Hello!

It’s time to get holiday issues in line. I have the familiar gauntlet of decorating problems to overcome, like finding the ‘special’ lights, but that’s my personal bear to cross, so I’ll stick to discs.

There’s the best-of list to compile, which in my case of CineSavant of course a list of special restorations and releases I think worthy of touting. It’s not difficult to make a choice but I do wonder to what degree readers still go for lists in any form. Think of it as a ‘happy’ list, not some fat opinion ranking artistic merit like scores in a ping pong playoff. I’ve been doing it for 18 years now!

And there’s also the glut of great discs I want to review, which would be easier if the industry’s ‘disc replicating pile-up’ hadn’t occurred in November. I’m still waiting on three or four titles that my readers want very badly to read about. Although I’m not a technical authority I pride myself on a fair evaluation of disc quality from a consumer standpoint. And when I reach my limit of expertise I do have some excellent tech advice from Mr. T and Mr. P..

Late Criterion discs that I want to review, no matter how late they become, are Billy Wilder’s Some Like it Hot, Orson Welles’ The Magnificent Ambersons and David Byrne’s True Stories — they were all expected more than a week ago. Ingmar Bergman’s Sawdust and Tinsel has arrived, but not Sam Fuller’s Forty Guns. Upcoming should be Julien Duvivier’s Panique, a highly recommended show I’ve never seen.

I’m told that the only Warner Archive Disc seriously affected is The Thing from Another World. It’s at present an accidental Amazon Exclusive, and the newest press release indicates that the official WAC release (with the WAC buyer guarantee I recommend) will be on December 18th. Due on the same day are two more titles that get an A++ for fan anticipation.

Note: 4PM 12.04: The Warner Archive has sent, in just one day, the equivalent of a reviewer rescue packet … Horror of Dracula, Dark of the Sun, The Thing, The Blue Knight and The Sea Hawk… so I’m in business again, bigtime.

The November Twilight Time discs have been delayed but I’ll be jumping on them as soon as they arrive: Oklahoma Crude, Antony & Cleopatra, The Iron Horse and The True Story of Jesse James. TT’s December discs are scheduled to debut in just ten days. I do have the related Redwing disc of the Cristina Raines feature Sunshine almost written up (it’s good).

The Kino Lorber group of labels has been putting out lots of product but I think they’ve been affected as well. With some discs I’m not sure if they’re out yet, even though the proof is whether or not they show up on Amazon. So I’ll simply offer a status report: Presently up for review are The Killing of Sister George, The Ghost of Sierra de Cobre, the Mamie Van Doren Films Collection and The Grissom Gang; expected soon are The Black Windmill, The Atomic Cafe, Charly, Female on the Beach, The Last Command and Foxfire. The first 3-strip Technicolor feature Becky Sharp has been moved back to April 2.

I don’t know if Shout Factory & Scream Factory are affected, but they have some hot titles due as well — Terence Fisher’s Dracula Prince of Darkness and John Carpenter’s Starman both arrive on December 18. By the way, for March 19 of next year, Scream Factory has just announced the classic Universal big bug movies Tarantula and The Deadly Mantis. Well, one classic and one … well known attraction!

And in regards to my yuletide photo above, I gotta push good old Gorgo, from VCI. The 2013 Blu-ray is being offered at a stocking-stuffer price on Amazon … buy two, so you can keep one in a safe deposit box.

Thanks for reading! — Glenn Erickson

Hello!

Twilight Time just announced their February titles, which should be a cause for excitement for Peter Cook and Dudley Moore fans: Bedazzled (above) is on the bill, along with Frank Tashlin’s Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter, Oliver Stone’s Talk Radio and Lewis Gilbert’s The Admirable Crichton, aka Paradise Lagoon.

And Kino announced that they have three vintage Ealing comedies with Alec Guinness on the docket for early next year: Kind Hearts and Coronets, The Lavender Hill Mob and The Man in the White Suit, which is of course also a science fiction classic.

Over at Joe Baltake’s The Passionate Moviegoer today we’ve got an article with a good round-up of Lost TV Musicals over the last 60 years … I was aware of some of these and really wish they were viewable: Lee Remick in Damn Yankees, (right) Lesley Ann Warren in It’s a Bird… It’s a Plane… It’s Superman!”, Anthony Perkins and Charmian Carr in Stephen Sondheim’s Evening Primrose, and more that I never heard of. It’s hard to believe that most of these weren’t preserved.

As I explained last Tuesday, the Blu-ray industry experienced a ‘replication capacity shortfall,’ which is short for ‘they couldn’t print the things fast enough.’ The effect is certainly being felt here, although I’m told that the crunch is over and the presses are rolling again (so to speak).

As for discs that were delayed, I just got in some of the hotter Kino Lorber titles but am still waiting on November titles from Twilight Time, Criterion and The Warner Archive. So I’ll have reviews forthwith for Kino’s The Outer Limits 2 set and The Puppet Masters. (below) I’ve been getting review requests for BIG titles already out — Some Like it Hot, The Thing from Another World, The Magnificent Ambersons, True Stories — and apologize for being tardy. Warners has Dark of the Sun for December 18, as well as a new collection of Popeye cartoons due out on December 11.

Thanks for reading! — Glenn Erickson

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Various notes from readers have made me aware of the patchy availability and missed/moved street dates for some Blu-rays released after September. I found out that there is a problem by writing Warners’ George Feltenstein about the issue of the Warner Archives’ new Blu-ray of The Thing from Another World. It’s been up at Amazon, but its status has been changing from ‘order now’ to ‘temporarily unavailable.’

The quick news on this issue is that The Thing listed on Amazon is real and not a mistake, so if you order it, it will come. Some buyers are just receiving their copies now. The availability question delayed the shipping of review copies, which normally come at least a week before street date — that’s why I didn’t even know it had been released.

Why are street dates changing, or becoming obscured? George tells me that there is at present an industry-wide Blu-ray replication capacity shortfall, that is just now clearing up. This inability to press the discs fast enough has caused grief with the release dates and marketing schedules of more than one Blu-ray company. When dates are changed at the last minute, info posted on Amazon doesn’t always catch up quickly. George says that small companies are hit the hardest, but even Criterion has been affected, with their discs of The Magnificent Ambersons and True Stories being pushed back a week or so.

The good news for disc companies is that the replication capacity issue is straightened out just in time for the holidays when the sales volume goes up. The Warners titles slated for the 11th and 18th of December will street as scheduled. Technically The Thing is at present an unofficial ‘Amazon Exclusive,’ because the machinery to sell it through the WB Shop was put on hold, and now has to be re-started. That’s probably too much detail, but it does explain why searching for ‘The Thing from Another World Blu-ray’ doesn’t yield results at the fairly efficient WB Shop. At least, not at this exact moment of writing.

Meanwhile, the highly awaited Dark of the Sun has quietly been made available at the WB Shop, without marketing materials being sent out, either. Maybe reviews for these will have to wait for later.

Talking with George is great because he fills me on restoration news inside the business. I do have several other studio home video contacts, but I long ago stopped asking questions about what’s coming out or what’s in the works. It’s all proprietary information. Any scoops are reserved for in-house disclosure, and I wouldn’t want to get anyone in trouble. By now there’s likely a full rundown on The Thing over at the Warner Archive Collection’s Facebook page.

George did tell me I could confirm that the new The Thing disc is indeed a major restoration: all of the scenes previously cut for a 1950s reissue have been restored from 35mm elements, instead of the fuzzy 16mm sources seen on the old DVD and on TCM cablecasts. The title sequence that had been re-formatted for widescreen for the re-issue, has been restored to the original 1:37 Academy version. I can’t wait to hear the Dimitri Tiomkin music score in full-resolution HD audio.

And it finally happened over at Trailers from Hell… I got about thirty seconds into a trailer commentary by director Brian Trenchard-Smith, stopped watching and immediately ordered the Blu-ray. It’s a Spanish film called Wild Tales (Relatos salvajes) made of several stories about revenge, and it looked perfect for home viewing. After I see it I’ll go back and listen to all of the commentary. Sony gets some of the best new foreign films, but review access is difficult; TFH is good just for finding out that some of these titles exist.

I’ve already said that Trenchard-Smith is my favorite TFH ‘guru’; he’s always saying something highly interesting. Other recent goodies, just to name two, are Allison Anders on Roger Corman’s Reform School Girl and Allan Arkush on William Wellman’s Wild Boys of the Road.

Thanks for reading! — Glenn Erickson

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Correspondent Gary Teetzel reminds me that there’ll be another chance for Anglenos to see the new restoration of Edgar Ulmer’s Detour on a big screen: the American Cinematheque will be showing it on December 16, at the beautiful Egyptian Theater on Hollywood Blvd.. The marvelous Arianné Ulmer Cipes will be there; she and host Alan Rode will cut through the fuzzy legend surrounding her father’s film, including all those rumors that it cost next to nothing, was filmed only in front of a rear-projection screen, etc.. Arianné showed me the original PRC budget, and it was actually fairly pricey for that studio — it’s even got a pop song on the soundtrack. The photo is from 2009: L-R are photographer Allan Peach, Arianné Ulmer Cipes, Gary Teetzel, Glenn Erickson and author Bern Herzogenrath. This was at a book promotion at the now-gone store Every Picture Tells a Story; we then went across the street to the Aero theater for a screening of Ulmer’s Ruthless.

Disney fans might want to check out another Gary Teetzel find, a 1940 issue of American Cinematographer that explains Disney’s experimental stereophonic sound process Fantasound, as heard in the avant-garde animation epic Fantasia. Once you’re in, note that the same issue carries an article by cinematographer Gregg Toland about an upcoming film with ‘special’ scenes, Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane.

Oh, and one more article has some advice for Jesús Franco. →

And finally, the new Film Noir Foundation magazine is out and available for download; the FNF home page has the info. This particular issue contains some fine articles, including pieces by Imogen Sara Smith (on Mexican cabaretera noir) and Steve Kronenberg (on Roger Corman’s The Intruder). Another article talks about the 1949 Eagle-Lion noir thriller Trapped, which the FNF has located in 35mm and is in the process of restoring. The Lloyd Bridges & Barbara Petyon- starring counterfeiting saga is a scarce item — like their previous rescues The Man Who Cheated Himself and Woman on the Run, I’ve yet to see it.

Thanks for reading! — Glenn Erickson