Hello!

The news this week is that Janus films, The Academy Film Archive and the Film Foundation have restored Edgar G. Ulmer’s Detour, the most celebrated ‘B’ noir on the books. The Criterion website describes the restoration process thusly:

“The restoration team began by examining potential sources, including: a 35mm dupe negative from The Museum of Modern Art, which was incomplete and riddled with jump cuts; a 35mm safety composite print from the Cinematheque Française; and a 35mm nitrate print from the Cinematheque Royale de Belgique. That print, thought to have been made from the original camera negative, was clearly the best element in terms of image clarity, contrast, and density, but had never been considered as a source for preservation because it contained burned-in French and Flemish subtitles.”

I’ll be very interested in seeing how that process works — we need to see that enormous grimy coffee cup in the Reno diner looking perfect, jump cuts and all. The Academy’s Michael Pogorzelski says he’s been keen to restore Detour for quite awhile. Official rights for the old PRC feature may have been established by now. Previously it was my understanding that it is a Public Domain title, and that the big problem with earlier restoration efforts has been that some of the better film elements have been tied up with private collectors.

The full story can be read at Ryan Gallagher’s Criterion article, Janus Films to Tour New 4K Restoration of Edgar G. Ulmer’s DETOUR.

Dick Dinman has another timely DVD Classics Corner On the Air show online, this time about two new Warner Archive Collection releases: Dick Dinman & Eddie Muller dispense a double dose of Dana. In other words, Dinman and Muller talk about Dana Andrews’ career with special emphasis on the new WAC Blu-rays of Fritz Lang’s While the City Sleeps and Beyond a Reasonable Doubt.

A set of links to other Dinman DVD Classics Corner On the Air shows is at this address.

I’ll be Out of Action this weekend, doing an inventory in the depths of the CineSavant vaults, with a friend driving in from out of state to help make it happen. So expect new reviews from myself, and I think Charlie Largent, perhaps next Wednesday.

Thanks for reading! — Glenn Erickson

Hello!

We lead off with some vintage French artwork for The Day of Triffids, which looks like a poster but is not. I recognize the layout format from publications in Spanish and Italian, but to be sure asked Michael Hyatt, who confirms that it is a photo-novelization of the movie.

Hyatt also told me that back in the day this item was the only way the French could ‘see’ the movie: import quotas prevented a theatrical release there in the first place! That, in spite of the fact that a good third of Triffids takes place in France, and the co-star is French. Mike collects Triffids posters; I’m guessing that he likely figured this out when no French poster existed to be found.

A trailer rarity at Trailers from Hell yesterday — The Folks at Red Wolf Inn, with a snappy commentary by David DeCoteau.

Twilight Time for July has been announced: director Roger Spottiswoode’s epic The Children of Huang Shi, the 1965 costume pic Genghis Khan, Mark Rydell’s delightful Cinderella Liberty and Raoul Walsh’s The Revolt of Mamie Stover with Jane Russell as a ‘fallen woman’ in Honolulu who ends up owning half the real estate on Waikiki.

Only a couple of years ago I finally figured out that a number of B&W ‘Mexican’ effects scenes in Kurt Neumann’s sci-fi thriller Kronos were achieved by adding animated effects to color Hawaii-set scenes from Mamie Stover, mainly, a giant robot and electromagnetic ‘force waves.’ I think adding a giant robot and electromagnetic force waves is a good way to improve most any travelogue landscape photo.

Thanks for reading! — Glenn Erickson

Hello!

A very interesting link reached me through Joe Dante, about one of the oldest Hollywood missing-film mysteries on the books — the legendary Giant Vampire Attack scene that was cut out of the 1936 Tarzan Escapes, almost at the last minute. Bill and Sue-On Hillman’s Edgar Rice Burroughs-zine has an excellently researched article with new information that makes it seem possible that the missing scene might someday be located in a foreign archive or film exchange. As this third MGM feature is the first Tarzan to be considered a ‘kid’s picture,’ the scary scene was cut after preview audiences thought it unsuitable for children.

BUT — the scene was reinstated for a 1954 release, before disappearing once again. The author of the full article saw the reissue as a kid, and his description makes it sound as extreme as the fantastic horrors in Tarzan and His Mate. Trailers from Hell’s Charlie Largent did a newspaper research snoop followup on the article’s claim, and did indeed come across the ad for the Dec. 22, 1954 double bill that Bill Hillman saw (above)!

Charlie noted that filming the flying bat creatures on wires, that swoop down and carry off helpless victims, likely gave MGM needed engineering experience for when it came time to film the flying monkeys of The Wizard of Oz, three or four years later.

Gary Teetzel has also been scouring old industry newspapers, this time for information about the 1932 horror classic Island of Lost Souls. He found a score of interesting blurbs about possible casting, and the talent search for a ‘Panther Girl’ for the movie. This first clipping has an odd list of stars attached to the project, though obviously not permanently: Nancy Carroll, Fay Wray, Irving Pichel, Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi and Noah Beery. If you know the picture it’s not difficult to guess what the actors’ roles would be:

This second clipping is a good reminder why studios didn’t make more shocking, transgressive horror pictures. You can’t buy a review this negative, as they used to say. I think this particular blurb ends up being funny, due to its final two words:

And it’s another DVD Classics Corner On the Air show, this time about the new Kino 3-D release: Dick Dinman & Bob Furmanek Survive the Horror of the 3-D The Maze. I made sure I got the basic tech facts right in my CineSavant review last week, but Dinman’s interview with Bob Furmanek goes into more detail about “the challenges inherent in restoring not only 3D picture but 3 Channel Stereo Sound to this much requested creep-fest.” The disc arrives next Tuesday.

I always keep forgetting to say it, but Dick Dinman’s half-hour shows always cover more topics as well. A set of links to other DVD CCOA shows is at this address.

Thanks for reading! — Glenn Erickson

Hello!

It’s a buncha links day. Following the trail of a related Joe Dante link steer, I ran into a Rocky and Bullwinkle compilation reel on YouTube that has the initial,’origin’ episode of Peabody’s Improbable History where Mr. Peabody adopts the human boy Sherman and they go on their first adventure. The episode I’m talking about begins at just under eleven minutes in, with the ‘Roman parade.’

Gary Teetzel forwards a link and a note. The link goes to “Strange New World”, an episode of an old radio show called The Mysterious Traveler. Since he brings up a relevant observation, I’ll let Gary continue in his own words:

“The show involves a couple of fliers that crash in the Pacific and end up on a desert island near the Bikini Atoll. There, they come across giant crabs that, they conclude, are a byproduct of nuclear testing. The broadcast date was February 19, 1952. The big question is . . . does that date make this radio show possibly the first science fiction dramatic work featuring giant monsters that grew to enormous size due to atom bomb tests? I can’t think of any features using the theme that pre-date it, although I suppose another radio show may have beaten The Mysterious Traveler to the punch. Again, the link to listen on-line is “Strange New World.”

Plenty of disc announcements, that might be new news to somebody: Criterion’s Blu-ray roll call for July is phenomenal: Ron Shelton’s Bull Durham, the martial arts picture Dragon Inn, Steven Soderbergh’s sex, lies and videotape (videotape, what’s that?), a new 4K restoration of Powell & Pressburger’s A Matter of Life and Death — AND — a Dietrich and von Sternberg in Hollywood collection, with all six of their Paramount collaborations Morocco, Dishonored, Shanghai Express, Blonde Venus, The Scarlet Empress and The Devil is a Woman. That’s quite a lineup.

The Warner Archive Collection is touting their upcoming Blus as well. We already know about Jack Cardiff’s Dark of the Sun and Sergio Leone’s The Colossus of Rhodes, but we’re also being told that coming down the line will be Vincente Minnelli’s Two Weeks in Another Town, and Joseph H. Lewis’s noir classic Gun Crazy. The last disc has a commentary by me, my first actually. The credit identifies me as an Author & Film Noir specialist. Well, a noir specialist in commentaries, maybe.

The Warner Archive’s standard DVD announcements are just out as well, and they include two titles that should interest special collectors. The gangster-musical production The Lights of New York (1928) is one of the very first all-talkies, the kind with Lina Lamont primitive microphones hidden in the scenery. It is also said to be the first time the phrase “Take him for a ride!” was heard in a movie. A Notorious Affair (1930) keeps popping up in reference to star Basil Rathbone — his fans wish he had more opportunities to play leading men. It’s also described as the breakthrough picture for actress Kay Francis.

Thanks for reading! — Glenn Erickson