What happens when a prosecutor tracks down one of the most evil criminals of the century, only to find that politics and corruption prevent him from issuing an arrest warrant? This is the true story of the hunt for the Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann — not from the POV of the Israeli agents that…
The restoration of a newly rediscovered director’s cut of the 1931 The Front Page prompts this two-feature comedy disc — Lewis Milestone’s early talkie plus the sublime Howard Hawks remake, which plays a major gender switch on the main characters of Hecht & MacArthur’s original play. His Girl Friday / The Front Page Blu-ray The…
It’s icky, drippy and grindingly gross — and will make your forehead itch — but Abel Ferrara’s Bowery-set dime store horror opus has withstood the test of time. It’s a decent enough psychodrama, if one can set aside all the psychological-philosophical booshwah that’s leaked into horror criticism. Oops, Savant’s guilty of that too. The Driller…
Is this a genuine classic? I think so. Sure, it’s the old story of the blind girl in jeopardy, but it’s been worked out so well. Audrey Hepburn, Alan Arkin, Richard Crenna and Jack Weston shine in a keen adaptation of Frederick Knott’s play, which could be titled, Dial C for Can’t See Nuthin.’ Wait…
How could England have won the war without him? Horatio Smith sneaks about in Nazi Germany, liberating concentration camp inmates right under the noses of the Gestapo. Leslie Howard directed and stars in this wartime escapist spy thriller, as a witty professor too passive to be suspected as the mystery spy. ‘Pimpernel’ Smith Blu-ray Olive…
It sounds like a winner — Albert Finney and Martin Sheen team up for a daring subterranean bank robbery in the heart of London. The locations, the sets and the production are all first class. So what happened? Susannah York and Jonathan Pryce are in on the heist as well. Loophole (1981) Blu-ray KL Studio…
Does your memory go as far back as 2010, or have too many catastrophes and cataclysms blurred your vision? Peter Berg’s tense account of the BP Gulf Oil Spill debacle covers twenty hours of technological peril, as Mark Wahlberg and Kurt Russell battle idiotic executives and a badly-cemented oil well that’s fixing to blow sky…
The immensely popular singing trio provides an extremely pleasant eighty minutes of musical nostalgia – with plenty of full-length performances but also the full variety of their music through the years. Interviews with the principals give us the back story, light but not superficial, while film clips show their political activism through the years. 50…
Don’t mess with the one-armed man — did you know that at 56 years, Spencer Tracy could whup Ernest Borgnine to a frazzle? John Sturges knocked this one out of the ballpark and booted his career into high gear. It’s well remembered… but does anyone remember that the subject is the murder of a Japanese-American?…
The story didn’t end with the Miracle in the Hudson — hero pilot Sully Sullenberger is tried by an investigative committee. Clint Eastwood’s film examines and re-examines the 2.5 minutes, as the bureaucrats make the case that 155 passengers were unnecessarily put at risk. Sully Blu-ray + DVD + Digital HD Warner Brothers Home Video…
Ray Harryhausen eases up for his second color Dynamation feature, restricting the stop-motion and instead utilizing traveling mattes to make a more juvenile adventure movie for smaller kiddies. The big draw is the beautiful music score by fantasy favorite Bernard Herrmann. The 3 Worlds of Gulliver Blu-ray Twilight Time 1960 / Color / 1:66 &…
One of the better-remembered ’80s sci-fi horror thrillers is back in an improved Blu-ray with a pile of extras. Dennis Quaid gets to act with Max von Sydow Christopher Plummer, Eddie Albert and Kate Capshaw, as they deal with a Cronenberg-like device that can invade human dreams. Dreamscape Blu-ray Scream Factory (Shout! Factory) 1984…
or, Savant picks The Most Impressive Discs of 2016 Above, from 1989: In Bronson Caverns, Savant and the intrepid Todd Stribich encounter an omen from the menacing future. I guess 2016 is going down on the record books as an, ‘interesting’ year, for reasons that are all too evident. Whenever some sage survivor has to…
Federico Fellini’s best non-narrative feature is an intoxicating meta-travelogue, not just of the Eternal City but the director’s idea of Rome past and present. The masterful images alternate between nostalgic vulgarity and dreamy timelessness. Criterion’s disc is a new restoration. Fellini’s Roma Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 848 1972 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 120…
It’s a powerful plea against the death penalty, but also an Oscar bid for a fiery actress. And don’t forget the cool jazz music score. On top of this Robert Wise adds a formerly- taboo sequence, a realistic depiction of an execution in the gas chamber. Of such things were gritty, hard-hitting reputations made. I…
A big, loud, lusty western battle movie with sexy stars and zero brains, this was a big hit back in ’69, just before The Wild Bunch rebooted the entire genre. Jim Brown, Raquel Welch and Burt Reynolds burn up the screen with action, even though the actual acting is on the weak side. 100 Rifles…
Good neighbor policy? Wartime exigencies inspired an intra-hemisphere cultural exchange, with the movies seizing on the new popularity of Latin music. Republic’s contribution gives us the great songs of Ady Barroso and a full soundtrack of his compositions — in a featherweight musical romance, of course. Brazil Blu-ray Olive Films 1944 / B&W / 1:37…
Just what is the dreaded ‘Process 97’? Henry Hathaway’s docu-drama combined newsreel ‘reality’ with a true espionage story from the files of the F.B.I., creating a thriller about spies and atom secrets that dazzled the film-going public. But how much of it was true, and how much invented? The House on 92nd Street Blu-ray KL…
Success in the ’90s gave Robert Altman the opportunity to experiment once again. Several short stories by Raymond Carver interlock in a mosaic of Los Angeles populated by scores of actors in ensemble mode. Clocking in at three hours, Altman’s epic has all the time and space it needs. Short Cuts Blu-ray The Criterion Collection…
Will somebody explain the sheep and the bear? Luis Buñuel really knows how to disturb people. This, his most characteristic surreal drama proposes an impossible, irrational situation – which isn’t all that different from the reality we know. Petty social rules, jealousies and bitterness make life hell for group of dinner guests stuck with each…
All sing the praises of Frank Borzage, a gentle director fully committed to the idea of romance in an imperfect world. Sally Eilers and James Dunn make a go of marriage, despite their personal flaws and difficulties with communication. It’s hard to believe that films of this vintage portray behaviors as sensitive as this. Bad…
Psycho launched a thousand twisted sickos and pathological relationships in films, but none can best Noel Black’s fascinating, funny romance between a newly-released arsonist and a fetching high schooler, hungry for freedom and lacking a moral compass. The pairing of Anthony Perkins and Tuesday Weld is inspired. Pretty Poison Blu-ray Twilight Time 1968 / Color…
Joan Crawford controls every aspect of this glamorous, Oscar nominated noir about a murderous marriage double-cross. Good acting enlivens a by-the-book, gimmick-laden plot, with every moment designed to flatter the star. Sudden Fear Blu-ray The Cohen Film Collection 1952 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 110 min. / Street Date December 13, 2016 /…
Robert Siodmak’s superb noir classic pits two graduates of Little Italy against one other: a crook who can deceive relatives and seduce strangers into helping him, and the cop who wants to put him out of business. Starring the great Richard Conte, with Victor Mature in what might be his best role. Cry of the…
Does anybody still care about great movies for small children? If so, here’s a good one. A big, furry green dragon named Elliot is the kind of playmate every lonely kid wants. It’s a non-musical rethinking of the old 1977 movie, made with taste, discretion, and plenty of heart. Pete’s Dragon Blu-ray + DVD +…
John Huston’s primal heist film is an almost perfect movie, with a score of unforgettable characterizations. A solid crime noir, it concerns itself with the human ironies in the ‘left handed form of human endeavor.’ The Asphalt Jungle Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 847 1950 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 112 min. / available…