Glenn Erickson's Reviews: Month: November 2019

Until the End of the World 11/30/19

An amazing Blu-ray year is capped by a genuine favorite, rescued by its filmmaker and set aside for almost twenty years. Wim Wenders was forced to make a shortened version of what he hoped would be his greatest success, following Wings of Desire: but he cleverly saved his 4.5-hour uncut version, making its Blu-ray debut on December 10. Longform video is currently the rage, so perhaps the time has finally come for the uncut Bis ans Ende der Welt. The music soundtrack is nothing less than fantastic, not to be missed. Starring William Hurt, Solveig Dommartin, Sam Neill, Rüdiger Vogler, Jeanne Moreau, Max von Sydow, Ernie Dingo, Lois Chiles. On Blu-ray from The Criterion Collection.
11/30/19

The Strange Case of Until the End of the World 11/30/19

Same movie, but some writing done 21 years ago. The pair of articles here are essentially the same as what I wrote in 1998 for the original MGM DVD Savant website, after seeing the long Die Trilogie’ version of Until the End of the World at the Harmony Gold Preview Theater on Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood. Beware: although I’ve deleted a detailed synopsis, the articles contain plenty of Spoilers for Until the End of the World and Bertrand Tavernier’s 1980 film Death Watch.
11/30/19

The Magic Sword 11/26/19

St. George is little more than a ‘callow Yoot’ but he takes on those Seven Curses like a champ. Before he fell afoul of the murderous HAL, we can see that Gary Lockwood was a hell of survivor, dodging monsters, witch-hags, fiery pits, etc., that snare his fellow noble nights on the quest to save Da Princess. Bert I. Gordon’s most polished production benefits from spirited thesping from Estelle Winwood and Basil Rathbone, and Maila ‘Vampira’ Nurmi is in for a guest spot. Tim Lucas waxes nostalgic for this kiddie saga, and reviewer Charlie Largent retains good childhood memories too. On Blu-ray from KL Studio Classics.
11/26/19

The Bells of St. Mary’s 11/26/19

Despite being one of the most popular pictures of its year, this favorite holiday movie plays strangely today, and should have disturbed people when it was new as well. Director Leo McCarey and his glowing stars Bing Crosby and Ingrid Bergman do remarkable work, and the show has its heart in the right place… but the values built into its story points are painfully wrong-headed. We don’t expect ’40s films to adhere to today’s so-called enlightened PC values, but some of the attitudes in this one make us want to throw things at the screen. Taken from a beautifully remastered new restoration, Olive’s Signature Edition is flawless. On Blu-ray from Olive Signature.
11/26/19

Now, Voyager 11/23/19

This must be an official Bette Davis month… Criterion has two vintage Davis pictures on offer, and TCM is devoted to a roundup of the actresses work as well. This one qualifies as the all-time champeen Women’s Weepie, but one that holds up as a great picture on all levels. Director Irving Rapper guided this best-ever drama, in which a put-upon Ugly Duckling throws off oppressive familial chains and blossoms into a woman of the world. She then makes choices of personal nobility and selflessness, that will challenge anybody’s notions of saint-like deportment. It’s the kind of show normally gets discussed over coffee, not by film critics, so the extras on this one are especially interesting. Co-starring Paul Henried and his double cigarette trick, with Claude Rains, Gladys Cooper and Bonita Granville. On Blu-ray from The Criterion Collection.
11/23/19

Thunderbolt and Lightfoot 11/23/19

Michael Cimino could have done worse for his first directing gig — a big Clint Eastwood – Jeff Bridges buddy picture with guaranteed major attention. It’s a simple crime caper for simple audiences, and he pulls it off in style. The Sunday movie supplements celebrated Cimino as a great new talent. He’s picture still looks handsome and it runs like a Swiss watch — the writer-director even has his vulgar comedy down pat, giving bad guy George Kennedy a few memorable choice bits to play. With Geoffrey Lewis, Catherine Bach, and Gary Busey. On Blu-ray from KL Studio Classics.
11/23/19

RoboCop 11/19/19

Extra-special extras adorn this stunning reissue of a modern sci-fi action classic. Paul Verhoeven’s sledgehammer of graphic-novel brutality and wicked political satire (courtesy of a Michael Miner-Ed Neumeier screenplay that should have won awards) hasn’t diminished one iota. We still feel like we’re being subjected to a shockingly ultra-violent entertainment from the future. Both versions are present, along with enough interview extras to make one feel personally involved in the production. Although later entries in the Robo franchise were marketed to children (we have the toys to prove it) this hard-action show expresses an adult-oriented rage against Reagan’s America. The filmmakers could have earned a lot more money making Robo un-political and kid-safe but instead chose to stay true to their radical concept. On Blu-ray from Arrow Video.
11/19/19

The Bad and the Beautiful 11/19/19

One of Vincente Minnelli’s best is this glamorous ‘Hollywood Looks At Hollywood’ exposé of sin and conniving among the actors, directors and producers that make Quality Entertainment for us unglamorous nobodies. It’s overstated and often grossly overacted (Kirk Douglas, front and center!) but still carries a grandiose charm. Lana Turner gets to play an idealized version of herself. Gloria Grahame generates additional heat, and for her trouble walked away with an Oscar. And composer David Raksin contributes one of his most melodic music scores — the main theme is a winner, right up there with his Laura. CineSavant runs amuck critiquing the way MGM’s movie slams Hollywood creatives, while pretending that the studio bigwigs are infallible Gods. With Barry Sullivan, Dick Powell, Walter Pidgeon and Gilbert Roland. On Blu-rayfrom The Warner Archive Collection.
11/19/19

Requiem for Gringo 11/19/19

We’ve got more Spaghetti western action from Guest Reviewer Lee Broughton — the more obscure they become, the more fanciful the concept. This creative 1968 entry foregrounds a gothic vibe and employs imagery and narrative devices that Lee says would fit well in a horror movie. Italo western fans know the regular actors Fernando Sancho, Femi Benussi and Aldo Sambrell, who star alongside Lang Jeffries and future Pedro Almodóvar star Marisa Paredes. On Blu-ray from Wild East.
11/19/19

Madigan 11/16/19

Don Siegel’s powerful cop saga shows the way for police stories of the ’70s — it has traces of TV movie cheapness, and then barrels forward with its story of rotten crooks a desperate detective and an elitist Police Commissioner. A strong cast gets powerful roles — Richard Widmark, Harry Guardino, Inger Stevens, James Whitmore — and Henry Fonda is cooly forbidding. The bang-bang finale was celebrated for its violent editing: Siegel’s blunt-force cutting effects make it feel extra-intense. For warped screen villainy, Steve Ihnat’s Barney Benesch has no equal — he has less than three minutes of screen time, but you’ll never forget him. Kino gives the show a strong commentary by Howard S. Berger, Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson. On Blu-ray from KL Studio Classics.
11/16/19

The Far Country 11/16/19

Did star James Stewart and director Anthony Mann corner the market on upscale ‘A’ ’50s westerns?  This beauty sends Stewart, Ruth Roman and Corrine Calvet on a breezy trek over a Canadian glacier, with Walter Brennan as a folksy, ditsy sidekick — not very original but endearing. John McIntire saves the day as a charmingly malevolent self-appointed Judge Roy Bean-type swindler and murderer — he’s so hilariously evil, even Stewart’s character is amused. The special edition has two aspect ratio versions, a full commentary and two film history featurette-docus. With Jay C. Flippen, Harry Morgan, Steve Brodie, Robert J. Wilke, Chubby Johnson, Royal Dano, Jack Elam and Kathleen Freeman. On Blu-ray from Arrow Academy .
11/16/19

Konga 11/16/19

Ah yes!  It’s not exactly I Was A Teenage Gorilla but it comes close. Herman Cohen’s made-in-England monster opus has Michael Gough chewing scenery to put something exciting on the screen. Other fine actors sort-of bring to life the tale of a really nasty scientist’s revenge plan using a chimp pumped up with his super-duper growth serum. The lecherous Gough has a field day, and every fifth special effect looks pretty good — the entire ‘sensational’ action climax consists of one stroll in London Town. I was little when this came out and we all thought it was shocking, fantastic and incredible — but all I saw was the poster. Perhaps Reynold Brown’s artwork is the best thing about the picture — which finally looks tip-top in HD and good color. Trailers from Hell’s Charlie Largent gives it a warmly nostalgic look-see. On Blu-ray from KL Studio Classics.
11/16/19

The 3-D Nudie-Cuties Collection 11/12/19

CineSavant chooses its reviews with discretion, knowing that attending to readers’ spiritual needs is a top priority. So get ready for a blistering, too-too spicy duo of ‘adult movies’ (read: they cater to dirty old men) created in the prehistoric days before humanity was transformed by X-rated porn. The first show THE BELLBOY AND THE PLAYGIRLS may be the professional screen directing debut of Francis Coppola, moonlighting from UCLA. It’s something of a wreck, but he was not one to miss an opportunity to write and direct. The second picture ADAM AND SIX EVES, in gorgeous color and eye-popping 3-D, is so good as to suggest an art revival, if today’s PC culture wasn’t so likely to condemn a vintage girlie entertainment out of hand. But then again, the sub-genre is supposed to be forbidden and Taboo. Blu-ray 3-D conquers all! On 3-D Blu-ray from Kino Classics.
11/12/19

They Made Me a Fugitive 11/12/19

Sinister stabbings, women kicked and beaten, perverse hoodlums selling cocaine and murdering street-beat bobbies: what happened to civilized English crime?   Cavalcanti’s vicious postwar Brit Noir shocked critics for The Times and had to be cut to ribbons for American distribution. A disillusioned, bored RAF hero turns to smuggling and skullduggery.  This fully restored crime classic gives us Trevor Howard, Sally Gray and Griffith Jones in one of the best — and most brutal crime pix of its day. Plus attractive PI extras! On Blu-ray from Powerhouse Indicator.
11/12/19

Great Day in the Morning 11/12/19

Jacques Tourneur’s ‘big sky’ western gives us the beauty of Colorado mountains plus stunning color images (originally Technicolor & Superscope) of his attractive cast: Robert Stack, Virginia Mayo, Ruth Roman. North-South antagonisms break out in Denver City, before the Civil War begins, and Robert Stack’s loner opportunist must choose a side. The WAC’s disc includes four Jacques Tourneur short subjects, with mystery themes. On Blu-ray from The Warner Archive Collection.
11/12/19

Spirited Away 11/09/19

Hayao Miyazaki’s animation masterpiece, a truly wondrous flight of fantasy and imagination, returns to Blu-ray in a beautiful boxed special edition, similar to last May’s Princess Mononoke. Reviewer Charlie Largent turns his admiring eye to sing its praises, and reflect on the special edition’s contents, which include a lavishly illustrated forty-page book. “There. Your body matches your brain.” On Blu-ray from Shout! Factory.
11/09/19

The Man Between 11/09/19

Critics compare this sophisticated spy thriller to Carol Reed’s earlier Triumph set in Vienna with Joseph Cotten and Orson Welles — but it’s a different story altogether, not about black-market evil but the perils of moral compromise in a divided Berlin. James Mason and Claire Bloom are stunningly good together, in a moody suspense that’s completely serious — no comic relief or ‘fun’ jeopardy to distract from the fascinating, you-are-there setting, a Berlin trying to rebuild itself. With Hildegard Knef, and an extended, beautifully filmed nighttime chase that seals an unlikely romance. On Blu-ray from KL Studio Classics.
11/09/19

Eegah 11/09/19

Mean-spirited ‘Bad Movie’ satirists forget that production values aren’t everything, even if the collected works of Barry Mahon and Coleman Francis say otherwise. This threadbare backyard production has ‘endearing’ written all over it. The Last Time We Saw Arch Hall (we never saw him a first time), he may have been cooking up a sequel to his maladroit teenage caveman epic … if only he hadn’t killed off the main character. But this Turkey actually performed in release: Eegah would rate its niche in film history even if Richard Kiel hadn’t become a star in James Bond movies. Co-starring Arch Hall, Jr. and Marilyn Manning; Gary Teetzel contributes a gallery of vintage Trade Paper notices for the picture. On Blu-ray from The Film Detective.
11/09/19

Operation Crossbow 11/05/19

‘Mission impossible’ wartime sabotage fun takes on an authentic, dramatic episode of WW2 — the onslaught of futuristic V-Weapons on London — and then veers into fictional fantasy (think big explosions). George Peppard toughs it out to get free of his MGM contract. Lili Palmer and Barbara Rütting do the heavy lifting, while Sophia Loren is in as a glamorous sidebar. Weirdly, the movie all but lionizes the Germans that develop, test and fire the V-Weapon rockets at England … exaggerating their scientific progress and giving them a strange kind of ‘Right Stuff.’ The fast moving film features a galaxy of name actors as righteous heroes and tech-savvy villains: Trevor Howard, John Mills, Richard Johnson, Tom Courtenay, Jeremy Kemp, Anthony Quayle, Paul Henreid, Helmut Dantine, Richard Todd, Patrick Wymark, Ferdy Mayne and Anton Diffring. On Blu-ray from The Warner Archive Collection.
11/05/19

Werewolf in a Girl’s Dormitory 11/05/19

Italian horror from the early 1960s covers a wide quality range, from eerie hauntings to tacky, lurid vampire romps. For one of his first major credits, ace giallo scribe Ernesto Gastaldi cooks up Lycanthropus, a murder mystery in which the savage slashing committed by a drooling maniac with a hairy face, wild eyes and saber-toothed fangs. You saw the poster out front, kid — do you think it might be … a werewolf?  Director Paolo Heusch’s thriller is no classic, but neither is it stupid — and the original Italian language option on this disc reveals good work by a spirited cast. Dreamy Polish starlet Barbara Lass is a much more assertive, independent female than what we expect from conventional Italo horror fare. We also get to discuss a musical milestone added to the film’s U.S. release, the rather clever pop novelty song The Ghoul in School. On Blu-ray from Severin Films.
11/05/19

Hammer Volume Four Faces of Fear 11/02/19

PI’s fourth collection of Hammer attractions shows no sign of compromise — three out of four titles here are superb tales of fright and science fiction. Thanks to the company policy of leaving no gravestone unturned, the exclusive special extras never stop. We have alternate title sequences for two films, a gallery of censor alterations for another, and an entire second release version for yet another. Plus, Powerhouse re-premieres a new remastered copy of a prime Hammer classic, one that until now hasn’t been looking so well. Get set for The Revenge of Frankenstein, The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll, Taste (Scream) of Fear, and The Damned (These Are the Damned). On Blu-ray from Powerhouse Indicator.
11/02/19

Seven Days to Noon 11/02/19

Is this ground zero for Atom-fear science fiction?  The Boulting Brothers assemble the very first movie about a nuclear terror plot, without cutting corners or wimping out. The incredibly dry, civilized André Morell must track down a rogue scientist who threatens to nuke London; the entire city must be evacuated. Barry Jones is the meek boffin with a bomb in his satchel. This impressively produced thriller won an Oscar for Best Story; it’s practically a template for the ‘docu-real’ approach of the first Quatermass films. It’s also the link between ordinary postwar thriller intrigues and the high-powered, science fiction- canted terrors to come. On Blu-ray from KL Studio Classics.
11/02/19

The World The Flesh and The Devil 11/02/19

The world could come to an end in a lot of ways, but 1950s sci-fi was fond of making it end like a One-Act play. Harry Belafonte’s personal project soon drops the spectre of annihilation to cozy up to a statement about race relations. Despite the fact that his co-star Inger Stevens likely had the courage to take the material way, way farther, the last man and woman on Earth don’t even share a kiss. Can’t offend those distributors in Alabama, by golly. The film’s amazingly realistic vision of NYC abandoned after an atomic gas attack is stunning in HD — the show hasn’t lost its appeal, even if it deserts its second theme in favor of a rifle-toting showdown between Belafonte and Mel Ferrer’s villainous third-wheel survivor. On Blu-ray from The Warner Archive Collection.
11/02/19