Hello!

Joe Dante circulated this Click Americana page from March 5, 2025. It’s a round-up of facts and insights about our American Drive-In Movie phenomenon — where it started, how it developed, and how its boosters thought it would never end.

There are photogenic images of Drive-Ins on view, but also a lot of shop talk from an article within the article — Charles R. Underbill Jr’s assessment of the state of all things Drive-In, from 1950. When WW2 ended there were only 60 of the things, but in five years over a thousand were constructed. Only a few hundred are left today.

And Michael McQuarrie, bless him, comes up with another rewarding link, one I’ll be going back to myself.

It’s from the Internet Archive and it’s simply called ‘The Tarantino Collection.’ It’s described as a collection of film reviews and writing, most of which appeared on the Beverly Cinema website. It says they were written between 1982 and 2022 … a goodly chunk of time.

Tarantino is always a good read — his tastes and knowledge are refined, and his comments are seldom predictable. His 3 or four pages on Bogdanovich’s  Targets were an excellent start.

There’s an index but you have to peck your way through the pages to find individual topics. We like it.

Thanks for reading! — Glenn Erickson

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What, another atom bomb-related movie?  It’s a Michael McQuarrie find, a twenty-minute documentary produced by the Air Force for the Atomic Energy Commission, on a series of bomb tests at the Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshall Islands in 1948.

Screenwriter Carey Wilson is listed as the narrator. Could he have tweaked the narration as well?  The tone of the writing matches the MGM short subjects where Wilson’s voice is frequently heard.

Only  Peter Kuran would know if better materials for this short subject are lost, as this looks like a 16mm dupe. We’ve seen some of these shots of men at electronic equipment, repurposed for science fiction movies (in better condition). That narration script is very well done, with no thoughtless or extreme remarks to exploit as madness in  The Atomic Cafe. Operation Sandstone is three separate detonations. The opening title card looks like a birth announcement for a new baby.

The final speech is quite a poetic mouthful, however:   “So can it be with the energy Man has created. The road is open, a road which may show us the cure for cancer, a road which may enable us to produce heat, and power and new metals with atomic furnaces. New fuels, new ways to nourish the soil, and correct vitamin and mineral defiencies in the very food we eat.”

Yeah, but the only aim we see is to make bigger and better bombs …

Thanks for reading!

Hello!

Intrepid correspondent Michael McQuarrie comes up with a winner from my past … I remember leafing through this at the UCLA Research Library’s Theater Arts Reading Room, the moment it arrived … ulp … 52 years ago.

The irreplaceable Internet Archive has issues of Take One, the magazine that published the fine interview with Ivan Reitman about  Cannibal Girls.

This issue from May of 1973 features has an impressive lineup of must-read items: The Horrible Hammer Films of Terence Fisher by Harry Ringel,  Carl Foreman Interviewed by Joe Medjuck,  The Murder of Fred Hampton by Gerald Peary,  The Grotesque West of Sergio Leone by Stuart Kaminsky,  Sergio Leone Interviewed by Noel Simsolo, plus review coverage of the movies  Pulp,  Ludwig,  Ulzana’s Raid and  High Plains Drifter.

Harry Ringel’s Hammer-Fisher piece is a particular good read … analyzing the Gothic horrors from a different perspective. Carl Foreman talks directly to his blacklist experience. The letters and ads are of interest, too.

And Michael McQuarrie scores with a second item from The Internet Archive … an entire feature film from Turkey. It’s a horror comedy from 1974, apparently patterned after Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein. Why, oh why, was this not given a major U.S. release?  . . . . You’ll soon understand why it wasn’t.

The whole show appears to be here, and it’s a great opportunity to brush up your Turkish … having no subtitles would make this a sink or swim teaching lesson. But the comedy is so basic, I doubt anyone will get too lost, or really want to know what’s going on.

I know, I know, there’s not enough money in the world to repay Mr. McQuarrie for this public service. Like I said, this show’s from Turkey … do I need to pay a tariff to watch it?

The title translates roughly as ‘My Friend Frankenstein.’

Thanks for reading! — Glenn Erickson

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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