Glenn Erickson's Reviews: Month: August 2020

Black Test Car + The Black Report 08/29/20

For vintage Japanese classics, Arrow is the place to be this summer. Yasuzô Masumura’s complicated tale of industrial espionage is an attack on the free enterprise system — even good people will do terrible things to get ahead, to prevail over the competition. It’s Tiger Car Company against the Yamato Car Company, winner take all. Plus, the extra feature The Black Report is not filler, but a terrific murder prosecution story, with Masumura’s patented dose of acid cynicism and murky misanthropy. Starring Jirô Tamiya, Junko Kanô, Ken Utsui, Shigeru Kôyama, and Eitarô Ozawa. On Blu-ray from Arrow Video.
08/29/20

Night Visitor 08/29/20

Hookers! Devil worshippers! A naughty teenage voyeur! A deadly knife, a lethal sedan and a chainsaw-wielding psychopath! Nasal Spray! CineSavant breaks with the disc-reviewing norm and abandons journalistic integrity. Well, not really, but it is a heck of a lot of fun to finally review a film I edited 32 years ago, on a happy moviemaking money-losing vacation from Cannon Films’ advertising department. Starring Allen Garfield, Elliott Gould, Derek Rydall, Michael J. Pollard, Shannon Tweed, Richard Roundtree, Teresa Van der Woude, and Teri Weigel. On Blu-ray from Scorpion Releasing.
08/29/20

Red Ball Express 08/25/20

Trucks for victory! No deadheads on this run! Diesel! Bald Tires for Adolf! Budd Boetticher’s two-fisted teamsters haul General Patton’s supplies through a France not completely cleared of German resistance, a gearshift in one hand and a buxom mam’selle in the other… well, the movie is not bad, especially in the casting department — it least includes some black troopers to portray a mixed outfit that was more than half black. Red Ball Roughneck roll call: Jeff Chandler, Sidney Poitier, Alex Nicol, Hugh O’Brian, Charles Drake, Bubber Johnson, Davis Roberts. At Ease. On Blu-ray from KL Studio Classics.
08/25/20

Toni 08/25/20

Fans of Jean Renoir will rush to see something ‘new’ from the great director; this very different Renoir picture sees him filming in the South of France, among regional laborers that bring their Italian and Spanish customs with them. It’s a tragedy about a crime of passion, all shot outside of a film studio, without big stars or glamorous trappings. This is the show with the ‘wasp on her back’ scene. On Blu-ray from The Criterion Collection.
08/25/20

Hiroshima (1953) 08/22/20

Japanese cinema’s earliest attempt to depict the full impact of the 1945 atom-bomb attack is one of the best anti-Nuke movies ever… yet it somehow stayed under the radar of American awareness for decades. The bombing is seen from only eight years’ distance, when the nation was seemingly resisting coming to terms with the social and political implications; Hideo Sekigawa’s account includes some subtle commentary on the indifferent political response to the plight of the victims… even in1953. Arrow’s extras include a Jasper Sharp video essay that fills in a lot of blank cinema history between Enola Gay and Godzilla. The impressive music score will seem familiar; it’s by Akira Ifukube. On Blu-ray from Arrow Academy.
08/22/20

Town Bloody Hall 08/22/20

An excellent choice for an election year where women’s rights are at stake: Charlie Largent eagerly reviews this epochal vérité classic by D.A. Pennebaker, capturing a feisty, hilarious, consequential town hall-style debate between feminists Jacqueline Ceballos, Germaine Greer, Jill Johnston, and Diana Trilling, and the unreconstructed, grandstanding self-styled intellectual Norman Mailer. In the photos, everybody is laughing, even though Criterion bills Mailer as ‘the pugnacious rabble-rouser and literary lion at the center of it all.’ With extras featuring more commentary by the principals and Mailer’s own appearance on Dick Cavett’s TV show. On Blu-ray from The Criterion Collection.
08/22/20

The Sign of the Cross 08/18/20

The message of this ode to early Christian martyrs is overpowered by Cecil B. DeMille’s indulgence of his sanctimonious/perverse instincts: although seldom lumped in with other pre-Code sex & sadism offenders, there’s more salacious and violent content here than in a dozen ordinary ‘discouraged’ pre-Code pictures. Fredric March and Elissa Landi provide the pro-Christian idealism, but Charles Laughton and especially Claudette Colbert steal the show with marvelously wicked portraits of Emperor Nero and Empress Poppea. The smirks and come-hither looks are backed up with hot scenes that filled seats in Depression-era theaters. On Blu-ray from KL Studio Classics.
08/18/20

Hollywoodland 08/18/20

Is this a thrilling, Chinatown- like Hollywood mystery, or a semi-docu about the making of the first TV Superman show?  Or is it going to shed light on the mysterious death of actor George Reeves, the childhood hero we couldn’t believe had died by his own hand?   Allen Coulter’s well-crafted show has a lot to say and says it well with an excellent cast… yet it needed something it doesn’t deliver. If you don’t require your movieland mysteries tied up in a neat bow, this could fit the bill. Ben Affleck is excellent as a forlorn George Reeves, with fine performances by Diane Lane, Adrien Brody, Bob Hoskins, Lois Smith, Robin Tunney and Joe Spano. On Blu-ray from KL Studio Classics.
08/18/20

The Sin of Nora Moran 08/15/20

Hoo-haw, as they say… but the hot reputation of this pre-Code slice of censor bait begins and ends with its astonishing original poster. The movie itself isn’t daring in sex, smut or violence, but is instead a highly cinematic art-piece about a woman taking on the sins of men and society. Director Phil Goldstone fashions a narrative labyrinth of flashbacks, flash-forwards and scenes set in a psychological limbo. The woman under pressure is the sensual Zita Johann; she’s falling in a fatalistic tailspin as bleak as any future loser-Noir heroine. UCLA’s 4k restoration comes from the original camera negative. On Blu-ray from The Film Detective.
08/15/20

Audie Murphy Collection 08/15/20

Charlie Largent finds America’s most decorated combat veteran-turned PTSD movie star to be a fascinating study. This three-disc collection offers three of his Universal-International shows from the 1950s, The Duel at Silver Creek, Ride a Crooked Trail and No Name on the Bullet.Audie’s support in the sagebrush can’t be faulted: R.G. Armstrong, Susan Cabot, Faith Domergue, Joan Evans, Leo Gordon, Virginia Grey, Walter Matthau, Stephen McNally, Joanna Moore, Gia Scala, Henry Silva and Warren Stevens. For the record, Audie plays 1) The Silver Kid, 2) Joe Maybe and 3) John Gant. On Blu-ray from KL Studio Classics.
08/15/20

The City Without Jews 08/11/20

A major silent film find: recently rediscovered and restored, this much-sought Austrian satire offers historical insight on antisemitism in 1920s Europe, and by extension today’s anti-immigrant politics. A fictitious city decides that the solution to its ills is to expel its Jewish population. That exact premise would in just a few years become political reality in the hands of fascist murderers. On Blu-ray from Flicker Alley.
08/11/20

Pat and Mike 08/11/20

Still one of Tracy and Hepburn’s best, this follow-up comedy to Adam’s Rib works on all levels. It rings the feminist rights gong just hard enough, drumming the notion that everyone deserves a chance to achieve their potential without sex discrimination getting in the way. Katharine Hepburn is at her most attractive when being athletic. Some fine star-making supporting action adds to the fun. With Aldo Ray, William Ching, Sammy White, Babe Didrikson Zaharias, Charles Bronson, Jim Backus and Chuck Connors. On Blu-ray from The Warner Archive Collection.
08/11/20

Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves 08/08/20

As long as Kino continues turning out these Technicolor beauties in such good quality, let’s enjoy Charlie Largent’s take on Universal’s glowing, heavy breathing Maria Montez feature. The Arabian Nights tale gives the leading lady’s main squeeze Jon Hall some heavy competition: handsome Turhan Bey was a wartime heartthrob for millions. Ms. Montez, she of the mangled English pronunciation, comes with a variety of brightly colored diaphanous veils (not Covid-approved). Also: flashy special effects, fierce battles where nobody gets hurt PLUS Andy Devine as the most convincing Middle Eastern yokel imaginable — what could be better?   With an audio commentary by Phillipa Berry. On Blu-ray from KL Studio Classics.
08/08/20

The Complete Films of Agnès Varda 08/08/20

An artist’s life is always more than their ‘published’ works, but this massive ‘Agnés in a box’ collection comes close to being the last word on the legendary filmmaker sometimes dubbed The Mother of the French New Wave. It certainly is comprehensive with her film work. So far they’ve all been pleasant discoveries. This review describes the collection and separately reviews two previously unfamiliar titles, the quirky sci-fi fantasy Les créatures and the worthy pro-feminist musical drama One Sings, the Other Doesn’t. 39 feature films, hours of extras, on fifteen discs with a 200-page book. It is a monumental release: Easy financing, low terms. On Blu-ray from The Criterion Collection.
08/08/20

Wake Island 08/04/20

Never heard of Wake Island?  Its fall terrified Americans at Christmas of 1941. The war’s just begun, we’re definitely not winning, and the assignment was to make a movie about a tragic defeat that might be the first of many tragic defeats for the U.S.A.. Paramount’s careful morale-builder doesn’t exaggerate or sentimentalize the brutal fall of a tiny atoll in the Pacific, and stands as an example of filmmaking reaching for hope in the face of disaster. John Farrow directs a fine group of actors who knew the film ‘had to say the right things’: Brian Donlevy, Robert Preston, Macdonald Carey, William Bendix, Albert Dekker, Walter Abel, Mikhail Rasumny, Richard Loo, Philip Van Zandt. On Blu-ray from KL Studio Classics.
08/04/20

L’innocente 08/04/20

Luchino Visconti’s handsome final feature adapts a classic Italian novel about an arrogant aristocrat whose selfish double-standard philosophy causes ruin and misery. The 19th century villas and ornate costumes dazzle, but the depressingly fated story will be tough going for sensitive audiences. This new disc encoding highlights the intoxicating atmosphere, a beautiful recreation of Italian high life around 1900, and the intense performances of Giancarlo Giannini, Laura Antonelli and Jennifer O’Neill. On Blu-rayfrom Film Movement Classics.
08/04/20

Tony Curtis Collection 08/01/20

Good Old Tony Curtis!  We could always depend on Tony for a sly, ingratiating smile, charm that ranged from candid-sweet to barracuda insincerity, and a desire to please that never quit. Some of his best work came while schmoozing and nice-nice clawing his way to the top, where he epitomized the glamorous movie star with universal appeal. Kino gathers three of Curtis’s better mid-career starring vehicles, directed by three top talents — Blake Edwards (The Perfect Furlough), Robert Mulligan (The Great Impostor) and Norman Jewison (40 Pounds of Trouble). On Blu-ray from KL Studio Classics.
08/01/20

Slave of the Cannibal God 08/01/20

…or Mountain of the Cannibal God or maybe Prisoner of the Cannibal God. Too many timeless classics are unavailable in decent condition, whereas this cannibal exploitation shocker looks incredibly good on Blu-ray. Sergio Martino graces the grimy, sadistic cannibal subgenre with pricey Sri Lanka locations and big stars. The wild-card maverick Stacy Keach is on hand, along with the very brave Ursula Andress, who is stripped naked and transformed into a living Orange Julius treat: let’s just see Bo Derek try to top that!  Is it any good?  The jury’s still out. Will you wonder how it ever got made?  I think the answer is yes. The intrepid Charlie Largent made sure his cannibal insurance was paid up before reviewing this gruesome epic — which contains two versions of the film plus a Stacy Keach interview… or maybe confession?  On Blu-ray from Code Red.
08/01/20