Alice in Wonderland Blu ray Kino Lorber 1933 / 1.33:1/ 76 min. Starring Charlotte Henry, W.C. Fields, Gary Cooper Cinematography by Bert Glennon, Henry Sharp Directed by Norman Z. McLeod Written by Harvey Kurtzman with art by Jack Davis, Mad‘s 1954 parody of Alice in Wonderland stands as a succinct critique of Paramount Pictures’s 1933…
Destry Rides Again Blu ray Criterion 1939 / 1.33:1/ 95 min. Starring Marlene Dietrich, James Stewart Cinematography by Hal Mohr Directed by George Marshall America’s favorite boy next door meets the Weimar Republic’s preeminent vamp in George Marshall’s Destry Rides Again. James Stewart plays Tom Destry, the self-effacing straight-shooter who cleans up a lawless backwater…
The Bat Blu ray The Film Detective 1959 / 1.85:1/ 80 min. Starring Vincent Price, Agnes Moorehead Cinematography by Joseph Biroc Directed by Crane Wilbur Released during the dog days of summer in August of 1959, The Bat was an air-conditioned summer treat for the eight year-old unprepared for a blood and thunder horror movie –…
Reflections in a Golden Eye Blu ray Warner Archives 1967 / 2.35:1/ 108 min. Starring Marlon Brando, Elizabeth Taylor, Brian Keith, Julie Harris Cinematography by Aldo Tonti Directed by John Huston “There is a fort in the South where a few years ago a murder was committed.” That’s an oddly detached way to begin a…
Staring down his prey with sunken eyes and a sinister smile, Alastair Sim was the fiend Charles Addams never got around to drawing. Sim was a quick-change artist who didn’t need makeup to transform from a grasping monster into your favorite uncle – it’s why he remains the greatest interpreter of Ebenezer Scrooge. Whether playing…
The Head DVD – Region 2 Only – No English Audio or Subtitles Delta Music & Entert. GmbH & Co. KG 1959 / 1.33:1 / 97 min. Starring Michel Simon, Horst Frank, Karin Kernke Cinematography by Georg Krause Directed by Victor Trivas A scientist who operates out of a starkly Modernist laboratory of glass and…
The Great Gildersleeve Movie Collection DVD Warner Archive 1942, ’43, ’44 / 1.33:1 / 62, 63, 64, 63 min. Starring Harold Peary, Jane Darwell, Freddie Mercer, Nancy Gates Cinematography by Frank Redman, Jack MacKenzie Directed by Gordon Douglas, Tim Whelan Like the transition from silent movies to the talkies, the progression from radio to film…
The Uninvited Blu ray Criterion 1944 / 1.33:1 / 99 min. Starring Ray Milland, Gail Russell, Ruth Hussey Cinematography by Charles Lang Directed by Lewis Allen The story of a lonely young woman and the ghosts in her life, Dorothy Macardle’s Uneasy Freehold was published in 1941 and brought to the screen in 1944 as…
Murder, He Says Blu ray Kino Lorber 1945 / 1.33:1 / 94 min. Starring Fred MacMurray, Marjorie Main, Peter Whitney Cinematography by Theodor Sparkuhl Directed by George Marshall The Snopes family were a collection of Southern-fried scoundrels introduced by William Faulkner in 1940’s The Hamlet—over the course of three novels and several short stories, the…
The Mad Magician Blu ray Powerhouse Films/Indicator 1954 / 1.85:1 / 73 min. Starring Vincent Price, Donald Randolph, Eva Gabor Cinematography by Bert Glennon Directed by John Brahm For Vincent Price, revenge was a dish served cold and in 3-D. In 1954, just a year after his three-dimensional rampage in Andre DeToth‘s House of Wax,…
Indicator delivers another in their long line of fan-friendly box sets with Hammer Volume Five – Death and Deceit (a subhead that could be applied to the majority of the studio’s output). This latest release would be for Hammer completists only were it not for the extras that shine a bright light on a few overlooked artists…
Film Movement, a self-described “film service” that traffics in esoteric theatrical and home video product has released two notable examples of post-war British comedy with Whisky Galore! and The Maggie – both are seafaring satires directed by Alexander Mackendrick featuring some of Ealing Studio’s most memorable players. Whiskey Galore!/The Maggie Blu ray Film Movement 1949, 1954…
The Great McGinty Blu ray Kino Lorber 1940/ 1:33:1 / 82 min. Starring Brian Donlevy, Akim Tamiroff Cinematography by William C. Mellor Written and Directed by Preston Sturges If the story of a unscrupulous crook who rises to great political power hits a little too close to home these days, consider that in 1940’s The…