The depressed streets of postwar Tokyo are the hunting ground for detective Toshiro Mifune, who lost his service automatic on a streetcar and is desperate to retrieve it. Soulful old cop Takashi Shimura gives him guidance and encouragement; an unhappy showgirl knows how to find the gun, but won’t talk. Akira Kurosawa’s prime goal is…
Spectacular! Colorful! Action-packed! A big production, big stars, but where’s the movie? James Goldstone’s pirate picture has energetic action and little else; we salute Robert Shaw and Genevieve Bujold, who generate the star personality needed to keep it on its feet. A bounty of screen talent is marooned in unflattering roles: James Earl Jones, Peter…
Paramount’s catch-all comedy makes zero sense but has a great attitude. It showcases a number of eager funnymen from vaudeville and silent comedies: W.C. Fields, Andy Clyde, Ben Turpin, Hugh Herbert, Billy Gilbert. Top-billed Jack Oakie is in love with Klopstokian lass Angela; all of her fellow citizens are super-athletes, so he brings a bunch…
This noir tries something different: an art expert must play detective to find out why everybody thinks he’s gone insane. Who knew that the most dangerous noir creeps are to be found skulking around a museum gallery? Ex- Warner contractee Pat O’Brien tries out RKO for size, with a screenplay that goes in for arty…
The rapid growth of television came out of the TV Terroir of 1950s America. Almost all TV programming has its roots in that fertile soil. This installment of The Last Reel with Allan Arkush examines the hybrids: family shows that from today’s vantage point are the very definition of anachronistic, all manner of puppets, women…
Pairing wine with movies! See the trailers and hear the fascinating commentary for these movies and many more at Trailers From Hell. This week, we have three James Bond films on the docket along with a wine pairing for each. And, no, Mr. Bond. We expect you to drink. The third film in the Bond…
A shining 4K encoding underscores the heat in Lawrence Kasdan’s ode to cold-blooded murder, committed in the name of sex and greed … and just maybe, love. William Hurt and Kathleen Turner became overnight stars in some of the hottest scenes ever to hit mainstream theaters; Richard Kline’s steamy images and John Barry’s seductive music…
It’s a new branded line for Kino Lorber — English thrillers from the 1940s and ’50s, remastered and looking good. Jean Simmons is tormented by a greedy lover & husband in ‘Cage of Gold,’ and a fanciful Edgar Wallace mystery sees Scotland Yard trying to prevent a murder by a diabolical criminal called ‘The Ringer.’…
Cornel Wilde’s first film for his own production company is a stone classic and a genuine cult item, an organized crime tale that blends sex and sadism as did few films of its day. Richard Conte’s perverse seduction of Jean Wallace is hot stuff, and the creative direction of Joseph H. Lewis and extreme lighting…
