Glenn Erickson's Reviews: Month: August 2026

All Through the Night 08/29/26

We’ve rediscovered a new favorite from the Warner corral, a bright action comedy that raised spirits when America needed it most, fewer than 60 days after Pearl Harbor. It’s an all-star comic delight, acted stylishly by Humphrey Bogart and directed smartly by Vincent Sherman. With the congressional Isolationists finally backing down, Hollywood hit the fascists with morale-building caustic comedy. Add terrific characterizations by Conrad Veidt, & Peter Lorre, plus standout contributions from Judith Anderson, Phil Silvers, Edward Brophy and Martin Kosleck and Jackie Gleason:  “The first one of those guys I tag, I’m gonna kick him right in the swastika!”  On Blu-ray from The Warner Archive Collection.
08/29/26

Madhouse 08/29/26

UK correspondent Lee Broughton returns with a review of Vincent Price’s final film for American-International Pictures. Behind-the-scenes tussles amongst its producers and a series of hasty re-writes found director Jim Clark delivering a film that employed the aesthetics of gothic horror alongside slasher film tropes in a sometimes slightly incongruent manner. The results may be a tad uneven, but fans of Price, Peter Cushing, Robert Quarry and Linda Hayden will still get a kick out of this idiosyncratic British horror film. On Region B Blu-ray from Eureka Enterttainment.
08/29/26

The Bubble   — 3-D restored uncut 08/29/26

The Bubble is back, new but somewhat the same: the 3-D Archive restores an original cut, extending the running time by 21 minutes. Arch Oboler’s 1966 feature introduced the impressive 3-D system called Space-Vision, which is still the main attraction. Michael Cole and Deborah Wally endure a Sci-fi ordeal that plays out in a crazy landscape of Hollywood rental lots. But when things start floating ‘out’ of the movie, we know that Oboler has come up with something. This long version is what showed exclusively at Hollywood’s Ivar theater in 1966. This reviewer can say “I was there!” but only to stare at the big ads in the LA Times, wondering what the hell kind of movie this could be. On Blu-ray from Kino Cult.
08/29/26

Threads   — 4K 08/25/26

Back in 1984, England was terrorized by this special TV event. The apocalypse begins with trouble in Iraq. Maybe the last thing we need to see now is something this unsettling … Severin’s atom-age restoration gives this 1980s Cold War event movie a polish we can hardly believe. Besides being yet another deluxe Severin presentation, it’s packed with historical extras and authoritative commentary. Gee, isn’t it great that sanity and good will have prevailed and the world no longer has these fears? On 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray from Severin Films.
08/25/26

Flight   — 4K 08/25/26

Here’s a picture from a decade ago that holds up well. It’s another accomplished performance from Denzel Washington, who showed nary a stumble in at least twenty good movies. His talented, intuitive pilot is Handed a crash emergency with no hope for survival, he averts total disaster through pure talent and intuition. But the reveal of grave personal failings tarnish his achievement and ignite a blame game between major players in the aviation sector. The film feels like a critique of ethics and accountability in America, or maybe an epitaph. Have you seen any aviation mishaps on the news, lately? On 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray from KL Studio Classics.
08/25/26

Macao 08/25/26

Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell light up the Portuguese colony, but on the studio backlot: mogul Howard Hughes hired the great Josef von Sternberg to direct, and then had three other directors reshoot half of the movie. It’s another promising RKO thriller compromised by crazy production practices. The stars still shine, and the WAC gives us terrific extras: an Eddie Muller – Stanley Rubin commentary, and a vintage interview in which Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell tell the whole gruesome story of working for the Hughes Corporation. On Blu-ray from The Warner Archive Collection.
08/25/26

DEFA Fairy Tales 08/22/26

Reviewer Charlie Largent never saw a folk tale he didn’t like, and so gravitated toward this fancy curated box of exotic “Märchenfilme” fairy tales from the Red side of the Berlin Wall. The ad blurb describes them as “part Sid & Marty Krofft Saturday morning kiddie psychedelia, part sturdy Socialist moralizing.” Do the Seven Dwarves preach the benefits of collectivist mining?  Behold Snow White, Little Red Riding Hood, Mother Hulda, The Devil’s Three Golden Hairs, Snow White & Rose Red and a version of Little Red Riding Hood labeled as being “basically an American Werewolf in East Germany.” Charlie will sort it out for us. On Blu-ray from Deaf Crocodile.
08/22/26

The Cardboard Lover 08/22/26

Good luck comes to CineSavant: Silent movie film historian Denise Morrison will be writing special disc reviews for us. She’s long been associated with The Kansas Silent Film Festival and knows her subject well. CineSavant needs more reviews for its silent film aficionados, so we hope we will be seeing many more… Her first contribution is a comedy from Marion Davies — she after Nils Asther’s autograph, on the French Riviera. On Blu-ray from Undercrank Productions/Library of Congress.
08/22/26

The Elephant Man   — 4K UHD 08/22/26

Are you ready to see what 4K resolution and contrast do to high-quality B&W cinematography?  David Lynch’s most humane and sympathetic film still makes our heads spin. Lynch extends and develops the visual nightmares of his experimental Eraserhead for this horror classic, a modern Freaks based on an actual historical personage. Stars Anthony Hopkins, John Hurt, Anne Bancroft, John Gielgud, Wendy Hiller and Freddie Jones all give indelible, emotionally moving performances. It comes off as an extension of the original Tod Browning Freaks, a a plea for understanding. How many horror pictures hold up hope for social decency and personal dignity? On 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray from The Criterion Collection.
08/22/26

Mars Attacks!   — 4K UHD 08/18/26

One of Tim Burton’s smartest and most creative pictures abandons his morbid-lite tropes to find big fun in Sci-fi spectacle. A ‘Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad’ enlargement of a bubble gum card set, it pulls in most every big star Burton could ask for. It may have not been the movie-going flavor of the year in 1996, yet we’ll take its affectionate satire over funereal gloom any time. Jack Nicholson wasn’t the perfect fit, but his presence did help attract the perfect ensemble cast of stars: Annette Bening, Pierce Brosnan, Pam Grier, Glenn Close, Martin Short, Jim Brown, Sarah Jessica Parker, Michael J. Fox, Rod Steiger, Tom Jones, Lukas Haas, Natalie Portman, Lisa Marie, Sylvia Sidney, Danny DeVito, Paul Winfield, Jack Black, Joe Don Baker. Plus Danny Elfman’s marvelous soundtrack score. On 4K Ultra HD + Digital code from Warner Bros..
08/18/26

Body Snatchers   — 4K UHD 08/18/26

Jack Finney’s book The Body Snatchers has a rare record on film — almost all the cinematic adaptations are very good. For his foray into studio politics, filmmaker Abel Ferrara chose this highly commercial item, and came up with an interesting variation on the main theme, with a low-key cast and effect, organic-looking makeup effects. The main story idea is to begin the biological invasion in a locale that’s already regimented and conformist — a military base. Arrow swank Limited Edition has good new input from Abel Ferrara. On 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome.
08/18/26

Random Harvest 08/18/26

James Hilton’s mystery romance takes audiences by surprise: IT’S GOOD. It might begin as a stack of cliché elements, but the development is engaging and the trick plot delivers an emotional kick, even on a third viewing. Greer Garson and Ronald Colman make a wholly entrancing screen couple, fighting a problem that will get anybody’s attention. It’s a semi-fantastic concoction with a strong reputation, that will be a significant discovery. On Blu-ray from The Warner Archive Collection.
08/18/26

World Noir Volume 5 08/15/26

So you think life is tough where you are? … these three Italian crime tales teach a lesson beyond noir, that hope and hunger drive men to crime. Or does criminality just becomes part of life on its own?  Alberto Lattuada, Flavio Calzavara and Pietro Germi offer thrillers al’italiana … expect unsavory surroundings and immoral behavior, with occasional surges of sentimentality, paisan: The Bandit, Against the Law, and Four Ways Out The crooks and sinners include Anna Magnani, Gina Lollobrigida and Marcello Mastroianni; Radiance’s expert interviews might as well be lectures in postwar Italian history. On Region B Blu-ray from Radiance Films.
08/15/26

Captain Horatio Hornblower 08/15/26

Raoul Walsh’s four-masted seagoing epic is an ambitious Technicolor production, a Hollywood film made in Europe. Gregory Peck and Virginia Mayo bring C.S. Forester’s heroic characters to life, with able support from favorites like James Robertson Justice, Stanley Baker and Christopher Lee. The un-credited Ken Adam constructed full-sized sailing craft in the South of France. On Blu-ray from The Warner Archive Collection.
08/15/26

The Sheep Detectives 08/11/26

Different is Good in this pleasant, sometimes silly rural fantasy in which talking animals solve a crime. No, no, no … it makes sense on its own level. Hugh Jackman is good to sheep, and there is no lack of suspects among his neighbors. But the fun is in the woolly personalities and how they relate to their world. It’s sentimental without being stupid, most of the time. And nobody’s saying sheep are dumb … they’re no dumber than people are, a point the proceedings make very clear. It’s beautifully produced … we soon forget that we’re watching a tall stack of visual effects. On Blu-ray from Amazon MGM Studios / Alliance Home Entertainment.
08/11/26

Carrie   — 1976 08/11/26

We don’t miss every good opportunity at CineSavant — when reviewer Terry Morgan expressed interest in this picture it was a blessing. Carrie White’s story has seen several do-overs — this is the Brian De Palma original with Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie, Nancy Allen, Amy Irving, John Travolta, P.J. Soles and William Katt. It’s not a new disc, just an important horror film we think ought to be covered here.  We’ll let the pig’s blood fall on Terr – —  We’ll let Terry tell us what was what in horror in the Bicentennial Year of 1976. On Blu-ray (from 2016) from Scream Factory.
08/11/26

Crime Wave 08/11/26

André de Toth’s sordid crime tale is tops in all departments. Tough cop Sterling Hayden suspects parolee Gene Nelson of being in cahoots with the murderous bank robbers Ted de Corsia, Charles Bronson and Ned Young; Gene’s wife Nelson finds herself menaced both by Bronson and the ultimate psycho Timothy Carey. The direction emphasizes tense realism in the streets of Glendale, Burbank and Chinatown. The topper is an edgy audio commentary by Eddie Muller, trying to rein in the loose cannon author James Ellroy. On Blu-ray from The Warner Archive Collection.
08/11/26

Money From Home   — 3-D 08/08/26

Blu-ray 3-D should never die — and they need to bring the players and monitors back!  The latest and most polished vintage 3-D presentation yet is The 3-D Archive’s painstaking remaster job on Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis’s first movie in color and their only 3-D effort, a comedy with Damon Runyon gangsters, set mainly at a horse track. The movie was shot in old-fashioned 3-Strip Technicolor … which for two eyes, means that the Archive had to scan and composite 6 different negatives. The result is exceptionally good … rich ‘orgnanic’ 3-D in eye-popping color. On 3-D Blu-ray from KL Studio Classics.
08/08/26

The Deadly Companions 08/08/26

To put Sam Peckinpah’s directing in better perspective, completists ought to catch up with this independently produced oater, his first credited feature. Peckinpah was prevented from touching the screenplay, yet it has qualities we associate with his work. The shoot suffered from a fundamental clash of personalities, and the ‘auteur’ of the uneven result may be its star, Maureen O’Hara. There may be ideal copies floating around. If so, we haven’t seen ’em. Leomark’s threadbare PD release is watchable, but there are likely better from Region B. On Blu-ray from Leomark / Shoreline.
08/08/26

Last Summer 08/04/26

Like so many collectors, special CineSavant reviewer ‘B’ has been waiting forever for a decent disc of Frank and Eleanor Perry’s hard-to-forget 1969 film about three restless, careless teenagers idly summering on Fire Island. Beautifully restored on Blu-ray by The Warner Archive, it is back in circulation as few of us have seen it, in an uncensored version that Allied Artists trimmed for release, to receive an ‘R’ rating. The intense drama launched the screen careers of stars Barbara Hershey, Richard Thomas and Bruce Davison, yet the film’s most haunting performance is that of Catherine Burns, who was Oscar-nominated in the Supporting category. Ms. Burns’ melancholy, sensitive ‘outsider’ teen is crushingly heartbreaking, a flawless performance. On Blu-ray from The Warner Archive Collection.
08/04/26

King Creole   — 4K UHD 08/04/26

Elvis was actually in pursuit of an acting career, before he submerged himself in a long string of cookie-cutter ‘safe’ musical romances. Michael Curtiz gives this New Orleans-set thriller a strong style, with Carolyn Jones and Dolores Hart intoxicating as the hip-chicks on his tail. Will handsome singer Danny Fisher succumb to a life of crime?  Say it ain’t so, Colonel Tom!   CineSavant reviewer Charlie Largent strikes back with strong coverage of what some think is Elvis’s best movie. 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray from KL Studio Classics.
08/04/26

A Midsummer Night’s Dream 08/01/26

Wonder of wonders — restored to HD, Warners’ ode to high art generates big magic through Shakepeare’s giddy romantic comedy. Newcomer Olivia de Havilland romps with Dick Powell, Ross Alexander and Jean Muir, while James Cagney, Joe E. Brown, Frank McHugh and Co. clown it up like happy idiots. Backed by the music of Mendelssohn, arranged by Erich Wolfgang Korngold, the midnight fairy-world is nothing short of astounding, with enchanting ballet-fairies and special visual effects of unusual clarity. The fairies fly so well, we think we’re living a storybook. On Blu-ray from The Warner Archive Collection.
08/01/26

Five Easy Pieces   — 4K UHD 08/01/26

Jack Nicholson’s second breakthrough film and the first to show his dramatic range is Bob Rafelson and Carole Eastman’s portrait of an unsettled drifter. Bobby Dupea is described by Criterion as an alienated & irresponsible cad — but one caught between a heritage in the arts and a trailer park working man’s life. It’s a solid drama, with the welcome presence of Karen Black, Lois Smith, Helena Kallianiotes and Susan Anspach. On 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray from The Criterion Collection.
08/01/26