Savant’s new reviews today are:
Re-Animator 08/08/17
Arrow Video
Blu-ray
Trailers from Hell’s Charlie Largent resurrects a real favorite, Stuart Gordon’s epic gross-out about the grisly adventures of H.P. Lovecraft’s Dr. Herbert West. Filmdom’s maddest mad scientist brings dead flesh back to life and proves conclusively that the grave is no barrier to one man’s libidinous lust. This 2-disc limited edition contains two versions of the film and a long list of extras — full cast and director commentaries, the works. On Blu-ray from Arrow Video.
8/08/17
Beggars of Life 08/08/17
Kino Classics
Blu-ray
A happy discovery! This is a major late- silent-era gem on the order of Von Sternberg’s Docks of New York — a special treat that will please fans of director William Wellman — he revisited parts of it in a later talkie. It’s also a key movie in our education/adoration of the maverick actress Louise Brooks, the timeless erotic sensation too hot and too independent for Hollywood. Also starring Wallace Beery and Richard Arlen. On Blu-ray from Kino Classics.
8/08/17
Freebie and the Bean 08/08/17
The Warner Archive Collection
Blu-ray
Here’s how one pushed the limits of good taste in 1975. James Caan and Alan Arkin run the gamut of racist, raunchy, sexist & homophobic jokes as bad boy cops breaking the rules, and director Richard Rush delivers some impressive, expensive action stunts on location in San Francisco. Does it get a pass because it’s ‘outrageous?’ The public surely thought so. If the star chemistry works the excess won’t matter. With Valerie Harper, Loretta Swit and Jack Kruschen. On Blu-ray from The Warner Archive Collection.
8/08/17
Savant Column
Hello!
I’ve been reading a bit, thanks to some helpful links. I enjoyed Nick Pinkerton’s Film Comment interview with Mario Adorf, especially what the German actor has to say about Sam Peckinpah and Major Dundee, where he played Sgt. Gomez, a Mexican cavalryman. The joke on that movie set was that Adorf made a more convincing Mexican than did the real Mexicans.
Valued correspondent ‘B’ has sent me an interesting book that I just finished, Hollywood Divided: The 1950 Screen Directors Guild Meeting and the Impact of the Blacklist by Kevin Brianton. It’s a fascinating research summary on the famous Directors’ Guild meeting in 1950, where, legend has it, John Ford led a rebellion against Cecil B. DeMille’s underhanded campaign to toss Guild president Joseph Mankiewicz and institute a loyalty oath, one that would spread to other guilds and take over Hollywood. According to author Brianton, everything we know about this episode is wrong, taken from 1970s accounts either embellished or mis-remembered. DeMille was trying to jam the Mankiewicz recall through, but there’s no direct evidence that he mispronounced the names of foreign-born directors at the meeting to make them seem un-American. Mankiewicz was never against a loyalty oath as long as it was voluntary. And John Ford defended DeMille as much as he criticized him. Not only that, but Ford’s famed introductory line, “My name is John Ford. I make Westerns” is not an accurate quote! The most fascinating thing about the book is reading what scores of well known directors had to say at the six-hour meeting, and on which side of the fence they stood. According to Brianton, my late friend Robert S. Birchard in his bio Cecil B. DeMille’s Hollywood, was one of the first historians to correct the ledger as concerns DeMille. The great filmmaker was still a super-patriot who informed for years on the industry to the F.B.I., but he wasn’t as dark a villain as painted by other accounts.
Gary Teetzel checks in with a video of comedienne Rose Marie taped at a screening last week at the Aero of a new documentary on her life and career, Wait for Your Laugh. Gary reports:
“At one point during the audience Q & A, someone asked Rose Marie if she dated anyone after the death of her husband. She said she had gone out a few times, and then shared an anecdote about her fellow Hollywood Square contestant who happens to be one of our favorite horror stars . . . how often do we get to hear a new prime-source story about Vincent Price?”
The photo is of Rose Marie in Paramount’s International House, a pre-code picture . . . made eighty-four years ago.
Thanks for reading! — Glenn Erickson
Savant’s new reviews today are:
The Dinner 08/05/17
Lionsgate
Blu-ray
How far will the new American aristocracy go to protect its privileges? Oren Moverman’s intense four-way war of wills is sourced from a novel but shapes up as an intense stage piece in a chi-chi restaurant interrupted by flashbacks and other stylistic flourishes. The acting foursome is excellent, with Steve Coogan a standout as a truly disturbed character. Four adults debate their sons’ high crimes and misdemeanors over designer cuisine. Also starring Richard Gere, Laura Linney and Rebecca Hall. On Blu-ray + Digital HD from Lionsgate.
8/05/17
Hopscotch 08/05/17
The Criterion Collection
Blu-ray
A generic spy story becomes an inspired light comedy with the application of great talent led by the star-power of Walter Matthau. Matthau’s CIA spook hooks up with old flame Glenda Jackson to retaliate against his insufferable CIA boss (Ned Beatty) with a humiliating tell-all book about the agency’s dirty tricks history. Matthau’s sloppy, slouchy master agent is a comic delight; Ronald Neame’s stylishly assured direction makes a deadly spy chase into a wholly pleasant romp. With Sam Waterston and Herbert Lom. On Blu-ray from The Criterion Collection.
8/05/17
Silkwood 08/05/17
KL Studio Classics
Blu-ray
It’s a quality true-life mystery-exposé that doesn’t come off as tabloid trash or Oliver Stone hysteria — the true story of Karen Silkwood is told without cooking the books. The all-superstar cast is something too — Meryl Streep, Cher and Kurt Russell. Only a fine director like Mike Nichols could steer this one into good entertainment & memorable cinema territory. With Craig T. Nelson, Diana Scarwid, Fred Ward, Ron Silver and Charles Hallahan, on Blu-ray from KL Studio Classics.
8/05/17
Savant Column
Hello!
Arrow Video has a strong disc line-up for August, starting with Re-Animator but continuing with Frankenheimer’s Ronin, Bryan Yuzna’s Society and Mario Bava’s Erik the Conqueror. Now I’ll have to break out my A.I.P. ‘Erik the Conqueror’ poster.
Olive Films in August is said to be giving us Blu-rays of two seasons of the old Flipper TV series, which I can sheepishly report being a fan of at age 13 or so — I saw the movie and liked the song, I guess. They’re also putting out Larry Cohen’s blaxploitation gangster pic Hell Up in Harlem. Finally, Olive has a disc of Orson Welles’ The Stranger on the way. If it’s licensed from MGM it ought to have a much better image than past discs – I’ve seen MGM’s master and it’s beautiful.
Gary Teetzel enlightens us with an interesting link from the Golden Age of Live Television: remember the rather good Toho horror fantasy Matango aka Attack of the Mushroom People? Now on YouTube is a copy (a poor one, unfortunately) of a 1958 episode of the TV series Suspicion called Voice in the Night. It’s an adaptation of the William Hope Hodgson story that inspired Matango. A synopsis:“The survivors of a shipwreck escape to an island where a strange fungus grows on everything.” Arthur Hiller directs an impressive cast: Barbara Rush, James Donald, Patrick Macnee and James Coburn. Joan Harrison (assisted by Norman Lloyd) produced for Shamley Productions; Robert Boyle did the production design. Not too shabby, huh? Skimming through I can see that the YouTube copy is pretty bad. The first several minutes are so dark that it might as well be a radio show. But with these actors we can recognize the voices!
Finally, for the wedding held at our house last week, artist Patrick Tsao designed personalized place cards for all the tables, each with a Mexi-Aztec design motif customized to the personality of individual guests. I looked at mine for a while before realizing that it beheld the likeness of a certain Irish movie monster. So appropriate!
Thanks for reading! — Glenn Erickson
Savant’s new reviews today are:
Night People 07/31/17
KL Studio Classics
Blu-ray
Nunnally Johnson hands us a well-written, politically astute spy & hostage drama in Cold War Berlin, with plenty of intrigue and good humor to boot. Gregory Peck is the troubled negotiator and Broderick Crawford a Yankee galoot sticking his nose where it isn’t wanted. This one has been out of reach for quite a while — and it works up some fun suspense. With Broderick Crawford, Anita Björk, Rita Gam, Walter Abel, Buddy Ebsen, Peter van Eyck and Marianne Koch. An early extra-wide CinemaScope picture, on Blu-ray from KL Studio Classics.
7/31/17
You Only Live Once 07/31/17
Classic Flix
Blu-ray
Fritz Lang continues his take-no-prisoners indictment of America’s curious relationship with crime; this time he presents the thesis that an innocent man can be a pawn in cosmic game of injustice. Three-time loser Henry Fonda, the glummest actor in ’30s films, doesn’t mean to rob or kill, but gosh darn it, They Made Him a Criminal. Those considerations aside, it’s a wonderful cinematic achievement, made all the better by a decent digital restoration. Starring Sylvia Sidney, with Barton MacLane, Jean Dixon, William Gargan, Jerome Cowan and Margaret Hamilton. On Blu-ray from Classic Flix.
7/31/17
Savant Column
Hello!
Some quick notices:
I’ve gotten notes asking why I haven’t been linking to Dick Dinman’s web radio show DVD Classics Corner On The Air lately, and I have no reasonable excuses . . . but I wouldn’t miss this one. Dick interviews none other than the illustrious Michael Schlesinger on the subject of the new KL Studio Classics disc of Billy Wilder’s One, Two, Three. Michael did the disc commentary for the great comedy and is the perfect source for a lively conversation. This time around the ‘Dick’s Pick’s’ feature also discusses a long list of Kino – KLSC releases, including the serial Daredevils of the Red Circle and Alfred Hitchcock’s Lifeboat. To hear this show and others please go to www.dvdclassicscorner.com.
To me the hot KL Studio Classics disc this week is William Wellman’s silent Beggars of Life, with Richard Arlen and Louise Brooks — I haven’t seen it, and I’m going to at the first opportunity. It’s another show I’ve read about for years but not caught up with.
And I was quick to share this one with Gary Teetzel: All of Galaxy Science Fiction magazine is now online, free for the reading. Gary reports that, “looking at just the first two issues, you see stories by Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, Philip K. Dick, Frederick Pohl, Robert Sheckley, Robert Bloch and Clifford Simak. That’s a pretty impressive lineup!” The wiki entry for the magazine is complimentary as well.
Thanks for reading! — Glenn Erickson
Savant’s new reviews today are:
Terror in a Texas Town 07/26/17
Arrow Academy
Blu-ray
On paper it’s a western with everything — a major star, decent supporting players, a cult director and sideways references to the blacklisting years. But even with its ya-gotta-see-it-to-believe-it high noon showdown scene, Joseph H. Lewis’s last feature film is still a lower-tier United Artists effort. Sterling Hayden goes up against Sebastian Cabot and Nedrick Young, armed with a, with a . . . aw, you probably know already. With video extras with author Peter Stanfield. On Blu-ray from Arrow Academy.
7/25/17
Where the Boys Are 07/26/17
The Warner Archive Collection
Blu-ray
Heading for Spring Break somewhere? Long before Girls Gone Wild, kids of the Kennedy years found their own paths to the desired fun in the sun, and most of them came back alive. MGM’s comedic look at the Ft. Lauderdale exodus is a half-corny but fully endearing show, featuring the great Dolores Hart and the debuts of Connie Francis, Paula Prentiss and Jim Hutton, not to mention Yvette Mimieux, Frank Gorshin and Barbara Nichols. On Blu-ray from The Warner Archive Collection.
7/25/17
Lost in America 07/26/17
The Criterion Collection
Blu-ray
Trailers from Hell’s Charlie Largent gives us the comedy lowdown on Albert Brooks’ and Monica Johnson’s response to “those ferociously materialistic young professionals whose numbers blossomed during the Reagan administration” — the dreaded YUPPIES. This acerbic road movie details what happens when an upwardly mobile hot-shot decides to get back to nature and “touch Indians”. The result is a mile-a-minute talk fest worthy of writer-directors like Billy Wilder, Woody Allen and Preston Sturges. On Blu-ray from The Criterion Collection.
7/25/17
Savant Column
Hello!
TCM’s surprise cablecast last Sunday of Until the End of the World was quite a thrill. Other web-casters with broad audiences, like Tim Lucas, relayed the message so it’s likely that a lot of people that could DVR the 4.5- hour show did.
I was very pleased, as UTEOTW as reconfigured by Wim Wenders looks great. I’ve seen it twice on a screen, and this looks more like that experience than the good but not fantastic European DVDs that were released. I guess the length of the show is no longer an issue. Wenders got rid of the three-movies format, removing the extra ‘Teil 1., 2. and 3.’ opening sequences. I’ll have to check to see if any recap narration was lost. Having English subs for the occasional French dialogue helps too. The amazing thing is the control Wenders retained over his movie, even though he had to wait 25 years to get the rights back. It wasn’t like Warners took the negative from him; he has never cut original negative so even now he could edit a different version and not have technical difficulties. I like the 3-movie version just because it has the subliminal thrill of a road show presentation — there were two intermissions in the theater, where the audience practically congratulated itself at sharing something special.
Back in 1996 the Hollywood screening was just like old times — I had seen something unofficially screened that I’d have to wait a long time before seeing again. In between I met the ex-wife of one of the producers, who told me some stories, and I also met some people who thought UTEOTW to be the worst movie they’d ever seen in their lives. What can one say? It’s like anything else, it either works for you or it doesn’t. The naysayers can’t be discounted, because the short versions certainly bombed in 1991, and received terrible reviews.
The show gives every indication of a Criterion release in the next year or so — not only is there a new Wim Wenders logo, but the Janus Films logo too. Criterion has said it’s releasing the Wenders pictures, and has already done several.
Thanks again, Mike Stubbs, for letting me know that my printed TCM cable guide was wrong — I might have missed this!
Also up today: the finishing Diary Post reports on Gary Teetzel’s Comic-Con experience up today::
A pre-‘Good Evening’ announcement . . . I wasn’t able to attend today’s Warner Archives Comic-Con panel, but the news has broken that the Halloween titles are Innocent Blood, The Hidden and The Green Slime.
Good Evening Mr. and Mrs. America and all the ships at sea. Decided to spend most of the day in Ballroom 20, chiefly for the mid-afternoon panels for Star Trek: Discovery and Supergirl. First up, though, was a panel on Once Upon a Time, which I don’t watch, so . . . yawn. Then a panel on Riverdale. Yawn again.
Next was the panel for The Simpsons. Matt Groening, the showrunners and directors were joined by Nancy ‘Bart Simpson’ Cartwright and Joe Mantegna, who voices Springfield mobster Fat Tony on the show. (Fat Tony will be featured on the cover of the upcoming DVD release of Season 18.) They ran a special Q & A with Bart Simpson, and a spoof of The Exorcist that will be part of this year’s “Treehouse of Horrors” episode. They handed out prizes to audience members who asked questions. When they ran out of prizes, Matt Groening would whip up some sketches on the spot to use as prizes.
Next was a panel devoted to Family Guy and American Dad, so I took the opportunity to go to the bathroom and then grab some food. (They give you passes so you can get back into the hall.)
Finally got to Star Trek: Discovery. The panel included Akiva Goldsman, Alex Kurtzman and other producers, plus several cast members: Sonequa Martin-Green, Doug Jones, Jason Isaacs, James Frain (Sarek) and others. (No Michelle Yeoh.) Rainn Wilson, who guest stars as Harry Mudd in the series, moderated. A new trailer was shown, and a fair amount of time was devoted to allaying some of the fears fans have been voicing online.
Next up was Supergirl. The entire regular cast was there except for Chyler Leigh, who was said to be dealing with family issues. A few details for the upcoming season were teased, and a number of fan questions were answered.
After that I left the ballroom and headed to the main floor, which was predictably jam-packed. Went through the Walking Dead display/photo op attraction. It was pretty weak compared to previous years–have your photo taken next to a fake tiger and walk through a hall of junk while zombies try to scare you, unsuccessfully. Watched some of the autograph session for Westworld, which was an absolute madhouse–worse than Friday’s Game of Thrones autograph session. The entire cast was there, save Anthony Hopkins.
Did some more exploring of the main floor. Haven’t bought a thing yet, and frankly am not seeing anything tempting–at least anything that is affordable!
Since traffic is blocked off for two or three blocks in the late afternoon, the Gaslamp District takes on a carnival flavor around dinnertime, with street performers, bands, etc. Call it Nerdi Gras! After dinner, went back for the annual party and viewing of the masquerade.
(The subject of the masquerade reminds of the subject of cosplay. It’s always interest to follow trends in cosplay from year to year, as a sort of barometer of fans’ interest. This year cosplay is mostly devoted to old reliables — superheroes, Star Wars, Game of Thrones. The one new trend this year was Stranger Things. There were a few Demogorgans, and several people dressed as Eleven. I didn’t see anyone who went so far as to shave their head; most dressed as Eleven when she disguised in the blonde wig and Nancy’s old dress. Several incorporated Eggos into their costume; one person went so far as to dress as a box of Eggos. The Eggo people must be delighted by all the free publicity.)
The only interesting panel tomorrow is Doctor Who in Hall H. Even if I could get in, it’s in the mid-afternoon, so I’d waste most of the day waiting for it and sitting through other panels. I could try to go to the Game of Thrones exhibit, but that would also probably take most of the day, unless I got in line at 5 AM! So might just spend the day shopping; I still haven’t fully explored the immense main floor.) — Gary Teetzel
Since I’m not a convention attender-type, I’m always fascinated by Gary’s reports, both the things he has to go through and the pictures he brings back. So I thank him for taking the time for this. And thanks for reading! — Glenn Erickson
Savant’s new reviews today are: