Hello!

So, the big question was, what did Turner Classic Movies cablecast last Saturday night for the Hammer / Robert Day / Ursula Andress  She,  from 1965?

The answer is, ‘we wuz robbed.’  Not really, it’s just that Turner’s ace promo editors really gave that close-up of Ursula Andress the works, making me think that a new remaster might have been done. We checked out the Saturday night showing, and it was the same old laserdisc – quality image we’re used to seeing, where the vertical lines are jagged and the browns and golds and other colors kind of blend together. The movie was still very entertaining — but no revelation.

→  And we had a celebratory ‘Kane Wins’ picture all ready to go. Instead, we had to print ‘Fraud at Polls.’

Unlike some other Hammer films of this time that were formatted for ‘scope, this one was filmed in full 35mm Hammerscope, and released by MGM in Metrocolor. Maybe someday it’ll get in line for a remaster … thanks for being patient with this interruption of proper journalistic policy.

And CineSavant correspondent Steve Guariento sends in a note about a new restoration of Andrej Tarkovsky’s Solaris, on a German Blu-ray. Steve writes:

“Hi Glenn, thought you might like to know that Tarkovsky’s Solaris has finally been reissued (in Germany) with a brand-new HD transfer, derived from a recent Mosfilm restoration. I watched the disc last night, and am delighted to report that it’s a beauty; the image is robust, colourful and pleasingly film-like.”

“The Alive/DEFA disc (All-region) offers Russian mono audio with optional English subtitles, alongside the expected German dubs and subs. It’s inexpensive, too”

That will be good news for fans of the film. I’ll not want to part with the excellent extras on the Criterion disc . I found the listing for the disc easily at amazon.de.

Thanks for reading! — Glenn Erickson

Hello!

The great actor Clive Revill has died, which for us fans is a moment to reflect — so many film favorites passing on, and where are the vibrant personalities to replace them?  We know Revill mostly from two Billy Wilder films in which he proved himself a master of comic delivery and foreign accents,  The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes and  Avanti!  But he had a long career — of pictures we’ve seen in the U.S., he’s also a major asset to  Bunny Lake is Missing,  The Assassination Bureau and  The Legend of Hell House.

Revill has the best line delivery in all of Wilder’s Sherlock Holmes movie — his bit about the “Beeg dog from Baskerveel!” is priceless. To know Avanti! is to love the guy — his Italian hotelier ‘Carlucci’ all but carries the show. He’s still the best light-comic Italian gentleman ever, and he was born in New Zealand. He’s pictured above with an unidentified American supporting player, John or Jack somebody.

CineSavant doesn’t hold with ceremony … if a company releases something that grabs our interest, we’ll happily plug it. It seems that every month the Severin Films people have some revelation for us; when it involves a desirable older title, we’re their biggest fans. That reminds me … David Gregory once told me he was considering a 4K of Zulu Dawn … but that was ages ago.

Severin has pre-orders up for two hot items …. one of them is a Science Fiction movie, a genre that’s not a normal Severin fixation.  Unknown World is a small budget picture with ambitious special effects, one of few films that imagine scientists preparing for environmental collapse or an atom war. The answer here is to do an Arne Saknussemm and hide out at the Center of the Earth. Victor Killian proposes to go there in a streamlined super-vehicle, a combo drill-tank-submarine he calls a Cyclotram. Unknown World has existed only as a so-so 16mm print for over 70 years. If the full feature looks as good as Severin’s film clips, it’s going to be a keeper.

And second up is a second go at the 1959  Jack the Ripper. Severin gave it a release several years ago, acknowledging that the source materials weren’t choice. The news now is that they’ve located excellent original printing elements and are giving the show a second chance in 4K Ultra HD. This is the movie that once had a jolting color insert in the last scene. At eight years old I was too young to even think of seeing the movie, but the poster alone scared me half to death.

Some Links to pre-order pages:

Unknown World

Jack the Ripper 4K

And finally, here’s what I hope will turn out to be a hot tip for folks capable of pulling in Turner Classic Movies …

One of the Warner Archive Collection’s first disc releases back in 2009 was the Hammer / Robert Day / Ursula Andress ‘lost kingdom’ fantasy  She,  from 1965.

We like the disc but the transfer leaves much to be desired. It so happens that TCM is showing  She  tonight, Saturday March 29. That wouldn’t be hot news, except that TCM promos include a clip from the movie in which the transfer looks much better than the old DVD. Is that an illusion?  Did TCM’s editor pump up the video for that clip, or has the title been remastered?  I may be disappointed, but I’m catching this one. When a TCM presentation suddenly jumps in quality, it often means that a new & improved disc is on the way.

Come Tuesday I’ll report in on the verdict. Here’s hoping Ayesha and her lost city of Kuma will be looking good.

Thanks for reading! — Glenn Erickson

Hello!

Thanks to an FB post by Tim Lucas we have a special link for fans of italo Sci-fi: a YouTube news clip visit to the sets of two 1960s ‘fantascienza’ movies by Antonio Margheriti and Mario Bava.

It’s all in Italian with no subs, but it doesn’t matter. Actors run and fight on one spaceship set, and then we see smoke being laid down to create the atmosphere of an alien planet.

Thanks also to FB poster Alessandro Montosi. At least half of the 3.5 minutes is a speech by an Italian critic, but it’s still a rare glimpse behind the scenes of two fave movies.

Thanks for reading! — Glenn Erickson

Hello!

On Tuesday the 3-D Film Archive announced that they are working with the Blu-ray boutique Film Masters on a 3-D release of the 1953 camp classic Cat-Women of the Moon. It’s the very first movie about astronauts that meet ‘space babes,’ the kind that either crave men or want to kill them. Revisits of the same formula, all mostly terrible but highly entertaining, appeared throughout the decade, directed by    Charles Lamont, Cy Roth,  Edward L. Bernds, and  Richard E. Cunha. In the 1988 spoof  Amazon Women on the Moon director Robert K. Weiss devoted a segment to the down-market subgenre.

The original  Cat Women of the Moon is a title we’ve only seen flat on a so-so Wade Williams disc; the 3-D Archive says that not many people saw it in 3-D when it was new. We’re hoping that the depth effects will enhance the movie the same way that 3-D augments the, uh, unique experience of  Robot Monster. I mainly remember top-flight actors Victor Jory and Marie Windsor playing the whole movie in earnest, like real pros. Then, there’s the spaceship decor that includes normal office chairs and 16mm film reels on the walls … and a funky wrinkled curtain backdrop to depict the lunar surface. When Neil Armstrong landed on the moon and the TV news wanted to depict man’s earlier visions of moon landings, they didn’t broadcast film clips from this show.

We’re hoping for another 3-D party movie … like  The Mask or the 3-D retrofit of The Wizard of Oz.

Thanks for reading! — Glenn Erickson

Hello!

Dick Dinman and DVD Classic Corner on the Web have a podcast this month that covers two interesting subjects.

On the docket is Dick and producer Dan Marino discussing John Wayne’s The Conqueror which we reviewed here at CineSavant a couple of weeks back.

Dick discusses some other new releasess, but an extra thrill is an audio interview he conducted with Kathleen Hughes, the star of the also- recently reviewed disc The Glass Web, in 3-D. Dick inquires about her experience working with Edward G. Robinson.

And Joe Dante gravitated toward this BBC Online article from last October by Áine Quinn, that collects video interviews asking four top horror actors — Boris Karloff, Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and Vincent Price — to explain their individual opinions on the subject of Horror.

Peter Cushing’s video interview is hidden in the text, but it’s there. I guess our main takeaway is admiration for these congenial gentlemen … each is articulate and telegenic.

Thanks for reading! — Glenn Erickson