CineSavant
The Champion: A Story of America’s First Film Town
Proving again that there's always more to learn about film history, Marc J. Perez's documentary tells the story of a major American…
Articles by Glenn Erickson
CineSavant
Brigadoon
Balletic, stylized and rather aloof, MGM's biggest musical for 1954 still has what musical lovers crave -- good dancing, beautiful melodies and…
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The Flight of the Phoenix (Region B)
Forgotten amid Robert Aldrich's more critic-friendly movies is this superb suspense picture, an against-all-odds thriller that pits an old-school pilot against a…
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Erik the Conqueror
"And On The Eighth Day Bava Created Color." That's my sentiment with every new quality restoration of a Mario Bava picture. This…
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Hour of the Gun
It's the one Gunfight at the O.K. Corral saga that puts Western legend into proper perspective as to the nature of money,…
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Vampyr (1932)
Of all the legendary early horror films Carl Theodor Dreyer's vampire nightmare was once the most difficult to appreciate -- until Criterion's…
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OSS 117 Five Film Collection
He's fast on his feet, quick with a gun, and faster with the to-die-for beauties that only existed in the swinging '60s.…
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Crime of Passion
Witness the 'fifties transformation of the femme fatale from scheming murderess to self-deluding social climber. Barbara Stanwyck redefines herself once again in…
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One Million B.C.
Leapin' Lizards! The original cavemen vs. dinosaurs saga is a winner -- if viewer involvement trumps visual effects, it's got a narrow…
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The Big Sick
This modern romantic comedy about stand-up comedians generates a genuine warmth about people, the ones-who-need-people kind. Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon's…
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The Illustrated Man
Ray Bradbury adapted to the screen is always something to check out; this Jack Smight- directed trio of stories bound together by…
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The Emperor in August
This great recent Japanese epic is all but unknown here -- and is the kind of adult historical show that we seem…
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The Love of a Woman
Welcome to the world of Jean Grémillon, where adult characters work through adult problems without benefit of melodramatic excess. The impressively directed…
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Love with the Proper Stranger
What are two individualistic, highly motivated movie stars supposed to do when faced with an unimaginative studio system eager to misuse their…
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The Lost World (1925)
*Sigh* — Not a day goes by that I don’t miss my escaped brontosaurus. This wonder movie of the silent era, which…
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Flipper Season One
Back in 1964 a lot of people still thought dolphins were fish, but by the time this TV show was finished, we…
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A ‘Close Encounters’ Example of Forced Perspective
‘Close Encounters’ awareness is up this week, what with a national mini-release of the 1977 Steven Spielberg hit, so I reached into…
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Krakatoa East of Java
'Things Blowing Up Good' has been surefire entertainment since the beginning of cinema, but this ill-fated Cinerama extravaganza about the biggest explosion…
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The Law and Jake Wade
Many of MGM's productions were scraping bottom in 1958, yet the studio found one more acceptable western vehicle for their last big…
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Kid Galahad
He sings, he fixes cars, and he takes punches better than De Niro's Raging Bull. Elvis Presley excels in one of his…
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Red Line 7000
It's finally here in all its glory, the Howard Hawks movie nobody loves. The epitome of clueless '60s filmmaking by an auteur…
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Festival: Folk Music at Newport, 1963-1966
We thought all the great vintage music documentaries were accounted for, but Murray Lerner's look at the Newport Folk Festival in the…
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Certain Women
Is this the new feminist minimalism? Director Kelly Reichart doesn't like labels, and to her credit as a woman director, her amalgam…
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The Noose Hangs High
Even lesser Abbott & Costello movies are still comedy gravy to the avid fans of the fast-talking duo. Their first film deal…
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The Stranger
Edward G. Robinson uncovers another killer, but this time he's after a Nazi mass murderer, not an insurance salesman. Orson Welles' most…
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The Long, Hot Summer
Barns are a-burning, Paul Newman is recommended to Joanne Woodward as 'a big stud horse' and Lee Remick oozes sexuality all over…