CineSavant
La tête contre les murs
Head Against the Wall. Georges Franju's first feature adapts a novel protesting the French system of mental health asylums -- and breathes…
Articles by Glenn Erickson
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Charade
High on the list of '60s mainstream movie entertainments is this twist-laden comic-romantic murder thriller, cleverly modeled on the Hitchcock template by…
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Explorers
Director Joe Dante's special skill with actors shines in this overachieving 'juvenile' space adventure that overflows with The Sense of Wonder. It…
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Toomorrow
Dennis Bartok brings an oddball film back from obscurity -- an unreleased big budget comic Sci-fi musical given a big 1970 premiere,…
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Carlos Saura’s Flamenco Trilogy
Criterion's reboot of their branded line Eclipse goes in a great direction with a remaster of Carlos Saura and Antonio Gades' marvelous…
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Possessed
It's glamour time with one of Joan Crawford's best star vehicles, a core shopgirl-to-Park Avenue saga that's All About Joan. Clark Gable…
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Sentimental Value
A highlight of this year's awards season becomes a handsome, rewarding Criterion release. Joachim Trier's drama finds power in the intersection of…
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The 5-Man Army
Spaghetti westerns were the rage in 1969, as long as the action was constant and the body count high. An Italo producer…
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Unearthly Stranger
1963's critics favored this 'cerebral' Sci-fi offering but the main draw was its mysterious heroine, a new bride who may be an…
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Follow Me Quietly
Director Richard Fleischer's crime thriller passed the test with RKO's new owner Howard Hughes, possibly because of its clever story hook: a…
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7 Faces of Dr. Lao
George Pal's production had a hard nut to crack, adapting a highly misanthropic adult novel to serve as a family attraction for…
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Night World
Nope, it's not a stealth Karloff horror feature, but another of his underworld roles ... actually, a semi-underworld role in a nifty…
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Marlowe
James Garner takes a spin as the world-weary detective Philip Marlowe -- "unassailably virtuous, invariably broke." An updating of Raymond Chandler's The…
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The Thief of Bagdad
Douglas Fairbanks' miracle film of the silent era is back in a new restoration from Photoplay Productions, with a bounty of extras;…
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Hi, Mom!
Brian DePalma's wild skit + provocation comedy cemented his status as a capable, meaningful filmmaker just before he turned to a commercial…
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D.O.A. + Borderline
VCI showcases a pair of independently produced films noir, one a decent programmer and the other one of the best of its…
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Stray Dog
The depressed streets of postwar Tokyo are the hunting ground for detective Toshiro Mifune, who lost his service automatic on a streetcar…
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Swashbuckler
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;…
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Million Dollar Legs
Paramount's catch-all comedy makes zero sense but has a great attitude. It showcases a number of eager funnymen from vaudeville and silent…
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Crack-Up
This noir tries something different: an art expert must play detective to find out why everybody thinks he's gone insane. Who knew…
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Body Heat
A shining 4K encoding underscores the heat in Lawrence Kasdan's ode to cold-blooded murder, committed in the name of sex and greed…
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Brit Noir
It's a new branded line for Kino Lorber -- English thrillers from the 1940s and '50s, remastered and looking good. Jean Simmons…
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The Big Combo
Cornel Wilde's first film for his own production company is a stone classic and a genuine cult item, an organized crime tale…
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Arrowsmith
Rescued from post-Code censorship, Sinclair Lewis's critique of medical ethics makes an interesting subject for director John Ford. Ronald Colman and Helen…
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Testament
Criterion takes on the anti-nuke horror film that hits closest to home. Lynne Littman's harrowing film stays small-scale and Big Emotion, charting the…
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The Front
Former blacklistees Walter Bernstein and Martin Ritt turned their career experiences into a powerful picture; the bankability of star Woody Allen is…