The Old Fashioned Way, It’s a Gift, The Bank Dick Blu ray Kino Lorber 1934, 1940 / 71, 68, 72 minutes / 1.33:1 Starring W.C. Fields, Judith Allen, Kathleen Howard, Franklin Pangborn Directed by William Beaudine, Norman McLeod, Edward Cline W.C. Fields divided the country into factions—con men and those who would be conned. Throughout…
Fritz the Cat – The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat Blu ray Kino Lorber 1972, 74/ 1.85:1/ 80, 76 Minutes Starring Skip Hinnant Directed by Ralph Bakshi, Robert Taylor The typical toddler tends to relate more to the cuddly animals in a Disney cartoon than their own flesh and blood playmates. Robert Crumb and…
Children of the Damned Blu ray Warner Archive 1964/ 1.85:1/ 89 Minutes Starring Ian Hendry, Alan Badel Directed by Anton Leader Wolf Rilla’s Village of the Damned was an alien invasion thriller that was genuinely invasive—all around the world women of child-bearing age are suddenly and mysteriously pregnant. No matter the circumstances, whether a virgin…
Kolchak: The Night Stalker – The Complete Series Blu ray Kino Lorber 1974/ 1.33:1/ 1,020 Minutes Starring Darren McGavin, Simon Oakland Directed by Gordon Hessler. Alexander Grasshoff “I saw what I saw when I saw it.” That was the mantra of Wilbur Grey, an anonymous shipping clerk who made a habit of bumping into some…
Onibaba Blu ray Criterion 1964/ 2.39:1/ 102 Minutes Starring Nobuko Otowa, Jitsuko Yoshimura Directed by Kaneto Shindô Kaneto Shindô’s Onibaba is a campfire tale not for the faint of heart. The director was just a child when he first heard the Buddhist fable about a bewitched matriarch, told to him by his own mother in…
Ad Nauseam: Newsprint Nightmares from the ’70s and ’80s 1984 Publishing, October 5, 2021 Michael Gingold (Author), Joe Dante (Foreword) Ballyhoo, the art of selling the public something they don’t want, has never changed—but like the devil it has assumed many disguises. In the 19th century small towns were inundated with colorful broadsides, barn-sized murals promoting…
A Night at the Opera Blu ray Warner Archive 1935/ 1.33:1 Starring The Marx Brothers, Allan Jones, Kitty Carlisle Directed by Sam Wood When the Marx Brothers bolted the scrappy but frugal Paramount for the gilded halls of Metro Goldwyn Mayer, fans of the comedians feared the worst—would the anarchic trio maintain their punk rock…
CineSavant’s reviews for the new Blu ray set, Cold War Creatures-Four Films from Sam Katzman, are in two parts. You can find Glenn Erickson’s review of Zombies of Mora Tau and The Giant Claw in Part One. Cold War Creatures: Four Films from Sam Katzman Blu ray Arrow Films 1955, ’56/ 1.85 Starring Richard Denning,…
The Herculoids: The Complete Original Series Blu ray Warner Archive 1967/ 1.33:1 Starring Mike Road, Virginia Gregg Directed by William Hanna, Joseph Barbera Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera produced 114 Tom and Jerry cartoons for MGM between 1940 and 1956—and then they were fired. The following year they found new employment as America’s babysitters; debuting…
The Little Rascals Volume 2 Blu ray – The ClassicFlix Restorations ClassicFlix 1930 / 1.37:1 / 225 Min. Starring Jackie Cooper, June Marlowe, Margaret Mann Written by H.W. Walker Directed by Robert F. McGowan Religion may be the opiate of the masses but nostalgia runs it a close second. And there’s no narcotic more soothing…
Hammer Horror: Four Gothic Horror Films Blu ray – All Region Imprint 1971-72 Starring Ingrid Pitt, Peter Cushing, Eric Porter Cinematography by Kenneth Talbot, Dick Bush Directed by Peter Sasdy, John Hough, Robert Young In December of 1959, Hammer Studios released a bit of Yuletide cheer called The Stranglers from Bombay, a censor-baiting melodrama highlighted…