CineSavant
The Lost Weekend
Billy Wilder's first big Oscar winner holds up as fine work in every respect, and serves as evidence of the writer-director's moviemaking…
Articles by Glenn Erickson
CineSavant
Devil in a Blue Dress
Carl Franklin's adaptation of the great Walter Mosley novel still plays like a winner. Denzel Washington's star quality and acting prowess shine…
CineSavant
Hard Eight
First films of important directors usually feel like warm-ups, but not so this suspenseful story of 'twilight' people living in and around…
CineSavant
Holiday Affair
RKO polished Robert Mitchum's post- pot bust image with this swell-guy romantic Christmas tale, placing him opposite the drop-dead desirable Janet Leigh.…
CineSavant
Moonstruck
Criterion refreshes a bona fide classic with a new remaster and makes their release especially attractive with some well-chosen extras that give…
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Buffalo Bill and the Indians
Do audiences ever ask for a History Lesson? Robert Altman gives them a smart, if diffuse, image of America as a showbiz…
CineSavant
Attack
Robert Aldrich promised no-holds barred rough-tough dramas, and his first two Associates & Aldrich productions certainly hit hard. This play adaptation shows…
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Mister Roberts
This adapted Broadway play may be considered minor John Ford moviemaking, and some sources say he had to drop out before he…
CineSavant
The Buster Keaton Collection Volume 4
More Keaton is always a good thing -- fans of The General and The Cameraman will find plenty to enjoy in these…
CineSavant
Girlfriends
Criterion lets out the stops to celebrate a filmmaker long due for some victory laps -- Claudia Weill's endearing drama takes on…
CineSavant
Danger: Diabolik
Double your Diabolik and double your pleasure! ... this Australian import chases a domestic disc onto the market after only a few…
CineSavant
The Puppetoon Movie Volume 2
Talk about the Lost Arts -- Animation of various kinds, even stop-motion, is now a major part of filmmaking entertainment. But back…
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Apache
In 2001 I wrote, 'Someday I'll get to see a good copy of Robert Aldrich's great movie Apache.' Kino's excellent new Blu-ray…
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The Shop Around the Corner
CineSavant's hands-down favorite holiday film, this Ernst Lubitsch classic radiates human kindness in all directions. Nobody is perfect: misunderstandings benign and profound…
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The Curse of Frankenstein
Hammer's first color Gothic horror show recovers its charnel house luster in the WAC's ambitious 'surprise' restoration. The severed heads and Peter…
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Ladybug Ladybug
Several atom-fear exposés bravely 'told the truth' about the madness of the nuclear standoff. They didn't get more liberal-precious than this uncompromising,…
CineSavant
Major Dundee (Australian Import)
The new [Imprint] label turns its attention to the Sam Peckinpah favorite, the almost-classic that suffered a number of setbacks -- a…
CineSavant
The Day of the Locust
John Schlesinger's adaptation of Nathanael West's novel is one of the best 'Hollywood on Hollywood' pictures ever, even if it soaks everything…
CineSavant
King Kong (1976)
Dino De Laurentiis took a lot of flack for his underwhelming remake of the incomparable 1933 horror classic, which he promoted into…
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The Pirate
Now for a real treat for musical fans, a core MGM dazzler with top stars, fully restored and looking incredibly good. Vincente…
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Silent Running
Bruce Dern is on a life-saving mission! After killing John Wayne in The Cowboys but before trying to massacre the Super Bowl…
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The Gunfighter
When Hollywood from time to time reinvented the western the results were sometimes sensationally good, as attested to by this superior neglected…
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Ulysses (1954)
No, it's not the story of the 18th President of the United States. Kirk Douglas must have been a big hit in…
CineSavant
The Mortal Storm
It's pretty scary to think that as late as 1940 both Washington and the American public were sharply divided over Nazi Germany.…
CineSavant
Mad Max (1979)
The true breakdown of society appears to have begun in Australia around 1979, when George Miller made this berserk extrapolation of every…
CineSavant
Dragnet (1954)
Join Joe Friday and Frank Smith as they make a case against the rotten gangland crooks that moiderized Dub Taylor with a…