. The character also appeared in approximately
fifteen motion pictures, made mostly in France, and were never on the radar of
English-speaking viewers. American tough-guy actor Eddie Constantine moved to
France after he found that he couldn’t get work in Hollywood, and there he
enjoyed a career playing the kinds of roles one might associate with Robert
Mitchum or Dennis O’Keefe. Constantine played the role of Lemmy Caution in seven
French pictures, made as hard-boiled crime dramas, before Jean-Luc Godard made
his version of a Lemmy Caution movie (how Godard obtained the rights to
the character to make an art film that turns the detective genre on its head is
also a mystery!).
Alphaville
takes
place in an unspecified dystopian future—Alphaville, the city, looks like
Paris, and maybe it is, but now it’s run in an Orwellian-style aristocratic
fashion. A computer known as Alpha 60 runs everything (and narrates the film),
and people are not allowed to show emotion of any kind. Lemmy comes to
Alphaville to destroy Alpha 60 and its creator, a shadowy scientist named
“Professor von Braun†(is the similarity to Werner von Braun
intentional?—probably!). Lemmy meets up with von Braun’s daughter, Natacha
(Anna Karina) and, with an uneasy partnership, sets out on his convoluted
mission.
The
picture uses many traits of classic film noir (expressionistic lighting,
trench coats, fedoras, handgun violence, a femme fatale, and good old
cynicism and angst) with the paranoia and highly regulated environment of the dystopian
future urban setting. The “futuristic†effect was accomplished by filming on
location at “modern†buildings (for the time), providing the movie an added
thematic aspect that we are already “living in the future.†Godard continues to
rely on his signature radical editing techniques that can be discordant, but
here it all works. In fact, Alphaville is one of the more enjoyable
Godard films from the 1960s, albeit not something that would play well in
Peoria, Illinois.
Kino
Lorber Classics has released a restored 1920x1080p transfer that looks
remarkably good, and it also features an audio commentary by noted film
historian Tim Lucas. Extras include a Colin McCabe introduction to the picture,
an interesting interview with Anna Karina (who was married to Godard during the
director’s first five years of filmmaking), and the theatrical trailer.
Alphaville
is a
striking, oddball of a film that gets better with each successive viewing.
Writing in the New York Times, J. Hoberman revisits the summer-themed films of the legendary director Ingmar Bergman: "Summer Interlude", "Summer with Monika" and "Smiles of a Summer Night". Click here to read.
The
long awaited release of Barry Gray's freshly remastered score for Gerry and
Sylvia Anderson's 1970 live action series UFO will be available worldwide from 13th
September on CD, digital and glorious ‘SHADO Lilac’ double vinyl formats.
2019 would have been Gerry Anderson’s 90th
birthday. To celebrate his legacy, Silva Screen Records will release a series
of freshly remastered and compiled soundtrack albums from the iconic TV shows.
Starting with UFO on 13th September, the Silva Screen releases will feature
unforgettable TV themes and will cover all the major, worldwide popular series
that Gerry Anderson produced. All the releases in this series are being newly
compiled, mastered and designed by the creative team at Fanderson - The
Official Gerry and Sylvia Anderson Appreciation Society.
Moving away from his signature militaristic
sound which relied heavily on the brass and percussion sections, for UFO Barry
Gray produced a Jazz tinged period score, rooted in lounge style. The softer
sound, with extensive use of leitmotifs, follows Gerry and Sylvia Anderson’s
first live action sci-fi series. Featuring 26 episodes set in the futuristic
1980s, the series was inspired by two big topics of the 1960s: extra-terrestrials
and the first successful heart transplant. The timing was perfect for a story
about the earth community defending themselves from aliens intent on harvesting
human organs. The storyline follows the constant battle of SHADO (Supreme
Headquarters Alien Defence Organisation), a secret organisation defending earth,
against the invaders from space.
Barry Gray was both a classically trained
composer and a versatile musician who worked as musical arranger for Vera Lynn,
Eartha Kitt and Hoagy Carmichael. He was also resident conductor of the RAF
camp dance band and a TV composer. Indeed it was Vera Lynn who introduced Barry
Gray to Gerry Anderson. Equally at ease composing for big ensembles,
electronica, military bands and jazz ensembles, Barry Gray is best known for
creating the music for Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's Supermarionation television
series Fireball XL5, Thunderbirds, UFO, and Space: 1999. His impressive influence
on the TV score genre is still evident today.
Release date: 13th September 2019
CD: SILCD1597, Digital album: SILED1597 and
Vinyl SILLP1597
It would be inaccurate to dismiss Peter Cheyney’s “Lemmy
Caution†as just one more James Bond knock-off.Caution was, from the outset, more of a hardboiled gumshoe than super
spy.The character also pre-dates the
creation of Ian Fleming’s James Bond, with Cheney having churned out ten Lemmy
Caution thrillers from 1936 to 1945.James Bond’s creator was certainly conversant with Cheyney’s work in the
spy/thriller canon.Fleming’s friend and
biographer John Pearson would recount Fleming’s excitement when his first James
Bond novel, Casino Royale (1953), was
described by one critic as a “sort of Peter Cheyney de luxe.†One review enthusiastically
anointed first-time novelist Fleming as “the Peter Cheyney of the carriage
trade.â€
Such favorable comparisons stoked Fleming’s confidence in
his craft.Cheyney’s novels were great
sellers in their days, reportedly selling some 1,500,000 copies at peak.Today, with the passing of time, his books are
at best-dimly remembered.Much like the
novels of Sax Rohmer, they are recalled mostly by bookish types interested in
the time-capsule pulp mysteries of the 1930s and 40s.Cheyney’s novels – similarly to unfortunate
passages and caricatures present in several of Fleming’s own aging works, to be
fair – would be considered too politically incorrect in this day to appeal to most
readers of contemporary mysteries.
The film adaptations of Cheyney’s “Lemmy Caution†featuring
American actor Eddie Constantine would also pre-date EON’s James Bond series by
nine years.The first Lemmy Caution film
La môme vert-de-gris was
released in France in May of 1953, one month following the publication of
Fleming’s first James Bond novel that April. If Sean Connery’s tenure as James Bond was
occasionally fractious and mostly disowned by the actor, Constantine was more
accepting of his typecast as Lemmy Caution.It was a character of whom the American actor was rarely dismissive of.
Back
in 1973, producer Ely Landau and his wife Edie launched a daring and
unprecedented cinema series that played in the U.S. for two “seasons,†with a
total of fourteen titles (but only thirteen were shown), all renowned
works—classic and modern—originally produced on the stage. It was called the
American Film Theatre. (A review of a DVD box set of the entire series appeared
on Cinema Retro. Click here to read.)
The
concept tried something different. The directive was to take a great stage
play, not change a word, and in
most cases, use the actual play script as the screenplay. The next step was to
hire an accomplished film director to interpret the text for the film medium but stay faithful to the play.
Sometimes the director was the same person who helmed the original stage
production. A further step was to persuade the original casts from the Broadway
or London productions of those plays to star in the film; or, when that wasn’t
possible, to cast big-name Hollywood or British actors. Thus, the result was
indeed a filmed play—but you as an audience member wouldn’t be watching it from
the middle of the orchestra or from the side or from the first balcony; instead
you were up close and personal in a realistically-presented world (on studio
sets and/or real interior or exterior locations)—just like in “regular†movies.
You had the best seat in the house, so to speak, but there’s no proscenium
arch. It’s a movie. But it’s a play.
Kino
Lorber has slowly been re-releasing the titles from the American Film Theatre
in individual packages, upgraded to high definition Blu-ray. Two recent titles
to receive the treatment are a couple of the best ones in the series, both
featuring the brilliant actor, Sir Alan Bates—Butley, which originally
appeared in the first season of the AFT, and In Celebration, which debuted
in the second season.
Simon
Gray’s Butley is a tour-de-force for Bates, and it’s the role he was
born to play. The film also stars Jessica Tandy, Richard O’Callaghan, Michael
Byrne, and Susan Engel. Ben Butley is an alcoholic, razor-witted schoolteacher
who is left by his wife and his male lover on the same day. If there was ever
any doubt that Bates was one of the greatest actors of the 20th
Century, then Butley is the film to
see. The actor dominates the production in every frame. Even though he plays a
despicable cad, his charisma and exuberance are infectious. If the film had
been allowed to compete at that year’s Oscars, Bates surely would have been a
contender. Harold Pinter made his directorial debut with the picture and it
exhibits confidence and style. Simply put, Butley was one of the best
films of 1974, in or outside of the AFT.
David
Storey’s In Celebration, released in 1975, also stars Alan Bates, along with Brian Cox,
James Bolam, Bill Owen, and Constance Chapman. It’s the story of a
dysfunctional British family as three grown sons return home to Yorkshire to
celebrate their parents’ 40th wedding anniversary. Of course, there
are long-squelched secrets that need to bubble to the surface, so what starts
out as an uneasy reunion turns ugly. Bates is again superb as the eldest (and
trouble making) son, but it is Cox who is strikingly charismatic as the silent,
youngest son on the verge of a breakdown. And then there’s the unseen,
ever-present specter of the son who died at age seven. The film imported the
cast directly from the original Royal Court Theatre production, and it is compelling
and poignant. Director Lindsay Anderson handles the material with sensitivity
and truth.
Both
titles are presented in 1920x1080p restored transfers and look decidedly better
than the previous DVD versions. There are optional English SDH subtitles. The
supplements are duplicated on both disks: a long, engaging interview with Alan
Bates from circa 2002 in which he talks about all of his work with the AFT; an
interview with Edie Landau, who with her husband Ely produced the films in the
series; a short promotional piece featuring Ely that was shown in theaters
during the initial run; and several trailers for other AFT titles. An extra
supplement, an interview with writer David Storey, appears on the In
Celebration disk.
The
titles are sold separately and are a must for theatre-lovers and connoisseurs
of superb acting. We at Cinema Retro look forward to the appearance of more AFT
titles on Blu-ray.
Forty
eight years ago, United Artists continued their series of highly profitable
Bond double features by releasing arguably the biggest 00 double bill of them
all – Thunderball and You Only Live Twice.Both films had coined money on their initial
releases, with Thunderball being the
highest-grossing 007 film of that era – in fact, of many eras, right up until Skyfall in 2012.Thunderball
earned a stunning $141 Million worldwide (over onebilliondollars in today’s money), a number that
must have had UA’s finance department humming the Bond theme at 727 Seventh
Avenue. You Only Live Twice pulled in
over $111 Million worldwide, its profits squeezed perhaps by a competing Bond
film, the over-the-top comedy, Casino
Royale with Peter Sellers, David Niven, Terence Cooper and Woody Allen as various
Bonds or an Italian spy knockoff starring Sean Connery’s younger brother, Neil.
(More on that later.)
Throughout
the 60s, 70s and into the early 80s, United Artists cannily fed the demand for
Bond with double features that also served to ignite audience interest between
new films.The double-bills were pure
cash cows for the studio – the movies had already been produced and paid for,
so all UA had to do was book the theaters, buy TV, radio and print advertising,
then, as Bond producer Cubby Broccoli was fond of saying, “Open the cinema
doors and get out of the way.â€
As
a (very) young Bond fan in New York City, the exciting double feature TV spots
for “The Two Biggest Bonds of All†got my attention and I desperately wanted to
go.My father, an advertising and music executive,
thought noon on a Saturday was the perfect time – instead we were greeted with
a line around the block and a sold out show. Apparently that satisfied my dad’s interest in
the movies because we never went back. Almost
five decades later, I still regretted missing those two fantastic films on the
big screen…
Enter
Quentin Tarantino.Throughout July, his New
Beverly Theater in LA ran most of the classic Bonds in vintage 35MM IB
Technicolor prints, reportedly from his own collection. (The IB refers to
“imbibitionâ€, Technicolor’s patented die-transfer process resulting in a richer,
more stable color palette.) So while
there was no 4-hour, action-packed double feature for me, I finally got
to see both films in 1960s 35MM, only a week apart.Even fifty years later, they didn’t
disappoint:Thunderball remains a bonafide masterpiece.Fortunately Quentin owns a very good print,
so the colors were still lush and it was fairly scratch-free.The main titles set to Tom Jones’ timeless
song still popped in an explosion of colors and sound effects. The scenes of
Domino and Bond meeting on a coral reef were hauntingly beautiful. The frantic Junkanoo
chase fairly jumped off the screen and Thunderball’s
iconic underwater battle is still a showstopper.(The filmmakers cleverly refrained from
wall-to-wall music so the sequence incorporated underwater breathing and other
natural sounds. Kudos again to 00 audio genius, Norman Wanstall.)
You Only Live Twice is a true epic and
only the master showmen, Monsieurs Broccoli and Harry Saltzman could have
pulled it off.They reached into the
highest levels of the Japanese government to secure a lengthy shoot in what was
then a very exotic location in a much bigger world.Japan was almost a character itself in their sprawling
space age tale that occasionally bordered on sci-fi.Much
has been written about Ken Adam’s volcano crater, but seeing it on a big screen
really brings out his mind-blowing vision, especially during the climactic
battle where the “ninjas†rappel down from the roof as controlled explosions rock
the set.One can only imagine how that
went over with 1967 audiences who had never seen anything like it.Putting it in context, Tarantino had selected
various spy-themed trailers to run before the film – including The Wrecking Crew, TheVenetian Affair and The Liquidator.Although they were all successful and well made,
their sets and action sequences looked positively cheap in comparison to a Bond
film.
Both
features starred a young, vibrant Connery whose acting chops were on full
display.Connery played Bond for
real.He made you believe… once you bought into him as 007, then his strapping on a
jetpack to fly over a French chateau, or a SPECTRE construction crew hollowing
out a volcano - in secret - to create a rocket base seemed totally
plausible.Sure Connery had put on a few
pounds between Thunderball and Twice, but he was still fit and looked
fantastic in his custom-made suits.And his
fight with Samoan wrestler Peter Maivia (grandfather to Dwayne “The Rock†Johnson)
in Osato’s office is still one for the ages.
(Above: Mie Hama joins in celebrating Connery's birthday on the set.)
As
most Bond students know, Twice was a
grueling shoot for the mercurial star.He was subjected to intense press and fan interest in a country that had
gone wild for 007.Connery needed security
to accompany him from location trailer to set. Going out for a quiet dinner was
out of the question – even visiting the loo was off limits after an overzealous
photographer poked his lens into Connery’s toilet stall! But if he was feeling angry or bitter about
his situation, he was too much of a pro to let it show in his performance.In spite of the pressures, there were some
good times on the Twice shoot during
the furnace hot Asian summer of 1966 – now-famous photos show Connery-san
laughing with lovely Mie Hama at his 36th birthday party on
location, or back at Pinewood, smiling at Donald Pleasence during a light
moment in the control room that even had Blofeld’s hulking bodyguard (actor Ronald
Rich) laughing in the background.
The film stars the great Jean Gabin in
a quintessential role as Jean, an army deserter who wanders penniless into the
port city of Le Havre and soon becomes entangled in a conflict between a
beautiful young woman, Nelly (the luminous Michèle Morgan), a group of petty gangsters,
and Nelly’s creepy guardian, Zabel (Michel Simon). Zabel wants to sleep with Nelly,
who finds her godfather disgusting, the gangsters want to kill Zabel for some offence
he has committed, and Jean just wants peace and quiet and a meal. Nevertheless,
Jean and Nelly quickly fall in love. Much angst is displayed, the gangsters
frame Jean for a murder, and our central characters find themselves in an
existential crisis.
The picture is billed as a “crime
drama,†although in truth it’s more of a melodrama with some shady characters
on the periphery who are up to no good. The main focus is on the burgeoning
relationship between Jean and Nelly, and apparently this was hot stuff in 1938.
The French censors ended up chopping up the movie—especially the sequence in
which Jean and Nelly spend the night in a hotel room (shocking!)—and it wasn’t
restored to its original form until years later. Some critics have called Port
of Shadows an early film noir, but again, the romance takes too much
of a center stage in the story for the picture to be thus labeled.
Kino Lorber Classics presents a
restored 1920x1080p transfer that looks exquisite. It’s in French, of course,
with optional English subtitles. Supplements include a video introduction by
professor and film critic Ginette Vincendeau; a substantial documentary of the
film’s making, On the Port of the Shadows; and the theatrical trailer.
Devotees of French cinema and film
history will want to pick up this one. It’s also not a bad date movie.
The year 1969 was an extraordinarily good one for movies. In addition to some of the best major studio releases of all time, the year also saw some innovative independent films. Among the most consequential was "Putney Swope", directed by Robert Downey (now known as Robert Downey Sr. to differentiate him from his offspring, the popular leading man.) Downey is an unapologetic liberal who thrived during the counter-culture revolution of the late 1960s. "Putney Swope" seemed to be the kind of avante garde filmmaking that would never see a wide release. The film was shot almost entirely in black-and-white during a period in which the format had been deemed uncommercial for years. He also took some broadside shots at the sacred cows of American capitalism.The movie was saved from oblivion by the owner of the Cinema V theater chain who was enthusiastic about the script and Downey's disregard for conventional opinions. Because Cinema V owned enough theaters to give the film a wide release, it ensured that the critics and public would at least be aware of its existence. No one foresaw that the film would become a highly acclaimed commercial hit. In the process, the film's poster depicting a white hand giving the middle finger salute (with a black woman symbolizing the offending digit) became a iconic image. The cast was largely unknown at the time but some of actors went on to varying degrees of fame (Allen Garfield, Allan Arbus, Antonio Fargas, Stan Gottlieb.)
The film opens with a striking scene in which a helicopter lands in New York City. A man who appears to be an uncouth biker-type emerges carrying a briefcase and he's met by a senior executive from an advertising firm. At a board meeting, the man who arrived by helicopter informs the executives that the beer they are marketing is worthless and that beer itself is only loved by men with sexual inadequacies. He then promptly departs. This is only the beginning of a very strange journey. Soon, the hapless ad men are squabbling over whether to heed the advice or not. Then the megalomaniac who owns the agency arrives to address them, only to keel over and drop dead on the conference table. Top executives immediately rifle through his pockets and rob him of any valuables before voting on who should be the next chairman. Through an unintended fluke, the choice proves to be Putney Swope (Arnold Johnson), a middle-aged token African-American who relishes now being in charge of an agency that symbolizes hypocrisy and greed. Swope loses no time in making sweeping changes in accordance with bringing about social reforms. He fires most of the white workers and replaces them with an eclectic group of black executives, none of whom seem remotely qualified for the tasks at hand. Swope renames the business as the Truth & Soul Agency and launches outrageous ad campaigns that are designed to offend everyone. In ads for an airline, female flight attendants are depicted dancing topless and sexually assaulting male customers. In a sweetly filmed commercial, a young interracial couple sing romantically about dry-humping. Ironically, the strategies work and Truth & Soul is making millions from clients who consider Putney to be a messiah of advertising. Soon, he's living the high life, espousing socialist/communist rhetoric and even dressing like Fidel Castro. However, Putney becomes aware of the fact that even his hand-chosen minority employees are not immune from greed and corruption. At home, his new diva-like wife takes pleasure in abusing their white servant girl. What's the message behind all this? Who knows. Perhaps Downey is simply trying to say that capitalism corrupts across racial lines. In any event, the film ends on a bizarre, cynical note. Oh, and did I mention the casting of little people as the corrupt and perpetually horny President of the United States and First Lady who host group sex encounters?
"Putney Swope" is a brazen and entertaining film even though the script is erratic and scattershot. Much of it is tame by today's standards but the film pushed the envelope back in 1969. (I don't believe it was ever formally given a rating but it was considered to be "Adults Only" fare by most theaters.) Much of the credit for the movie's unique look must go to cinematographer Gerald Cotts, who had never shot a feature film before. He gets some striking shots and, to emphasize the impact of Putney's offensive TV commercials, these are the only scenes that are shown in color. The performances are uniformly amusing and Arnold Johnson makes for a compelling protagonist even though Downey ended up dubbing his voice with his own, ostensibly because he said Johnson couldn't remember his lines. Some of the gags fall flat and the film as a whole is a mixed bag but there is no denying that it represents the epitome of American independent filmmaking from this era.
Umberto
Lenzi was one of the most prolific Italian genre directors working in Italy,
but he is virtually unknown here in the States outside of the circles of the most
die-hard of genre fans. In fact, his work is so obscure at times that even adherents
to his most extreme horror movies don't even follow the other dramatic work for
which he is also known despite his roster of titles on the IMDB. Much of
International Cinema is “inspired†by American filmmaking (i.e. outright ripped
off from) and following the Oscar-winning success of William Friedkin’s masterful
1971 crime drama The French Connection, with its astounding subway/car
chase, Italy dove head-first into the Eurocrime, or poliziotteschi, genre headfirst making a slew of action films
where the camera’s point-of-view is inspired by Owen Roizman’s work on the
aforementionedreal-life-inspired crime film. Filmed in late 1975 in
Rome and released in New York in July 1978 under the title of Assault with a
Deadly Weapon, The Tough Ones is yet another one of those films that
is known by multiple titles too numerous to even list. Upon superficial
investigation of the beautiful and colorful poster art for the film, one might
assume (as yours truly did) that actor Franco Nero is the star. Rather it’s the
late Maurizio Merli who, not surprisingly, began his career because he looked
like Mr. Nero when the latter was unavailable for White Fang to the Rescue,
the 1974 sequel to both Challenge to White Fang (1974) and White Fang
(1973).
Mr.
Merli plays Inspector Leonardo Tanzi, a hot-headed, self-appointed crime
fighter who makes Gene Hackman’s Jimmy “Popeye†Doyle and Clint Eastwood’s
“Dirty†Harry Callahan look timid in comparison as he tears up each scene that
he appears in, slapping and kicking bad guys and even suspected bad
guys, at the slightest hint of guilt or provocation. He’s fed up with the crime
plaguing his jurisdiction, dishing out his own version of justice by breaking
up a hidden casino, tackling a pair of purse-snatchers on a motor scooter, and diving
into a bank robbery and killing some of the robbers. One of his best bits is
when he is flagged down by a man whose girlfriend has been raped by a gang
headed up by a rich kid who was released from jail just hours earlier. Taking a
clue from the crime scene, he hunts down the spoiled brat and his cronies, smashing
the ringleader’s face into a pinball machine before kicking all their asses in
a crazy set piece. Anyone who gets in his way of getting to another criminal
gets their ass handed to them. This
doesn’t bode well for his girlfriend who is nearly sent to her death when
criminals drop her car into a car crusher, stopping it just before it crushes
it – with her in it! There’s a weird, typical living-on-the-fringe-of-society
character named Vincenzo Moretto (played wonderfully by the late Tomas Milian) who
seems frail and timid at first, but he proves to be a lunatic and is later told
to swallow a bullet (literally) by Tanzi in a strange exchange at Moretto’s
sister’s house.
The Warner Archive has showcased another "B" movie and rescued it from relative obscurity with the release of "Lady Scarface". The 1941 movie is an RKO "Poverty Row" production with a low budget (i.e. there are almost no exterior shots) and abbreviated running time of only 66 minutes. The titular character is never referred to as such in the film. She's simply called Slade and she's a mysterious Chicago gangster who the police have been searching for under the assumption their prey is a man. Slade does bear a scar on her cheek but it would appear this was added simply to enable the producers to capitalize on the "Scarface" moniker in order to tie the film in with Paul Muni's classic gangster flick. Slade appears in the opening scene in which she and her gang rob a businessman and loot his safe. She ends up shooting him in cold blood. As played by Judith Anderson, Slade has the potential to be a fascinating character-- a female mob boss in the early 1940s. At one point she dresses in a foreboding black hat that makes her resemble Margaret Hamilton's Wicked Witch of the West. However, the screenplay only uses her to bookend the film's opening and climax and she rarely appears on screen in the interim. It's a pity because Judith Anderson's ruthless interpretation of the role is quite interesting and in this viewer's mind seemed to foreshadow Lotte Lenya's Rosa Klebb in "From Russia with Love" in that she's as brutal as any of her male counterparts, humorless and devoid of humanity on any level. Most of the story is devoted to a perky couple who are tracking down Slade, still under the impression they are searching for a man. Lt. Bill Mason (O'Keefe) is a Chicago detective who is sent to a New York hotel where they set a trap for Slade to appear. Accompanying him is Ann Rogers (Frances Neal), an intrepid reporter in the Lois Lane mode. They banter and bicker but we all know they will fall in love by the end of the film. When they get to New York the plan goes awry when an innocent honeymooning couple (Mildred Boles, Eric Blore) inadvertently gets caught up in the plot and are mistaken for Slade's accomplices.
"Lady Scarface" was probably produced to be the lower half of a double bill. However, it isn't without its merits. Director Frank Woodruff keeps the pace brisk and the story, although occasionally confusing, holds the viewer's interest. O'Keefe and Neal make a good team in the "Thin Man" mode but it's Anderson who steals her scenes despite her abbreviated appearances in the film. She was already an acclaimed star on Broadway and recently gave a brilliant and acclaimed performance in Hitchcock's "Rebecca". One can only ponder why she was attracted to this low rent production that is distinguished primarily by the fact that women are given the most interesting roles. Slade keeps her male gang members in line through sheer acts of terror and Ann Rogers is ahead of the police in cracking the case. In all, a competently made and fun crime thriller. The Warner Archive print looks perfectly satisfactory. There are no extras but the disc is region-free.
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Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time . . . in Hollywoodâ€
is a mad, wild romp through a film geek’s mind—a hallucinatory homage to
America’s dream factory. It’s also a funny/sad farewell to a time when people
believed in the dreams the factory once delivered on a regular basis. Rick
Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) is an actor who once had a popular TV western series
called “Bounty Law.†The series got canceled and he’s making a living playing
villains in guest star roles in other TV series. His agent Marvin Schwarzs (Al
Pacino) advises him to go to Italy to make spaghetti westerns lest he finally
fade into bad guy oblivion. Dalton’s friend, stunt double, and confidence
booster, Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt), thinks it would be a great idea, especially
since Dalton’s drinking is beginning to impact his career.
Tarantino plays this story line out against the backdrop
of Hollywood as it was between February and August 1969. He has us follow the
two friends behind the scenes of studio backlots, in restaurants, and parties
at places like the Playboy Mansion, where we are inundated with references to
dozens, if not hundreds, of films and TV shows of that era. Hardly a frame of
film rolls by without a movie poster appearing on a wall, a black and white
image on a TV set somewhere of some old show, or a word of dialog spoken that
does not hearken us back. Hollywood Boulevard was even given a facelift, with
false 1969 fronts placed over the current buildings. Booth lives in a house in
the Hollywood hills next door to the home of director Roman Polanski and his
beautiful wife Sharon Tate. He only wishes he could establish contact with them
to give his career a boost.
As Dalton struggles to conquer his alcoholism and
remember his lines, we follow Cliff around downtown LA running various errands in
Cliff’s Cadillac Eldorado. He eventually picks up a young female hitchhiker
named Pussycat (Margaret Qualley). He turns down her offer of sex fearing she’s
under 18, but agrees to drive her out to the Spahn Movie Ranch where she’s
living and where he and Rick used to film Rick’s series.
When they get to the ranch, the movie takes a detour into
dark territory. Cliff finds a group of mostly female hippies living there and
Pussycat asks where “Charley†is. When she learns Charley is out somewhere she
says it’s too bad and tells Cliff: “Charley would probably like you.†Cliff wants
to visit with ranch owner, his old friend George Spahn (Bruce Dern in a part
originally intended for the late Burt Reynolds) but Squeaky Fromme (Dakota
Fanning), the leader of the girl hippies, says it impossible. Cliff is not one
to be trifled with and forces his way into George’s bedroom and determines,
even though he’s in bad shape, he’s not being taken advantage of.Tension builds when Booth finds the tire on Rick’s
car slashed. He has a violent confrontation with the scuzzy hippie who did it.
The scene is filled with Tarantino’s patented brand of tension, but only serves
as a teaser for what is to come.
And what is to come? Plenty, but to reveal the
astonishing ending to “Once Upon a Time . . . “ would be to ruin it for anyone
who hasn’t seen it yet. It is an ending both shocking, gratifying, and oddly
enough, hilarious beyond all expectations. It provides a cathartic release
after two and a half hours of building tension and inner rage that leaves you
breathless at the end. Tarantino’s writing has never been sharper. His ability
to foreshadow events, and to plant story ideas that become important and useful
at the climax are masterful. His skill as a director is at its peak. He gets
performances out of DiCaprio and Pitt I never would have thought they could
deliver. They supposedly based their characters on Burt Reynolds and his stunt
man buddy Hal Needham. I can see Reynolds in DiCaprio’s performance, but to my
mind Pitt seemed more like Hollywood stunt-man legend Jock Mahoney, who had
that same calm, confident swagger in real life that Pitt affects.
One of the highlights of “Once Upon a Time . . .†is the
much-talked about scene between Cliff and Bruce Lee (Mike Moh) on the set of
“The Green Hornet.†Lee is shown arrogantly boasting that he could defeat
Cassius Clay in a fight, which causes Cliff to laugh out loud. Lee says he
would teach him a lesson for laughing but his hands are lethal weapons and if
he accidentally killed him he would go do jail.“Anybody who kills anybody by accident goes to jail,†Cliff says. “It’s
called manslaughter.†Which prompts a quick round of hand-to hand combat. The
outcome is a bit of a surprise, but Lee, to say the least, makes quite an
impression.
There are so many things to like about this film, but it
is not without its shortcomings. Tarantino’s foot fetish is becoming a joke and
a distraction. His treatment of Sharon Tate is pretty shallow, as some critics
have complained, but only if you are looking at her as a real human being and
not the symbol of a lost age, as Tarantino intends. The film is a bit long, but
frankly I wouldn’t cut a single frame, and in fact I hope the Blu-ray contains
additional footage that wasn’t used. All in all, this is the movie of the year,
and a must-see for anyone who loves old movies and TV shows.
John M. Whalen is the author of "Tragon of Ramura". Click here to order from Amazon.
The Cohen Collection has released the obscure but worthy 1977 ensemble comedy "Between the Lines" as a special edition Blu-ray. Back in the day, the film won acclaim at film festivals but was barely seen by the public. The movie was the brainchild of aspiring screenwriter Fred Barron, who approached director Joan Micklin Silver, who had won praise for her feature film "Hester Street", released in 1975, which chronicled the experience of Russian Jews who emigrated to America in the late 19th century. "Between the Lines" was sandwiched between "Hester Street" and her 1988 film "Crossing Delancy", which also won a good deal of praise. The film was shot entirely in Boston and takes place at the cramped offices of an alternative weekly newspaper. The progressive staff is comprised of young people who caught the tail end of the protest movements of the mid-to-late 1960s. By the time 1977 rolled around, that movement- having accomplished much- was diminishing by the day. The staffers doggedly pursue muckraker journalism while coping with measly salaries that see them perpetually scrounging in order to let off some steam at the local bars. Having served on a campus newspaper during this period, I can attest that director Micklin Silver perfectly captures the mood of such a setting. In the pre-internet era, campus papers and alternative weeklies were widely read by young people and carried a good deal of influence. (My own contributions were somewhat less impressive: I was the film critic, an enviable position because I got to see major films in advance without having to delve into my barren wallet.)
The staffers portrayed are a diverse lot ranging from those dedicated to the highest standards of journalism and others who simply hang around, having lost the spark that once inspired them. The offices are cluttered and messy and even the one modern perk- the coffee machine- constantly malfunctions. The screenplay is meandering as it covers the personal relationships between this diverse group of young writers and editors. They are also fearful of rumors that the paper will soon be sold to a rich man (Lane Smith in full Nixonian mode) they suspect will put profits above integrity. The staffers are an incestuous lot in the sense that, despite the fractured inter-office romances and friendships, they can't quit each other. There is romantic sex, spontaneous sex and revenge sex. Since the film was directed by a woman, it's not surprising that it plays out in a sympathetic manner to the female characters who are generally presented as honest and intelligent while even the most likable male characters are impulsive and self-centered. Given the scarcity of women filmmakers during this period, it's hard to gripe about the men not getting a fair shake, given the fact that so many movies of the era presented female characters in equally simplistic terms.
"Between the Lines" features an engaging cast of up-and-comers who would find varying degrees of stardom over the next few years. Lindsay Crouse, Jill Eikenberry and Gwen Welles are the female leads and acquit themselves very well indeed. The male cast contains some very good performances as well with Jeff Goldblum funny as a slacker on the newspaper staff whose desire to change the world has degenerated into trying to justify his meager $75 pay check; John Heard as a once-estimable writer who has also fallen on hard times and Stephen Collins, especially good as an aspiring author who becomes an elitist snob when he finally gets a book contract. (Given the sharp edges Collins provides to the character, it is especially disappointing that henceforth he would mostly be cast in bland roles as romantic leads.) Bruno Kirby, having distinguished himself as young Clemenza in "The Godfather Part II" shines as the office nerd and Marilu Henner gives a fine performance as a stripper with a heart of gold. Michael J. Pollard is woefully underutilized but Lane Smith shines as the newspaper's new owner. I even unexpectedly spotted a personal friend, New York publicist Gary Springer in an early acting role. We're also treated to a 1977 concert by Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, who are still a popular attraction in New Jersey. Kenneth Van Sickle provides some impressive cinematography and Michael Kamen adds some original musical scoring. It all moves along briskly under Micklin Silver's assured direction and makes for a generally compelling and interesting film.
The Cohen Collection provides an excellent Blu-ray transfer along with an original 1977 TV spot and a trailer for the remastered reissue of the film. There is also an engaging recent on-camera interview with Joan Micklin Silver in which she discusses the challenges of being a female film director then and now. In all, an impressive release. Recommended.
Hauer in his iconic role as Batty in "Blade Runner".
BY LEE PFEIFFER
International film star Rutger Hauer has died at age 75 in his native Netherlands after what has been called "a short illness". Hauer had run away from home at age 15 and joined the merchant marines before turning his attention to acting. He gained stardom in the Netherlands in the 1960s through a TV series titled "Floris". He gravitated to feature films where his good looks and assertive personality made him a popular attraction. His first major hit in European cinema was the acclaimed 1973 film "Turkish Delight". Hauer, who frequently collaborated with director Paul Verhoeven, made a mark in Hollywood playing a memorable villain in the 1981 thriller "Nighthawks" starring Sylvester Stallone. In 1982, he landed his most iconic role as the villain Batty in director Ridley Scott's sci-fi classic "Blade Runner". The film was a critical and boxoffice disappointment but over the decades it has become widely beloved and acclaimed by movie fans. In 1986, he scored again with film-goers as the titular character in "The Hitcher" in which he gave a chilling performance as a charismatic psychopathic killer. He landed another plum role in 1988 with the film "The Legend of the Holy Drinker", playing a ne'er do well character. His performance was widely acclaimed. Hauer was also a popular presence in major TV movies including "Escape from Sobibor" and "Fatherland", which earned him Golden Globe nominations. In recent years, Hauer appeared in his share of "B" movies and TV productions but he never suffered the greatest fear of actors: being out of work for extended periods. Rutger Hauer never went out of style. For more click here.
(Hedison with Roger Moore on the set of Live and Let Die, 1973)
BY LEE PFEIFFER
David Hedison has died at age 92. The Rhode Island native started in theater, studying at the famed Actor's Studio under the guidance of Lee Strasberg and made an impression off-Broadway in the 1950s. Hedison originally was billed under his birth name as "Al Hedison" but would later change it to David. He found himself in demand for television and feature film. He played the role of a scientist who is transformed into a deadly creature in the 1958 cult classic "The Fly" in which Hedison co-starred with Vincent Price. Hedison began to guest star on many popular TV series before landing his first series, starring in "Five Fingers", an espionage show that ran from 1959-60. His best-known role was on Irwin Allen's sci-fi series "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea", which ran from 1964-68 and saw Hedison starring with Richard Basehart. He would return to episodic TV as a regular on the popular soap opera "The Young and the Restless" in 2004. Hedison never quite made the front ranks of leading men in feature films but he did appear in many diverse movies. Among them: "The Greatest Story Ever Told", "The Enemy Below" and "The Lost World". When Roger Moore inherited the role of James Bond in 1972, he arranged to have his old friend Hedison (who had appeared with him in an episode of "The Saint") to play the prominent role of 007's C.I.A. colleague Felix Leiter. Hedison would resume the role opposite Timothy Dalton's Bond in the 1989 film "Licence to Kill". He also appeared with Moore in the 1979 adventure film "ffolkes" (aka "North Sea Hijack".).
The
folks at Mill Creek Entertainment have released the 10-part documentary “WWI:
The War to End All Wars†on DVD. The documentary is a detailed analysis of what
was known as The Great War until the outbreak of World War II. Each episode covers
a different aspect of the war, in mostly chronological order, from its origins
leading to the assassination of Austro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand in
Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, on 28 June 1914 to the armistice signed on 11
November 1918.
In
four years and four months, over 70 million men were mobilized on all sides and
in the end an estimated nine million died along with seven million civilians. Disease
and genocides resulted in an estimated additional 50 to 100 million deaths
making World War I one of the deadliest wars in history. Early research was
done during and after the war with men ravaged by what is known today as post-
traumatic stress or PTS (many veterans prefer excluding “disorderâ€). Back then
it was called “shell shock†and in World War II, “battle fatigue.†An entire
generation of men never returned from the war. Many others who did survive
suffered from a largely undiagnosed and rarely treated illness.
The
documentary was produced by Creation Films in 2008. Each episode runs between
40-47 minutes with title cards and five acts per episodes for a total running
time of just over 7 hours. It was produced,
co-written and directed by Edward Feuerherd and is narrated by Fred North. The
research is detailed, informative and interesting. Single episodes are devoted
to topics such as aviation, the war at sea and chemical warfare.
The
series ends rather abruptly with the signing of November 11th Armistice. An
episode on the aftermath of World War I and its impact would have added more
value to the series. While the well-researched information provided in the
narration is excellent, the major flaw is the poor quality of the 100 year-old film.
I doubt anything was done to restore the film for the series when it was produced
in 2008 or for this 2018 DVD release.
Interestingly,
the title of the documentary at the start of each episode is, “The War to End
War 1914-1918.†I’m not sure why the DVD title is different. Perhaps it was
changed in a subsequent television broadcast. According to IMDB, the
documentary was released on the Heroes Channel in the U.S. in September 2014,
presumably to tie in with the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I.
IMDB lists the documentary as a co-production by Looksfilm and Les Films d’ici
Paris.
In
addition to the well-researched narration and film shot during the dawn of
movie making on the front lines of the conflict, there is the music both
contemporary of the era and original scoring included to add dramatic effect.
Highlights include “Shine on Harvest Moon†by Jack Norworth and Nora Bayer, “Adagio
for Strings†by Samuel Barber and “Adagio in G Minor†by Tomaso Albinoni. There
are scenes that are reused numerous times and the music becomes repetitious,
but both get the job done.
The
10-parts of the documentary are divided between two disks with five parts on
each disc. The movie looks adequate and is watchable, but the lack of a
restoration is a major liability. The DVD release includes a digital version of
the documentary, but there are no extras. Recommended for history buffs,
especially since it’s value-priced.
While criticism of Earthquake usually concentrates on its flaky Sensurround effects,
the film’s more important flaws lie in a confused approach to the genre and –
especially – one character who really belongs in a different movie altogether,
writes BARNABY PAGE.
Although it remains one of the
best-known of the early-1970s all-star disaster extravaganzas, Earthquake (1974) was less successful
commercially than Airport, The Towering Inferno or The Poseidon Adventure, and did not
enjoy the critical acclaim of the latter two.
It probably suffered in the
short term from being released only a month before Inferno, and in the longer term from its over-reliance on the
Sensurround system; watched now, though, it is flawed largely through
discontinuity of tone and the uneasy co-existence of both a strong human
villain and a natural threat. Still, the film casts interesting light on the
genre as a whole, sometimes complying with its standards and sometimes
departing from them.
At the time Earthquake must have seemed something of
a sure bet, overseen for Universal by Jennings Lang, a veteran
agent-turned-producer who was more or less simultaneously working on Airport 1975, had lately been
responsible for some high-profile critical successes including Play Misty For Me and High Plains Drifter, and was a supporter
of Sensurround.
Director Mark Robson had only
a few years earlier delivered the hit Valley
of the Dolls. Co-writer Mario Puzo was riding high on The Godfather,and
Charlton Heston, although his fortunes had waned somewhat during the 1960s, had
been revived as a star by Planet of the Apes.
In Earthquake he would again be one
of those square-jawed “Heston heroes who lack irrational impulsesâ€, as Pauline
Kael memorably put it (though not referring to this movie); he had lately
played a number of characters who defended civilisation against all odds, in
films from El Cid to Khartoum and Major Dundee, and even had a recent disaster-movie credit in Skyjacked.
Yet somehow none of its
creators could quite make it jell, and we are never sure quite what kind of
film we are supposed to be watching. It may not have helped that Puzo
apparently left the project to work on The
Godfather Part II and was replaced by the obscure George Fox, who – from
what I can discover about him – seemed to be as interested in researching
earthquakes for factual accuracy as in crafting an engaging drama. He wrote a
little about the production in a book, Earthquake:
The Story of a Movie, that was published to coincide with release of the
movie.
From early on in the film, we
feel it doesn’t quite have the slickness of the disaster classics. Earthquake belongs to a genre that at
heart took itself very seriously, yet it is more humorously self-referential
than them – not least when Charlton Heston reads, very woodenly, a script with Geneviève Bujold, who plays a wannabe
actress. Another character, Victoria Principal, mentions going to a Clint
Eastwood movie; and in one of the film’s most visually striking sequences we
later see this Eastwood flick, running sideways during the quake before the
projector conks out.
One could even take the
repeated joke of the Walter Matthau character, drunk at a bar and ignoring the
earthquake while randomly spouting the names of famous figures (“Spiro T.
Agnew!†“Peter Fonda!â€), as a comment on the all-star concept.
But at the same time Earthquake is also bleaker than many
others; by contrast Airport is upbeat
and even Towering Inferno, which ends
on a prediction of worse fires in the future, also offers the hope that better
architecture can prevent them. In Earthquake,
however, the ending is distinctly mournful – with its semi-famous final line,
“this used to be a helluva town†and
the comment that only 40 people out of 70 trapped in a basement survived. (The
death tolls in classic disaster movies vary, from negligible in Airport and Inferno to near-total in Poseidon;
numerically, Earthquake sits in the
middle, but it is clearly much more about destruction than salvation.)
And italso has more sheer nastiness than all the others combined,
notably in the miserable marriage of Heston and Ava Gardner – made all the more
bitter by the way Heston feels obliged to save her and dies in the attempt,
when he could have reached safety with his newer love Bujold – and in the
repellent character of Jody, the retail worker and National Guardsman played by
Marjoe Gortner.
I personally have never been a huge fan of sex comedies
as most of the ones that I have seen generally rely too much on infantile
attitudes towards sex or gross bathroom humor as a means of generating laughs
and simply fail to provide a payoff. The good ones are the type that men and
women can comfortably watch together and laugh with rather than at. Porky’s
(1981) and Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) are two examples of this.
Gas Pump Girls, filmed in 1978 and released regionally in
1979, is probably the most entertaining movie ever made in Sacramento,
California. It takes place following a group of seniors’ high school graduation.
The film is big on nudity but soft on sex despite the suggestive ad campaign poster
boasting the tagline “You'll love the service they give…†Girls is the result
of director Joel Bender’s idea to use the tried-and-true film trope of a
dilapidated business that needs a much-needed injection of fresh blood for it
to be resuscitated and to prosper. George Cage’s wonderful Skateboard (1978) similarly
featured an avuncular Allen Garfield doing his best to marshal teenagers and
Leif Garrett into a skateboarding team that would make money for him. In Girls,
Huntz Hall of the “Bowery Boys†fame is Joe, the owner of a gas station desperately
in need of a make-over after his competitor across the street commandeers his patrons
with a souped-up, state-of-the-art service center. His niece June (Kirsten
Baker) enlists the help of her attractive friends Betty (Linda Lawrence), April
(Sandy Johnson), January (Rikki Marin), and Jane (Leslie King). They all give
the gas station a much-needed facelift via a new paint job and a new name:
Joe’s Super Duper. Who better than a group of beautiful and nubile young female
women to come to the rescue and make Uncle Joe’s establishment lucrative? This
premise is by no means original, but it works well in this film as the ladies
find an answer to every hurdle thrown their way through ingenuity, especially
when their tanks are empty and they need to get more gas for their customers,
and quickly!
With the help of skimpy work outfits to showcase their
considerable assets and the hiring of their boyfriends as mechanics, one of
whom is Roger (Dennis Bowen), the group is on their way to saving the day until
a three jerks who call themselves the Vultures, comprised of Hank (Demetre
Phillips), Butch (Steve Bond), and Peewee (Ken Lerner), come in to trash the
place out of a sense of boredom. These guys look like rejects from the Pharaohs
in George Lucas’s American Graffiti (1973) or gang members from Randal
Kleiser’s Grease (1978). June, however, is very persuasive in getting the
Vultures on their side as tow truck operators when the rival and cigar-chomping
Mr. Friendly (Dave Shelley) vows to shut them down by sending over two
hoodlums, Bruno (Joe E. Ross) and Moiv (Mike Mazurki), to intimidate them. The
ladies turn on their charms in some truly humorous moments which include adorable
April giving the time to a customer (Paul Tinder, who resembles a young Ronny
Cox) as he’s in the garage lift – you won’t look at oil changes in quite the
same way after this scene; April enticing a hilariously excited Bruno to stave
off a robbery; and the whole crew breaking into a dance sequence in the garage
(look fast for the little kid wearing the same Darth Vader shirt that I had in 1978!).
Sandy Johnson is the standout among the ladies. Introduced to the world as
Playboy’s Playmate of the Month in June 1974, Ms. Johnson made a memorable
albeit brief appearance in movies during the 1970’s and disrobes in Girls with
such glee that you cannot help but root for her. She is perhaps best known to horror
film genre fans as Judith Margaret Myers, the ill-fated sister of the indefatigable
killer Michael Myers in John Carpenter’s Halloween (1978).
Sprinkled throughout the film is the voice of a radio
deejay, played by New York’s own “Cousin Brucie†Bruce Morrow, a cute device
probably lifted from the Wolfman Jack character in American Graffiti. This
appearance no doubt inspired K-Billy’s Sounds of the Seventies in Quentin
Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs (1992).
The ending of the film is crazy, as the girls and boys
dress as Saudi Arabian oil magnates who feign their way into the office of the
head of the rival gas company. The sequence features a rarity in cinema – a
contrite businessman.
Unsurprisingly, the film wasn’t nominated for any awards
in the acting category and I will say that much of it is stilted and sounds
recited and forced. However, the ladies are so sweet and good-natured that this
is a minor quibble in an otherwise funny and entertaining romp.
The
U.S. has finally seen a Blu-ray release of David Lynch’s challenging 1997 feature,
Lost Highway (up until now it has been available only on DVD and
less-than-ideal-quality imported Blu-ray editions from various countries.) Kino
Lorber unleashed this disturbing and surreal work of art from the heir apparent
of Luis Buñuel, and it’s a doozy.
Lynch
described his 1997 feature, Lost Highway, as a “psychogenic fugue,â€
which is a fancy term for a dissociative disorder. The story concerns musician
Fred Madison (Bill Pullman), who may or may not be having marriage trouble with
his beautiful wife, Renee (Patricia Arquette). An outside force seems to be
watching and harassing the couple by leaving intimate videotapes of themselves
on their doorstep. Throw in some nightmares and the appearance of a
“mystery man†(the very creepy Robert Blake) with powers that could only exist
as dream logic, and Fred eventually loses it. Suddenly he’s arrested for
killing his wife. But then—uh oh—while he’s sitting in a jail cell, he becomes…
someone else. The cops find Pete Dayton (Balthazar Getty) in Fred’s
place. Puzzled, they let Pete go, since he’s not the man they want. Now there’s
a kind of alternate universe thing going on, because Patricia Arquette now
plays Alice, the mistress of the cruel Mr. Eddy (Robert Loggia), who may in truth
be a porn producer named Dick Laurent.
Confused?
Many audience members were at the time of Lost Highway’s initial
release. The picture marked the first in what might be called the “fugue
trilogy†(the other parts being Mulholland Drive and INLAND EMPIRE),
in which main characters become other people during the flow of the tales.
After a second or third viewing and examining Lynch’s narrative conceits in the
other movies, one can get a sense of what it’s all about. And I’m not
going to tell you. Just know that Lost Highway is about a man who
murders his wife, and he is unable to live with himself—or inside his own
mind—because of it. The film generates a good amount of dread, and it is pure
Lynch. It marks a transition from earlier, more narrative-friendly pictures, to
more dreamlike, experimental works of art that defy description—other than that
they are “David Lynch Films.â€
When
the Kino Lorber release appeared, Lynch made the news by denouncing it,
claiming that he disapproved of the transfer and that he wasn’t consulted. Kino
Lorber fired back with a response. (Click here to read.)
While
we at Cinema Retro don’t want to dispute Mr. Lynch’s opinions on the movie’s
Blu-ray release, we can say that the Kino Lorber edition is the best we’re
going to get at this time. It looks darned good even without the intended restoration/transfer
from the original negative. The dual-layered BD50 disk, with its 5.1 surround
and 2.0 lossless audio, sure beats the old DVD and import versions. There are
no supplements, although the picture has chapter breaks (something Lynch has campaigned
against with the release of his pictures on home video).
The
final verdict—until, say, Criterion, or another company properly uses the
original negative and has Lynch’s approval, then the Kino Lorber release is good
enough. Sorry, David, we just want the movie!
(Although David Lynch did not approve the audio commentary by Tim Lucas for inclusion on the Blu-ray, Lucas has made it possible for fans to download the commentary for free. Click here for info.)
It’s
been three years since ‘American Horror Project’ was unleashed. Comprising an
eclectic gathering of indie curios from the 1970s, the fact it was announced as
Volume 1 led to much anticipation as to what future collections might serve up.
Well,
Arrow Video has finally issued Volume 2. It’s been a long wait. Was it worth
it? For those whose passions run to the sort of weird, otherworldly slices of
70s small-town America represented by the first, the answer would be a
resounding yes. But, as before, for a more general audience it’s unlikely to harbour
much appeal. Regardless, whether you think they’re deserving of Blu-ray
resurrection or not, all power to Arrow – and ringmaster of this circus of the
bizarre, film historian Stephen Thrower – for rescuing these micro-budget
productions from the bowels of obscurity, giving them a wash and brush up and
setting them free back into a world that for better or worse had long forgotten
them. Someone somewhere is sure going to love them.
All
three titles in the set are brand new 2k restorations from the original film
elements, and some infrequent patches of heavy grain notwithstanding – really
only distracting in darker sequences – they look absolutely fantastic.
So
what exactly do we get this time? Opening with 1970s Dream No Evil, we move on
to 1976’s Dark August and conclude with 1977’s The Child. All three films are thematically
linked, however tenuously, in that in each it is a child who’s the catalyst for
the terrors that ensue. In the first they’re born of a little girl’s
desperately unhappy childhood, in the second the product of an accidental
death, and in the third it’s vengeful death wrought upon those around her by a
precocious teenager.
Dream
No Evil
A
former orphan, Grace (Brooke Mills), now assistant to a charlatan travelling
fire and brimstone preacher, Rev Bundy (wild-eyed Michael Pataki), is fixated
on locating her real father. Not only is Grace convinced she’ll find him but
that when she does he’ll welcome her back into his life with open arms. Her inadvisable
quest leads her down a path of self-destruction and she descends into madness.
Though
everything is subjective, writer-director John Hayes’ film isn’t so much horror
as it is bleak drama… exceedingly bleak. If the forlorn pre-titles sequence
doesn’t alert you to that, then Jaime Mendoza-Nava’s gently melancholic credits
music reinforces the notion. A couple of slasher movie tropes aside – and even
they are rendered mundane in their bloodlessness – the real draw here is former
Oscar-winner (for The Barefoot Contessa) Edmond O’Brien, overweight and
overacting on the fag end of a prodigious career; it’s a car crash performance from
which it’s impossible to avert your eyes. Still, it’s nice to see Marc “I
didn’t know there was a pool, down there†Lawrence, dressed almost exactly as
he appears in his two Bond roles (Diamonds Are Forever and The Man with the
Golden Gun), as a seedy mortician rather than a hoodlum.
With
some dispassionate narration thrown in, presumably to keep you up to speed if
you’ve zoned out during its leisurely pace, Dream No Evil’s key conceit has
been worked countless times; if you keep in mind that what you’re seeing is
what Grace is seeing, not necessarily what’s real, then there won’t be too many
surprises ahead.
Bonus
features on the disc are an appreciation and a look at the director’s prior
career by Thrower, an audio commentary from writers Kat Ellinger and Samm
Deighan, and a segment devoted to dear old O’Brien.
Dark
August
In
a small backwoods town a little girl is accidentally killed when she runs into
the road without looking, following which the driver of the vehicle (J J Barry)
has a death curse sworn upon him by the child’s grandfather.
Although
Planet of the Apes star Kim Hunter as a psychic medium is probably the main
draw here, what makes it worth sticking around for is J J Barry. A slow burn
drama helmed by former director of commercials Martin Goldman, Barry’s sincere,
committed performance lends the supernatural shrouding a bit of gravitas. The
irksome score at the outset (courtesy William S Fischer) does its darnedest to dissuade
the intolerant, but it’s worth hanging in there; it may be the least
interesting constituent of the set, but it does evolve into something rather
compelling.
Goldman
not only directed, but also co-wrote and co-produced, and much like bedmate Dream
No Evil it isn’t really a horror film. I’d label it chiller-lite with a couple
of wince-inducing moments tossed in, the most effective being when a character
slips and carves up his leg with a handsaw (even though the subsequent blood
spill is of the day-glo paint variety).
Shot
in Vermont, Richard E Brooks’ beautiful cinematography balances out the overall
oppressive mien, and if the finale is a tad anticlimactic it isn’t excessively
injurious.
Bonus
features are a couple of appreciation pieces (one by Thrower, the other from
writer and artist Stephen R Bissette), interviews with Goldman and his
co-producer Marianne Kanter, and a commentary from Goldman.
The
Child
Embittered
over the death of her mother, a teenage girl, Rosalie (Rosalie Cole), uses her psychic
powers to reanimate a battalion of corpses from a graveyard, willing them to
carry out her twisted campaign of vengeance upon those she deems responsible.
In
terms of exploitation terrors this tasty number from director Robert Voskanian
is where we hit pay dirt, it’s the diamond in the rough. Yes, the dialogue –
evidently post-dubbed, and badly at that – is stilted and the acting in general
is wooden enough to drill holes in, but it’s the only title in the collection
that engenders any real suspense and it boasts a supremely grungy vibe.
Taking
a little while to gain momentum, once it does it delivers the goods with several
suitably impressive set pieces and a bunch of effectively creepy zombies. Gory
when it needs to be – albeit all pretty unrealistic looking by today’s
standards – it builds up a decent head of steam for a climax in which the
survivors take refuge in an old barn, barricading themselves in to fend off a
full-on assault by the undead.
Also
known as Zombie Child and (this writer’s favourite) Kill and Go Hide, skewed
camera angles and a disorienting score – one moment melodic piano recital
material, the next a series of peculiar electronic bleeps and bloops – all add
to the sense that Voskanian was a fledgling talent with so much more to offer, making
it a crying shame to note that (for reasons outlined in the supplements on the
disc) this was to be his sole feature.
Said
supplements consist of an appreciation from Thrower, an interview with (and commentary
from) Voskanian and producer Robert Dadashian, plus an original theatrical
trailer. There are two viewing options on the feature itself, a 1.33:1
presentation and a 1.78:1; though not the most aesthetically pleasing choice,
the former opens up the frame significantly to reveal more picture both top and
bottom.
‘American
Horror Project’ Volume 2 comes with a limited edition 60-page collectors’
booklet, and each individually cased film has a reversible sleeve bearing
original and newly commissioned artwork.
The James Bond film "Licence to Kill" opened in the summer of 1989. Although it was a hit worldwide, American grosses were anemic- at least by James Bond standards. The film marked Timothy Dalton's second and final appearance as 007 as the movie opened against a number of blockbuster films that saw it wither by comparison in terms of boxoffice. Critics were also largely unimpressed with the new, realistic tone of a revenge plot and a grim James Bond in a fairly humorless story. But some of us knew we were seeing something exciting an innovative here. Roger Moore had a very successful run over a twelve year period but even he admitted he went a film too far, bowing out after the goofy "A View to a Kill" in 1985. Dalton took over the reigns with "The Living Daylights" in 1987. Fans and critics seemed relieved to have a more realistic portrayal of Bond on the big screen. "Licence to Kill" dared to upset the formula completely, paving the way for Daniel Craig's somber version of Bond that premiered to wide acclaim in 2006. "Licence" is the Rodney Dangerfield of Bond movies: it don't get no respect. Many Bond fans loathe it but perhaps a critical reassessment is underway. The film is far from perfect and there are some loose ends that could have been improved, but Dalton is terrific, as is Robert Davi as his nemesis, Sanchez. It's also director John Glen's most assured achievement in the Bond canon. Writing in the Hollywood Reporter, Phil Pirrello provides a thoughtful and positive article about the film's ultimate impact on the franchise, albeit it the innovations were deemed to be unacceptable at the time. Click here to read.
Lieutenant Fred Williams (Jack Hedley) is easily the
horror cinema’s most pedestrian, laid back, and disinterested police detective
in recent memory. In Lucio Fulci’s infamous slasher outing The New York Ripper
(1982), a spate of brutal crimes involving young women being sliced up by a
knife-wielding maniac who quacks like a duck (yes, you read that right) lands right
smack into Williams’s lap and he couldn’t be more bored by it. Mr. Hedley’s
characterization of this by-the-book investigator was no doubt in the script,
but his character just meanders through his scenes with such an aloof attitude
that it’s amazing no one calls him out on it. The few times Williams does
appear to spring to life are when the sex lives of his victims are revealed,
which he reacts to with a judgmental shrug and smirk when he’s extricating a
motive from the morgue pathologist (Giordano Falzoni) or informing one Dr.
Lodge (Cosimo Cinieri, credited here as “Laurence Wellesâ€) that the effects of
his open marriage have resulted in the death of his sexually adventurous wife
Jane Lodge. This is a hypocritical reaction considering that he himself
frequents a prostitute named Kitty (Daniela Doria), a fact not lost on the
“quacker†who phones Williams at Kitty’s apartment just to let him know that he
has his eye on him! Williams himself is genuinely confounded by this unexpected
breach of privacy which gives him some resolve to find the killer with slightly
more urgency, but not by much – it also puts Kitty in danger.
The murders in this film are gory, graphic and
protracted. Any seasoned slasher fan will easily differentiate between the
actual performers and the graphic make-up effects created to look like the
female anatomy, be it a decomposed human hand retrieved by a dog at the film’s
start, a young victim named Rosie (Cinzia de Ponti) slashed on the Staten
Island Ferry, a sex performer named Eva (Zora Kerova) who meets a violent end
thanks to a smashed bottle, or the aforementioned Jane (Alexandra Delli Colli)
who gets more than she bargained for when her sexual shenanigans go south. It’s
obvious to both Williams and his police chief (played by Lucio Fulci!) that the
“quacker†is a misogynist. It’s a good thing he isn’t a doctor. A prime suspect
is a sex show spectator with two missing fingers, Mickey Scellenda (Renato
Rossini, credited here as “Howard Rossâ€), who meets Jane at an insalubrious 42nd
Street theater and later engages in some consensual BDSM with her at a flea bag
motel that begins to exceed even her limits. Jane goes from being an aroused
spectator to a willing participant. Scellenda then sets his sights on Fay
Majors (Almanta Keller), a young woman who foolishly rides the graffiti-riddled
subway train alone in the middle of the night, and later attacks her before her
physicist boyfriend Peter (Andrew Painter) comes to her rescue.
Williams enlists the help of a psychotherapy professor,
Dr. Paul Davis (Paolo Malco of Mr. Fulci’s The House by the Cemetery), who is
prepped as the Simon Oakland character in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960) and
creates a psychological profile of the killer. Barbara Cupisti makes her
Italian horror film screen debut and appears briefly as an assistant. She would
go on to star as Alicia in Michele Soavi’s phenomenal Stage Fright five years
later.
More surprising than the violent murders are the sexually
charged scenes that lend a high degree of uneasiness to the whole affair. A
live sex shows plays more like a softcore porn interlude, and the film’s
arguably most disturbing sequence involves what amounts to Jane being raped in
a pool hall by a creepy player (Josh Cruze) egged on by his equally creepy
friend (Antoine Pagan). Even Dr. Davis is portrayed as a closet homosexual,
purchasing a copy of BlueBoy magazine at a newsstand and hiding it inside a
copy of the New York Post (think about that for a minute!). I can only imagine
what the audiences in 1982 must have thought about this film. In 2019, it’s
distressing to say that far worse is available to see on the Web to eyes just
as jaded as Lieutenant Williams’s.
One would think that the duck quacking would have turned
this film into a comedy and while there are moments that do elicit laughter,
the whole thing is actually played straight, so straight in fact that when the
denouement arrives courtesy of the requisite deus ex-machina, the killer is
revealed in one of the bleakest endings in giallo history.
Filmed in New York City between August and October in
1981 during an especially seedy time in Times Square’s history, The New York
Ripper is one of the most controversial and infamous giallo films of the
decade, or perhaps ever. Mr. Fulci’s work has always been uneven to me, lacking
the color that featured so prominently in Mario Bava’s work and the highly
stylized cinematic look that punctuates the best work of Dario Argento. Anyone
who saw this film during its theatrical exhibition on 42nd Street in 1984
probably never would have imagined that the film could look as good as it does
in the new 4K-remastered Blu-ray that Blue-Underground has just released, or
they were probably too drunk and stoned to even care. If you saw it on the
Vidmark VHS release, this new and completely uncut version reveals a film that
none of us have seen before. This transfer is reference quality and reveals
image nuances previously unseen, on a par with the fine work that
Blue-Underground has done previously on William Lustig’s Maniac (1981), another
gory slasher, with full 4K restoration. Any previous versions of the film on
home video pale in comparison to this new transfer.
The new three-disc Blu-ray contains many new extras,
which include:
A very cool lenticular sleeve cover that the Blu-ray case
fits into.
Disc One:
A full-length audio commentary by Troy Howarth who once
again provides a highly detailed and entertaining overview of the film at hand,
making no apologies for being a fan. Extremely insightful and highly
knowledgeable, Mr. Howarth points out interesting tidbits along the way and
allows the viewer to experience the film in a new light.
The Art of Killing (about 30 minutes in high definition,
2019) – This is an onscreen interview with Dardano Sacchetti, a prolific
screenwriter whose is probably best known to the horror film fans as the
screenwriter or story originator of The Cat O’Nine Tales (1971), Shock (1977), Zombie
(1979), City of the Living Dead (1980), The Beyond (1981), The House by the
Cemetery (1981), Demons (1986) and Demons 2 (1988). He speaks at length about
working with Mr. Fulci on a script about progeria, a disease that ages the
cells and tissues to such an extent that the victim dies by age 18. Anyone
remember Ralph Macchio in The Three Wishes of Billy Grier (1984)? He also
explains that Italian horror cinema always has a further ending, a double
ending, and a final ending. Highly entertaining raconteur.
Three Fingers of Violence (about 15 minutes in high
definition, 2019) is an onscreen interview with actor Howard Ross who plays
Mickey Scendella in the film. He recounts meeting Mr. Fulci at a dinner party
and auditioned for the film soon after. He also laughs about being mistaken for
Charles Bronson while filming in Times Square. Spoken in Italian with
non-removable and legible English subtitles.
The Second Victim (about 13 minutes in high definition,
2019) is an onscreen interview with actress Cinzia de Ponti who plays Rosie.
She was discovered after being named “Miss Italia†in a beauty contest. Spoken
in Italian with non-removable and legible English subtitles.
The Broken Bottle Murder (about 13 minutes in high
definition, 2019) is an onscreen interview with actress Zora Kerova who describes
working with Mr. Fulci on this scene, but not knowing that it required sex and
nudity until it was time to film. Spoken in Italian with non-removable and
legible English subtitles.
“I’m an Actress†(about 9 minutes in high definition,
2009) is an onscreen interview with actress Zora Kerova who describes working
with Mr. Fulci on her scene, and also her work with Bruno Mattei and Umberto
Lenzi. This is ported over from the Blue Underground single disc Blu-ray
release from 2009.
The Beauty Killer (about 23 minutes in high definition,
2019) is an onscreen, English language explanation of giallo films from critic
and author Stephen Thrower who explains that these films became more and more
violent for one simple reason: they want to push the envelope and show the
audience something that they haven’t seen yet in an effort to make more money.
Paint Me Blood Red (about 17 minutes in high definition,
2019) is my favorite extra because it introduces us to one of cinema’s unsung
heroes, movie poster artist Enzo Sciotti. This man has created some of the most
stunning and gorgeous artwork ever created for horror films. His work for Dario
Argento’s Phenomena (1985) beautifully captures the spirit of the film, while
his work for Paganini Horror (1989) is the only redeeming thing about that
film. Spoken in Italian with non-removable and legible English subtitles.
NYC Locations Then and Now (about 4 minutes in high
definition, 2009) compares the filming locations from 1981 to 2009 when the
comparisons were made. This is ported over from the Blue Underground single
disc Blu-ray release from 2009.
Theatrical Trailer
Poster and Still Gallery – while there are many images
presented here, I’m not sure if many of them appeared as lobby cards since they
depict graphic sex and violence. Granted, Europe is more liberal than the US,
and when I walked through Times Square for the first time in May 1980, I was
shocked by the explicit images on display when Friday the 13th was in release.
There is also a beautifully illustrated, 18-page booklet
containing an essay, Fulci Quacks Up: The Unrelenting Grimness of “THE NEW YORK
RIPPERâ€, which accompanies the set.
Disc Two:
This consists of a DVD that includes everything that the
Blu-ray offers.
Disc Three:
This consists of a 29-track compact disc of the film’s
original soundtrack album.
"Casablanca" symbolizes a great American film that has transcended being a popular hit to becoming an internationally loved classic film. Unlike many great films, it didn't take many years for audiences to appreciate its stature as a classic, as evidenced by the Hollywood Reporter's original review from 1942. Click here to read.
Basil Dearden’s intriguing The Man Who Haunted Himself is a feature-length remake of a
thirty-minute televised episode of Alfred
Hitchcock’s Presents.That episode -
from the 1955 program’s first season - had the distinction of having been
directed by the maestro of suspense himself.It was one of only a handful of dramas in the series that Hitchcock
chose to helm.The episode was based on Anthony
Armstrong’s short story (later novelized) “The Strange Case of Mr. Pelhamâ€
(Methuen & Co. Ltd., UK, 1957).The
book was later published that very same year in the U.S. as part of Doubleday
& Co.’s fabled “Crime Club†series.
Armstrong’s psychological thriller had been originally
published in the November 1940 issue of Esquire
magazine.The short story was later re-sold
and re-published in June 1955 as part of Ellery
Queen’s Mystery Magazine… which is likely where Hitchcock became acquainted
with it.(If interested, the entire
first season of the Hitchcock program, including “The Case of Mr. Pelham,†can
be found on one of the Alfred Hitchcock
Presents sets issued by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment in 2006.That is, of course, assuming you can get the
discs to play; there were all sorts of unwelcome pressing issues associated with
that DVD set).
Kino Lorber’s Special Edition Blu-ray of The Man Who Haunted Himself is a
co-venture with Britain’s StudioCanal label.It’s the second digital copy to make it onto my groaning shelves.StudioCanal issued the film in 2013 as a
Region 2 DVD and this UK edition was generous in their bonus supplements.The StudioCanal set included a standalone
thirty-four minute “music suite†of composer Michael J. Lewis’s memorable score,
a 2005 recorded commentary featuring Roger Moore and Bryan Forbes, the original
theatrical trailer, image galleries and even a PDF of promotional materials
used to market the film in 1970.
This new release on Blu by Kino here in the U.S. welcomingly
ports over the Moore/Forbes commentary (moderated by Jonathon Sothcott, author
of The Cult Films of Christopher Lee.The Sothcott tome might be of some additional
interest as it carries a preface by none other than “Sir Roger Moore (O.B.E.).â€
This Kino release also includes the film’s original trailer (as well as
trailers of three additional Moore films, Gold,
Street People, and The Naked Face.)We’re also treated to an informative bonus
supplement that features director Joe Dante and Hitchcock historian Stuart
Gordon musing on the film’s back stories and production history.
Though The Man Who
Haunted Himself is mostly regarded as a thriller in the Hitchcock tradition,
Dante suggests it serves as a genuine horror film as well: there are moments in
the film, he contends, that can still send a “chill up the backs†of movie-going
audiences.Dante and Gordon both reference
the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode
of 1955 as the film’s immediate forebear, but Gordon suggests that Armstrong’s short
story goes back even further in conception.He proposes the story is essentially a reworking of the Hans Christian
Andersen fable “The Shadow,†first published in 1847.
Roger Moore had offered on numerous occasions that his
turn as Harold Pelham was a personally rewarding one.For a graduate of the London’s prestigious
Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, Moore would often commiserate he was rarely
given the opportunity to be “dramatically stretched†in his chosen profession.Certainly his popular TV roles as
cosmopolitan playboy-adventurers Simon Templar and Brett Sinclair – not to
mention his casting as the longest-serving James Bond – hadn’t allowed Moore to
demonstrate his mettle as a “serious†actor.
The
Man Who Haunted Himself certainly is more representative of his
abilities, with Moore estimating Basil Dearden and Michael Relph’s screenplay
as “one of the best scripts I’d ever read.â€There’s even a tease of what was soon to come buried within the dialogue.Discussing the possibility of internal leaks
of confidential and sensitive information, Moore confidently cautions his worried
colleagues that acts of industrial “espionage isn’t all James Bond and Her
Majesty’s Secret Service.â€For Moore, it
soon would be.
Moore’s performance is undisputedly wonderful in this,
though in my estimation the film – while never uninteresting - remains an
intriguing curiosity with an unsatisfying and confusing finale.Others have found the film to be an
under-appreciated off-the-radar masterpiece.Moore gets to play two characters in this, the colorless Harold Pelham
as well as his own calculating doppelganger.Basil Dearden’s direction is top-notch (and dizzyingly unorthodox in a
scene where Moore and eccentric psychiatrist (Freddie Jones) discuss the state
of his declining mental health).The Man Who Haunted Himself would,
tragically, be Dearden’s last feature film effort.The helmsman of such films as Woman of Straw and Khartoum, Dearden would die from injuries sustained following an
automobile crash on the M4 in 1971.Ironically, this is very same stretch of highway that Moore’s Pelham fails
to circumnavigate near the film’s beginning.He loses control of his Rover while driving recklessly at 110 kilometers
per hour.The calamitous car crash
results in Pelham suffering a near-death experience which, essentially, ignites
the tale that will unwind.
Actor Rip Torn has died at age 88. He was a volatile figure in the entertainment industry, known for his sometimes bizarre behavior as well as his brilliant performances. A native Texan, he gravitated to New York City in the 1950s where he studied under Lee Strasberg at the legendary Actors Studio. He was championed by director Elia Kazan, who gave Torn high profile roles in his stage and film productions. Torn gained major acclaim with a Tony-nominated performance on Broadway in "Sweet Bird of Youth", a role he would reprise in the 1963 film version. Torn's film career occasionally saw him attain leading man status but he remained a highly acclaimed supporting actor throughout his career. His feature films include "A Face in the Crowd", "Baby Doll", "The Cincinnati Kid", "Pork Chop Hill", "King of Kings", "Beach Red", "Coming Apart", "Tropic of Cancer", "Crazy Joe", "The Man Who Fell to Earth", "Coma" and the 1983 film "Cross Creek', for which he was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar. For the 1968 thriller "Sol Madrid", Torn was called upon at the last minute by MGM to play the villain opposite David McCallum after John Cassavettes, who had originally filmed the role became very ill the day before shooting the finale, thus causing all of his scenes to be reshot with Torn. Later in his career, he made a splash with his appearances as the quirky intelligence chief in the "Men in Black" films and won fine notices for Albert Brooks' comedy "Defending Your Life". In the 1990s, Torn's television career soared to new heights with his recurring role on HBO's "The Larry Sanders Show", which would see him nominated for six Emmys. He would later earn more Emmy nominations for his role on the "30 Rock" sitcom. Roles earlier work in television included "Playhouse 90", "Ben Casey", "Combat!", "Dr. Kildare", "Rawhide", "Bonanza", "Mannix" and "Columbo". He had one of his most memorable roles in a 1965 two-part episode of "The Man from U.N.C.L.E" titled "The Alexander the Greater Affair" in which he played a villain who wants to attain power by systematically breaking each of the Ten Commandments in order.
(Above: Torn on the set of "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." with Dorothy Provine and David McCallum.)
Despite his success in the entertainment business, Torn was a man who had many personal demons that affected his life and career. He was originally cast in the role that gained Jack Nicholson stardom in "Easy Rider" but he had a falling out with the film's star and director, Dennis Hopper, who stated publicly that Torn lost the role because he had pulled a knife on him over dinner, an accusation that Torn refuted and ultimately won a libel case over. However, he was known for erratic behavior and in a bizarre 2010 incident he was arrested after breaking into a bank. Nevertheless, Torn's legacy as one of the most reliable and interesting character actors of his generation remains intact.
Maria Schneider and Marlon Brando in Bernardo Bertolucci's Last Tango in Paris (1972.
In the 1960s and 1970s there was an explosion of sex in the cinema as filmmakers, making the most of new-found freedoms, tried to compensate for decades of self-censorship in the industry. Much of the sex depicted on screen was pure exploitation, to be sure, but some of it was profound and resulted in the first truly adult looks at sexual relationships to be shown to mainstream audiences, at least since the silent and early sound era before the dreaded Hays Code of censorship was imposed. Films such as Last Tango in Paris, The Night Porter and The Devils were extremely controversial in their day with some critics acclaiming them as cinematic classics while others denounced them as high class pornography masquerading as art. Nevertheless, sexual content in films has traditionally pushed the envelope. However, in recent years- with a few exceptions primarily seen in art house releases- it has diminished in major studio releases. Ann Hornaday, film critic for the Washington Post, is not happy about it. She posits that studios are concentrating on big blockbusters that present sex in a pure vanilla, watered-down manner that is calculated not to offend. She misses films such as Body Heat and Fatal Attraction that combined compelling plots with sensuality. She says that when filmed with skill, sex scenes can play a key role in making movies not only memorable but artistic as well. Click here to read.
The year 1976 was a phenomenal time for films
that went into production. George Lucas’s space opera, Star Wars began principal photography in March; Steven Spielberg,
fresh off the success of Jaws, was
given carte blanche to bring Close Encounters of the Third Kind to
the screen and began shooting in May; and Dario Argento, who became emboldened
by the financial success of his latest and arguably best film to date, Profundo Rosso (known in the U.S. as Deep Red), embarked upon Suspiria, a murder mystery involving a
dance school hiding in plain sight while housing a coven of witches, which
began filming in July. Horror author Clive Barker once described this supernatural
extravaganza as what you would imagine a horror film to be like if you weren’t allowed
to see it. I believe that this is a good description of what is unquestionably
one of the most frightening, entertaining and colorful horror films ever made. Suspiria was edited for its American
theatrical exhibition due to some graphic violence that many would have
considered shocking for its day. Distributor 20th Century Fox was
reportedly so embarrassed by the film that they created a subsidiary company,
International Classics, to release it three months after their phenomenally
successful Star Wars, another film
they had no faith in.
Suspiria opened in New York
on Friday, August 12, 1977 at the long-gone Criterion on 45th and
Broadway before branching out to additional theaters. It’s the first in a
trilogy concerning the nature of Death (Inferno
(1980) and The Mother of Tears (2007)
are the second and third parts, respectively). The film’s quad-syllabic title
quite understandably leaves those who attempt to say it tongue-tied (it’s
pronounced sus-PEER-ee-ah). The word itself
has its origins in Latin and roughly translates into “sighs†or “whispers†and
the film is based upon the writings of British essayist Thomas De Quincey. His
most famous work, Confessions of an
English Opium Eater, was published in 1822. Twenty-three years later he
published Suspiria de Profundis which
is Latin for “Sighs from the Depths†and is a collection of essays, the most
famous of which is Levana and Our Ladies
of Sorrow which Mr. Argento used as the source material for his
trilogy.
In Suspiria,
Suzy Bannion, played by doe-eyed Jessica Harper (who was Woody Allen’s
girlfriend at the time and passed on Annie
Hall because she wanted to go to Italy), arrives in Frieberg, Germany to
begin dance lessons at the famous Tanz Academie (the architecture is copied
from Haus zum Walfisch in Freiberg). From the film’s opening frames, we already
know that we are in uncharted territory as the images are bathed in diffused
primary colors. Upon her arrival
at the airport, things are already not what they seem. Once she leaves the
premises and the glass doors close behind her, she enters a fairy tale in the
form of an unusually violent thunderstorm. Hitching a ride from a taxi
driver played by Argento regular Fulvio Mingozzi (min-GOATS-see), who worked for the director no less than ten times
in both film and television episodes, she makes her way to the school (as a
side-note, eagle-eyed viewers can see the director’s reflection in the glass
partition in the taxi 3:31 minutes into the film and it lasts for two seconds.
He appears, with a large smile on his face, in the lower left-hand corner of
the screen).
Just as she arrives, a hysterical woman, Pat
Hingle (Eva Axen), appears on the school’s doorstep and makes an unintelligible
proclamation before bolting into the deluge-swept streets. Suzy carps with a
woman on the intercom, pleading for entry and refuge from the torrential rain. When
she’s denied, she re-enters the taxi and rides through the Black Forest,
catching a glimpse of Pat as she runs, attempting to make her way past the
trees. What could possibly have set her off on such a perilous journey?
Pat makes her way to her friend Sonia’s (Susanna Javicoli) apartment,
hesitant to disclose what she has come to learn about the school. In what is
considered Argento’s finest hour and the film’s most disturbing and celebrated
sequence, Pat is violently stabbed by some inhuman creature with hairy arms and
long black fingernails and is thrown through a stained-glass window, the shards
of which also kill Sonia. It’s been compared with the shower scene in Psycho (1960) for pure shock effect,
though this one is much more graphic.
The calm following the storm reveals a
strange faculty staff consisting of lead ballet teacher Ms. Tanner (Alida Valli),
headmistress Madame Blanc (Joan Bennett), pianist Daniel (Flavio Bucci), and
Pavlos (Giuseppe Transocchi) the handyman. Suzy is told by the headmistress
that one of their expelled students, Pat, was murdered by a madman the night
before. Wouldn’t that be enough to send one packing their bags? The same scenario
plays out for Jennifer Connelly in the director’s other macabre coming-of-age
horror film, Phenomena (1985), and the
information in that film is met with nothing more than a smile and silence. Unbeknownst
to Suzy, the school is a front for a coven of witches who hold black masses
within the massive building’s stealthy labyrinths. Her suspicions that all is
not right with the school become confirmed when people around her suddenly disappear
or are killed off. Like previous Argento protagonists, Suzy plays sleuth to
gain insight into the bizarre goings-on, especially the teachers’ concerted
effort to hide the directress’s presence from her. When she teams up with Sarah
(Stefania Casini) to find out more about one Helena Markos, more people begin
to die as Suzy learns of a shocking secret that lies behind an imperceptible
door.
Suspiria’s simple premise
permits Mr. Argento to stage some of the most shocking and elaborate death
sequences of his career, all performed in-camera (that is without the use of
opticals or blue-screen technology used later in post-production). The Italian
progressive rock band Goblin provides a phenomenal score that, unbelievably,
was composed before filming began and was played on the film’s soundstages
during shooting to maximize the effect on the performers. It’s an astonishing
concoction with shrieks, whispers and wails, which I always assumed to be
non-diegetic in nature, acting almost as a macabre precursor to the far more
relaxing Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) videos that have taken YouTube
by storm.
Mr. Argento has also put together an eclectic
cast, the bulk of whom are women. Joan Bennett, who appeared in Fritz Lang’s coincidentally
titled Secret Beyond the Door… with
Michael Redgrave (1947) as well as her stint on Dark Shadows, provides the proper amount of sinister air that the
film requires. Alida Valli is terrific as Miss Tanner, the “stern and surlyâ€
ballet teacher, arguably the most memorable in the cast. Jessica Harper, fresh
off her role as Phoenix in Brian DePalma’s wildly entertaining Phantom of the Paradise (1974), appears
naïve but turns out to be anything but as she goes to greater-than-usual
lengths to uncover The Big Secret.
Suspiria is unique in that it
was shot on Eastman Kodak film but printed using the now-defunct three-strip
Technicolor dye transfer process which divided the negative into three individual
color bands of red, green, and blue. By manipulating the intensities of these
primary colors both on the set and in the lab, cinematographer Luciano Tovoli
was able to create some truly horrific and stunning images. The set design is
garish, colorful and must be seen to be believed. The
color scheme seems to have been inspired by Walt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (1937) and dance film aficionados
will likely also think of Emeric Pressburger and Michael Powell’s stunning 1948
technicolor film The Red Shoes and their follow-up, 1951’s The
Tales of Hoffman (George A. Romero’s favorite film), but the story seems inspired
by Chicho
Ibáñez-Serrador’s La Residencia, a terrific horror opus from 1970 which pits the borstal’s
headmistress, Senora Fourneau (played brilliantly by Lilli Palmer), against a
school of young women in need of reform. There is a predatory air about
Fourneau that carries over to Ms. Tanner in Suspiria.
A case might even be made that Ms. Tanner is a psychological cinematic
equivalent of the malevolent and sadistic Mrs. Wakehurst in Peter Walker’s House of Whipcord (1974). La Residencia has appeared under such
titles as The Finishing School, The Boarding School and here in the
States as The House That Screamed when
it was released on a double-bill with Anthony M. Lanza’s The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant in July 1971.