Hello!

Wow, I’ve got little in the way of fabulous new links today, as I think my happy link providers are off hobnobbing with their fellow wizards and otherwise getting into trouble. And no ironic top image today, as I’m putting this one up completely straight, even though the source movie is a house slightly divided against itself, to mangle a phrase.

It’s pretty great getting this Blu-ray of one of my top favorite space films Ikarie XB 1. The secret to having a favorite picture become available on disc is apparently to be pessimistic and assume that it will never be released, that the disc Powers That Be out there have my number, and send anything I want to the back of the line. I guess I have to retire that attitude after this year. When I began ‘MGM Video Savant’ years ago I put out lists of coveted movies, and on top were a group of Fox ‘Scope movies that I’d seen only in miserable Pan-scan TV versions: House of Bamboo, Hell and High Water and Garden of Evil etc. What can I say? Now that I can peruse them in beautiful Blu-ray HD, is it time to die? I hope not. To mis-quote Yellow Submarine, newer and bluer blues are always on the way, and greedy collectors never get enough.

This Ikarie disc was a surprise. I saw the restoration trailer for the show a while back, and noted that Trailers from Hell’s Joe Dante received a prominent text endorsement quote. But only last night did I watch the trailer on the disc, and saw that there was a flurry of additional one-word quotes further on, with the last one being ME. The important, unique word they pulled from my old review is ‘Best,’ which is spelled out in bold Czech: “NEJLEPŠÍ.” Of course, my name is only up for about 12 frames! And it’s misspelled!   I don’t care. I’ve got my names on a bunch of noir and Mario Bava releases, with mostly inane quotes, but this feels special.

Just so you don’t think all is perfect here in Los Angeles, starting a few days before the 4th of July we hear fireworks every night. When the booms really echo, we wonder if hostilities have broken out with Orange County. Three days ago we got a shower of ash from the hills burning to the Northeast. And last night we had a helicopter buzzing around the neighborhood for about an hour, searching for Public Enemy numbers one through four. Look how thoughtful I am — I got this picture for you of a Cop copter with its searchlight. Couldn’t do much else, with the chopper doing everything but playing Ride of the Valkyries.

Thanks for reading! Have a great fourth! — Glenn Erickson

Hello!

We start with Gary Teezel forwarding us what Classic Flix is touting as their YouTube restoration demonstration for their Blu-ray of the Public Domain (I think) proto-noir from Fritz Lang, You Only Live Once. It certainly looks better than the eyesores we had to watch. Speaking of that, I did review an old Image disc fourteen years ago, and it was no beauty. It’ll be great if Sylvia Sydney looks good again … she was the queen of the Depression-era social injustice pictures. And one reason that the film is so special now is that Lang fills it with expressionist touches that could have come from one of his German silents: the love bond between Sylvia Sydney and Henry Fonda is mirrored by a pair of frogs in a pond; the heavens literally open up to admit pure souls.

The Creature from the Black Lagoon. And it’s only $325.00! Gary suggested that I talk my wife into replacing our wedding bands, but I don’t think she’ll go for it.

And speaking of Comic-Con, maybe this time I can get Gary to let me post his web reports on his adventure in San Diego in the Savant column. He says he spends too much of the convention trying unsuccessfully to get into crowded auditoriums. I say fans that might want to go deserve to know what the experience is like, even for a veteran like Gary. And I like the way he tells stories.

Although the link is a couple of years old, Joe Dante has circulated it again and I find it fascinating enough to re-recommend: ‘NZ Pete’s’ exhaustive article at his Matte Shot – a Tribute to Golden Era Special FX page, about Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: One Man’s Incredible Odyssey. It’s still unsurpassed, methinks.

And finally, out of the blue we seem to be soon to enjoy a new, improved HD scan of The 7th Voyage of Sinbad. The frame grab scans being shown online are remarkable. And they’ve recovered the proper color for the fluffy pinfeather fuzz of the Roc’s Chick, as we all remember it from back in the day. We can happily report that THE CHICK IS PINK.

Next time up, I should have a major book review for the column. . .

Thanks for reading! — Glenn Erickson

Savant’s new reviews today are:

Hello!

Deadlines loom and there’s too much to do, so just one announcement today. Kino Lorber doesn’t have a date yet, but they did announce that they’re releasing Billy Wilder’s Avanti! on Blu-ray. The charming comedy with Jack Lemmon, Juliet Mills and Clive Revill bombed in 1972 yet has a acquired a solid fan base. When this one hits Blu, the only remaining Wilder film controlled by MGM and not yet released on Blu will be 1963’s Irma La Douce. Interestingly, the Wilder film being saved for last was the writer-director’s biggest theatrical hit, surpassing even Some Like it Hot and The Apartment.

Thanks for reading! — Glenn Erickson

Hello!

Some screwy links to keep you thinking today. Gary Teetzel forwards us a URL to a 1936 Japanese propaganda cartoon given the makeshift English title Evil Mickey Attacks Japan. That’s exactly what it is. Happy Japanese — people, animal people and quasi- Yokai characters frolic and dance on a tropical island (obviously not Japan) until American monsters bring war — evil machine-gun snakes, crocodile ships and Mickey M. himself riding a bomber bat with mouse ears. Traditional Japanese characters retaliate. What can we say? We could really use a Japanese culture expert (hey Stuart!) for some insight on all the visual references. From Gary: “The actual title is “Toybox Series 3: Picture Book 1936.” Why that particular year? One website speculates that it has to do with the looming 1936 expiration of a Naval Treaty; alarmist Japanese politicos predicted that the U.S. would attack right after it expired. Some speculate that the short thus shows traditional Japanese culture pushing back against the pervasive inroads of western (American) pop culture.”

These things are addictive. The vintage Japanese animation led me directly to some good old-fashioned Soviet propaganda, a color cartoon translated as Valuable Kopeck. Happy Soviet currency makes friends and dances with (stereotyped) coins from around the world, while the evil, capitalist American penny only brings guns and war. A cute, feminine Kopeck undergoes some kind of currency change. Animated Soviet propaganda can be really scary. This one isn’t as dark as Stalin-era pieces but has a pretty steep creep factor. The person who posted the cartoon on YouTube gives it a 1949 date, but judging from the appearance of some passenger jets we see, it must really be from the 1960s.

The Warner Archive Collection has announced its July Blu-ray lineup. I’m told that the animated Batman: Mask of the Phantasm is quite good. Skipper John Wayne is a good German in The Sea Chase and a Commie hater in Blood Alley. And a welcome guilty pleasure is Where the Boys Are with Paula Prentiss, Connie Francis, Dolores Hart, Jim Hutton and Yvette Mimieux. For this kid WTBA is pure nostalgia: at age 8 in 1960 I thought this is what being a swinging student would be like if I went to college. Boy, were things different in 1970.

And the biggest announcement this week is that Kino Lorber will indeed be putting out a 3-D Archive– engineered Blu-ray 3-D disc of William Cameron Menzies’ The Maze. The Walter Mirisch production from 1953 uses the depth format well, for an appropriately spooky haunted castle story with a wholly unexpected monster. I got to see this at the Egyptian a few years back, with Walter Mirisch in attendance (and his son, my college friend Larry). 3-D fans will rejoice. It’s expected in the Fall.

Thanks for reading! — Glenn Erickson

Savant’s new reviews today are: