Dance, Fools, Dance 11/28/23

The Warner Archive Collection
Blu-ray

In this racy MGM pre-Code, the stock market crash dumps society playgirl Joan Crawford into the working class. She toils at a newspaper but her brother consorts with bootleggers — and both of them are targeted by gangster Clark Gable. Sparks fly in Crawford & Gable’s first screen teaming, which has a bit of everything — a gangland rubout or two, glamorous Depression details, and Woo-Hoo naughtiness. Favorite Cliff Edwards co-stars. The restoration is excellent and the disc comes with a good TV show about MGM’s history. On Blu-ray from The Warner Archive Collection.
11/28/23

Hustle (1975) 11/28/23

KL Studio Classics
Blu-ray

Robert Aldrich’s second hardboiled detective tale is filtered through Steve Shagan’s style of whining nostalgia. Cop Burt Reynolds wants to fix his problematic relationship with call girl Catherine Deneuve, but he’s caught up in an ugly case involving sex trafficking, corruption and a dead teen runaway. Eddie Albert and Ben Johnson provide different kinds of threats. It’s by turns glamorous, moody and violent — but it didn’t steer Reynolds’ career away from Good Ole Boy action pix. On Blu-ray from KL Studio Classics.
11/28/23

Days of Heaven 4K 11/25/23

The Criterion Collection
4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray

Terrence Malick and Néstor Almendros rewrote the rule books for imagery and narrative on this story of quiet desperation in the agrarian America of a bygone age. We discovered Richard Gere, Brooke Adams and Sam Shepard; Linda Manz joined the ranks of cult names. The new 4K remaster is dazzling. On 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray from The Criterion Collection.
11/25/23

The Criminal Acts of Tod Slaughter 11/20/23

Powerhouse Indicator
Region Free Blu-ray

‘Eight Blood-and-Thunder Entertainments, 1935-1940.’  Charlie Largent dips his wicked fingers into the FIENDISH adventures of England’s most dapper, most DASTARDLY villain, heretofore just a footnote in American texts on film horror. Actually born with that last name, Slaughter wow’ed ’em on the stage before taking his murderous skills before the cameras. The boxed set contains eight killer-thrillers: Maria Marten of the Murder in the Red Barn, The Crimes of Stephen Hawke, It’s Never Too Late to Mend, The Ticket of the Leave Man, Sexton Blake and the Hooded Terror, The Face at the Window, Crimes at the Dark House, and yes, the original Sweeney Tood, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street. As Sweeney says, “Come to my tonsorial parlor, and I’ll polish you off!” On Region Free Blu-ray from Powerhouse Indicator.
11/21/23

Le combat dans L’île 11/18/23

Radiance
Blu-ray

‘The Fight on the Island’  Nine years before Bertolucci’s The Conformist, Jean-Louis Trintignant played another right-wing zealot dispatched on a murder mission. Filmed in Paris and Normandy, Alain Cavalier’s gem of a thriller daringly identifies the pro-Colonial OAS as nothing less than fascists — when the OAS was still active. The basis of the story is a different kind of love triangle, a credible portrait of a woman married to an upscale assassin. Romy Schneider takes an early ‘adult’ role, alongside Henri Serre of Jules and Jim. On Blu-ray from Radiance.
11/18/23

Barbarella 4K 11/18/23

Arrow Video USA
4K Ultra HD

It says so in the song: when Barbarella and I get together the planets all stand still!  Arrow and Paramount bring Roger Vadim’s intergalactic bande-dessinée to 4K, for the enjoyment of Home Theaters equipped for the high-resolution format. Jane Fonda’s fille de l’espace spreads Free Love to the ends of the Galaxy, while thwarting Milo O’Shea’s attempt to conquer the perverse planet ruled by Anita Pallenberg’s leather freak. John Phillip Law is excellent as the blind angel Pygar, and a few more guest stars drift in and out in glorified bits. Arrow’s sumptuous extras focus a Positronic microscope on Vadim’s disrespected yet pretty-darn-influential slice of sexed-up space opera. On Blu-ray from 4K Ultra HD.
11/18/23

Terms of Endearment 4K 11/14/23

Paramount Presents
4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital

Everybody likes this picture. James L. Brooks’ major hit movie, adapted from the novel by Larry McMurtry, charts the rocky relationship of a Texan mother and daughter. Audiences loved the clashing personalities and quirky interaction between stars Shirley MacLaine, Debra Winger and especially Jack Nicholson as the discipline-problem ex- astronaut next door. Name an award, this show won it; the combination of warm comedy and serious drama took top honors everywhere. The movie’s positive aura persists — it and its writer-director were just covered in the L.A. Times Calendar. On 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital from Paramount Presents.
11/14/23

The Great Train Robbery 11/14/23

KL Studio Classics
Blu-ray

Adventuresome crime generates high thrills in Michael Crichton’s entertaining heist picture, adapted from his own novel set in 1855. Charming crook Sean Connery, light-fingered ‘screwsman’ Donald Sutherland and saucy Lesley-Anne Down pull off a slick caper in the age of gaslight and Victorian elegance. The lavish production puts Connery through some incredible real-life stunts atop a moving train; the elegant music score is by Jerry Goldsmith. We always loved this one and welcome the opportunity to review the reissue Blu-ray from KL Studio Classics.
11/14/23

It! The Terror from Beyond Space 11/11/23

KL Studio Classics
Blu-ray

Have you heard The Word, NASA?  The other name for Mars is Death. The nifty screenplay by Sci-fi scribe Jerome Bixby lends the horror chills a basic logic, when Marshall Thompson & Shawn Smith battle a Martian stowaway on board a homebound spaceship. This Kino disc of the monsterrific ’50s favorite improves the transfer and loads on the extras. Three new commentaries feature Craig Beam, Gary Gerani and Tom Weaver. On Blu-ray from KL Studio Classics.
11/11/23

The Scarlet Letter (1934) 11/11/23

Film Masters
Blu-ray

Hollywood’s first talkie version of the Nathaniel Hawthorne classic was also the final film of silent superstar Colleen Moore. The dramatization of the Puritan ABCs (what do the B & C stand for?) is also a post-Code downer that puts the shame on Mame Hester Prynne even as it exposes the hypocrisy of colonial intolerance. The disc extras by commentator Jason A. Ney explain how a Poverty Row movie managed such high production values, and why it was reissued in 1965 — as an exploitation shocker. On Blu-ray from Film Masters.
11/11/23

The Horrible Dr. Hichcock 11/07/23

Radiance
Region B Blu-ray

An MIA ‘film prodigal’ has been returned to the fold, thanks to this well-curated restoration and remaster. We can finally enjoy Riccado Freda’s Gothic masterpiece as it should be seen, in glowing color and with a choice of language tracks. The tagline “His candle of lust burnt brightest in the shadow of the grave!” only hints at the taboo of necrophilia, but the movie doesn’t play coy: mad surgeon Robert Flemyng loves Barbara Steele not for herself, but as a body on which he can project memories of transgressive sex games with his previous wife. Bring the kids!  It’s told with powerful expressionist images — and playful hommages to Alfred Hitchcock. On Region B Blu-ray from Radiance.
11/07/23

Stalag 17 4K 11/07/23

KL Studio Classics
4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray

William Holden earned his Best Actor Oscar as J.J. Sefton, a POW who runs the rackets in the prisoners’ barracks, and whose cynical opportunism attracts the hatred of his fellow prisoners. Suspected as a traitor collaborating with the Germans, Sefton doesn’t hide his contempt for his comrades. Adapting this Broadway hit was a career-saver for Billy Wilder, who goes all out with the burlesque antics AND the grim reality of captivity. Comedy highlights include Otto Preminger’s turn as the Camp Commandant and the lowbrow clowning of Harvey Lembeck and Robert Strauss. It joins Paramount’s proud roster of top titles, newly remastered in 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray from KL Studio Classics.
11/07/23

T.R. Baskin 11/04/23

Fun City Editions
Blu-ray

This overlooked and orphaned drama presents Candice Bergen as an alienated newcomer to Chicago. James Caan contributes a carefully modulated performance, and Peter Boyle feels real in a part that we’d expect to be pitched for comedy. Writer Peter Hyams presents a dark tale of Woe in the City, director Herbert Ross emphasizes the gloom and isolation, and it’s not recommended for the lonely or depressed. Critics found it thin and unbelievable, and had little good to say about Bergen’s performance, either. The disc’s best feature is an in-close talk with writer-producer Hyams, about his entry into feature filmmaking. On Blu-ray from Fun City Editions.
10/04/23

World of Giants the Complete Series 11/04/23

ClassicFlix
Blu-ray

Sci-fi completists and diehard fans of ‘fifties TV fun will want to know about this remastered disc containing all 13 episodes of the short-lived 1959 TV series, starring Marshall Thompson as America’s ‘tom thumb in a suitcase’ superspy, and Arthur Franz as his full-sized secret agent partner. Vintage special effects see them battle oversized animals and giant telephones, to keep us safe from enemy agents. The guest actors are a fun bunch and the directors include Byron Haskin, Nathan Juran, Jack Arnold and Eugène Lourié. On Blu-ray from ClassicFlix.
10/04/23