Glenn Erickson's Reviews: Month: June 2023

The Old Man and the Sea 06/27/23

Warners’ prestigious adaptation of Ernest Hemingway’s Pulitzer-winning novella gives Spencer Tracy an actor’s showcase. His Cuban fisherman Santiago engages in an existential ordeal, a one-man battle with a giant marlin. Credited director John Sturges made sense out of a confused production, retaining much footage shot by uncredited Fred Zinnemann. The result is a little messy, but Tracy’s impassioned narration, James Wong Howe’s cinematography and Dimitri Tiomkin’s music make a strong appeal. The new video remaster restores the film’s original luster — and its patchwork of location photography, studio work and optical effects. On Blu-ray from The Warner Archive Collection.
06/27/23

The Package 06/27/23

Orion’s smart, sharp action thriller compresses ‘Manchurian Candidate’ and ‘Day of the Jackal’ into a 24-hour race to prevent a political assassination. Director Andrew Davis gets a chance to lead big stars through a convincing paranoid nightmare: Gene Hackman is still action-ready at 59, while Tommy Lee Jones impresses as a formidable bruiser; Joanna Cassidy shows off her ability to sprint in high heels. Dennis Franz, John Heard and Pam Grier look great and seem to be having a terrific time. The stress is on good characterizations, tight scripting and credible action. On Blu-ray from KL Studio Classics.
06/27/23

From Hollywood to Heaven: The Lost and Saved Films of the Ormond Family 06/24/23

Meet The Reverend Estus Pirkle!  Reviewer Charlie Largent brings us the lowdown on one of the strangest disc collections ever — the Ormond clan turned from homemade exploitation filmmaking to homemade moral-religious films, cornering the market on weird extremism. The four discs contain scores of features — output that includes crazy fare like Please Don’t Touch Me, The Exotic Ones, The Burning Hell, It’s About The Second Coming and If Footmen Tire You What Will Horses Do?  Author Jimmy McDonough has major input; the extra biographical films and text are the real treasure here. Presented by Nicolas Winding Refn, on Region Free Blu-ray from Powerhouse Indicator.
06/24/23

Thelma & Louise 4K 06/24/23

Defiant feminism proved a box office draw with this stylish, star-studded outlaw road trip from Ridley Scott; a big convertible has never looked better on the beautiful highways of the West. Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon are escapees from male oppression that find themselves a latter-day Bonnie & ‘Claudine.’ The resolution of their dilemma will spur discussion and perhaps a little dissent, which what made it an important picture for its year. With new extras but also director Scott’s earlier explanation of the original ending. On 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray from The Criterion Collection.
06/24/23

Robot Monster 3-D 06/20/23

“All Hu-mans there is no escape!” Ro-man is now on the loose in Blu-ray 3-D, anaglyphic 3-D and plain old 2-D if so desired. A years-long effort culminates in an extras-rich disc release of one of the most entertaining ‘bad movies’ ever, a tale of intergalactic warfare and sacrifical heroism … all played in Bronson Canyon by 6 quiet actors and a man in a gorilla costume, corrections, parts of a gorilla costume. The dialogue and acting must be seen to be believed, plus the weird faux-3-D special visual effects that Will Make You Believe you’ve fallen into an alternate reality of creaky stock footage. “You only think you CANNOT see this epic, but you MUST!” Where on the graph of film history does this crazy movie belong? On 3-D Blu-ray from Bayview Entertainment.
06/20/23

The Catman of Paris 06/20/23

Intrepid reviewer Charlie Largent digs into Republic Pictures’ incredible legacy of horror films — they barely made any. This one was popularized by makeup photos seen in Famous Monsters of Filmland. A shape-shifting murderer is on the prowl in Olde Paree, with Carl Esmond, Gerald Mohr and others straining to protect lovely Lenore Aubert and Adele Mara. The costumes are okay, but the show plays like a Republic western, no ice, with a monster chaser . . . actually, make that coach chases on the highways. Director Lesley Selander has credits on hundreds of western features. The new disc may be the very first home video opportunity for horror completists to get their paws on this one. On Region-Free Blu-ray from Viavision [Imprint].
06/20/23

The Great Gatsby ’49 06/17/23

A show seemingly missing forever now surfaces on a Blu-ray from Australia. The elusive Alan Ladd version of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s literary masterpiece is watered-down high art strained through a film noir filter. Ladd embodies the spirit and attitude of Jay Gatsby despite the adaptation’s ‘clarifying’ explanations and laughable moral lesson. Betty Field’s Daisy isn’t as compelling, but we have the compensation of noir regulars Macdonald Carey, Barry Sullivan, Howard Da Silva, Shelley Winters, Ed Begley, Elisha Cook, Jr. and Jack Lambert. It’s fairly well produced — a bit of the decadent ’20s shows through. Excellent extras provide input from experts Alan K. Rode and Jason A. Ney. On Blu-ray from Viavision [Imprint].
06/17/23

Safe in Hell 06/17/23

William Wellman’s weirdly morbid morbid thriller from the pre-Code years has been newly remastered, after the discovery of a quality print. The legendary Dorothy Mackaill’s luck goes from bad to worse as she finds herself trapped in a Caribbean hell-hole, to be victimized by lecherous outcasts and corrupt officials. The sordid story takes prostitution, perversion and squalid immorality as the normal state of affairs: be prepared for a wild ride that seems impossible subject matter for a film of 1931. On Blu-ray from The Warner Archive Collection.
06/17/23

Max Fleischer’s Superman 1941-1943 06/13/23

Up in the sky! With everything Superman now in the WB fold, a restoration is finally out for the 1940s Max Fleischer cartoon series, that was conspicuously absent from the upbringing of us ’50s kids. Charlie Largent says what’s great about the cartoons’ graphic dynamism — is this the film debut of the animated superhero? The cartoon The Mechanical Monstersdelivers fantastic giant robot mayhem action way before American live-action movies caught up. On Blu-ray from Warner Bros. Home Video.
06/13/23

Search for Beauty 06/13/23

We like to defend pre-Code movies at CineSavant, but this one is almost pure Smut — or at least what passed for smut in 1934. It concerns a sleazy Health magazine with a sleazy ‘perfect body’ contest promotion . . . and Paramount’s publicity people used a similar contest to promote the movie. Robert Armstrong and James Gleason handle the raunchy comedy while virtuous Olympian Buster Crabbe and imported London starlet Ida Lupino stand up for good morals. Get ready for a 78-minute flesh & jiggle display, from (gasp) 89 years in the past. On Blu-ray from KL Studio Classics.
06/13/23

Mexico Macabre: Four Sinister Tales from the Alameda Films Vault 1959-1963 06/10/23

Lethal Charlie Largent takes a sangriento plunge into the classic Alameda Mexi-horrors, which range from the bizarre to the truly creepy. Read If You Dare about the shocking Truth of The Black Pit of Dr. M, The Witch’s Mirror, The Curse of the Crying Woman and The Brainiac. PI’s well-researched extras give these chillers the respect they deserve . . . ¡Qué miedo! On Region Free Blu-ray from Powerhouse Indicator.
06/10/23

The Boy with Green Hair 06/10/23

Joseph Losey’s first feature is an anomaly — a million-dollar Technicolor semi-fantasy about tolerance, anti-conformism and pacifist activism, made just as Hollywood was commencing a purge of liberal writers and directors. Young Dean Stockwell is excellent as the serious, puzzled boy whose hair turns bright green overnight, making him socially suspect. The odd ‘Franz Kafka-lite’ tale takes place in a Sesame Street– like small town, where childhood fantasy and atom age fears intersect. With Robert Ryan, Pat O’Brien and Barbara Hale co-star. On Blu-ray from The Warner Archive Collection.
06/10/23

The Tale of Tsar Saltan 06/06/23

A stunning movie that conveys the pure spirit of a vintage fairy tale, Aleksandr Ptushko’s story of royal intrigue is charming to the Nth degree, with pure-hearted characters and as many ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh’ moments as a classic Disney picture. It’s suffused in wonderful magic, not the show-off kind, but the deep-spirit visual magic found in Cocteau’s Beauty and the Beast. The Russian sense of humor can be puzzling, but not their love of beauty and spiritual loyalty. The key extra is an hour-long video conversation with Russian fantasy authority Robert Skotak. On Blu-ray from Deaf Crocodile Films.
06/06/23

Joy House 06/06/23

Gangsters, murder, sex and intrigue on the French Riviera!  René Clément’s overheated thriller touches all the bases, dropping Alain Delon’s fugitive playboy into a chateau henhouse with the enticing Lola Albright and Jane Fonda. It’s a twisted tale directed in high style, with Delon caught in a very Tight Spot but thinking he can outsmart his two female companions. All it needed was a character we really care about. Gaumont’s fine remaster gives us the show in two language versions. On Blu-ray from KL Studio Classics.
06/06/23

Wings of Desire 4K 06/03/23

Ethereal creatures walk among us!  Wim Wenders’ contemplative utopia proposes other-dimensional Angels that comfort and watch over the insecure and fearful. Angel First Class Bruno Ganz envies living humans and falls in love with the aerial ballerina Solveig Dommartin. To experience life and love firsthand he opts to cast off his exalted status and become mortal. Gloomy Berlin is the locale for unseen miracles amid ordinary human drama; Wenders’ inspired direction and the expressionist camera of Henri Alekan create a world of magic in a city divided by an oppressive wall. With Otto Sander and Peter Falk, the modern masterpiece is even more mesmerizing in 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray from The Criterion Collection.
06/03/23

Camille 06/03/23

With a fine script, decent co-stars and sensitive direction, this fancy-dress production of the sad story of The Lady of the Camelias can boast Greta Garbo’s most accomplished romantic performance. The relative inexperience of young co-star Robert Taylor is actually a plus — it makes sense for Marguerite Gautier to be carried off in rapture by the impossibly handsome, gracious young man. Second acting honors go to Henry Daniell — his Baron de Varville really enjoys being a knave. The finale may be an improvement on the original — Garbo’s exit scene rates as one of the top tearjerkers in Hollywood history. A 1921 silent version is added as an extra, starring Alla Nazimova and Rudolph Valentino. On Blu-rayfrom The Warner Archive Collection.
06/03/23

The Big Bus 06/03/23

It hasn’t much of a reputation, but James Frawley’s kooky Disaster Movie spoof may fill the need for silly comedy — it has a crazy premise, a truly ridiculous ‘star’ in its enormous atom-powered bus, and a jolly all-star crew of comedic performers: Joseph Bologna, Stockard Channing, John Beck, Rene Auberjonois, Ned Beatty, José Ferrer, Ruth Gordon, Larry Hagman, Sally Kellerman, Richard Mulligan, Lynn Redgrave, Stuart Margolin and Howard Hesseman. It definitely has film history’s best cannibalism joke: “You eat just one lousy foot and they call you a cannibal. What a world!” On Blu-ray from KL Studio Classics.
06/03/23