This bizarre, creepy and maudit masterpiece of silent expressionist horror is an independent 1950s production that never had a chance commercially. Butchered by a second distributor, its ignominious fate was to wind up as a movie-within-a-movie footnote for Steve McQueen. Cohen/BFI’s ‘rescue’ remastering of John Parker’s picture does some things great — we never…
The Fu Manchu Cycle—1965-1969 Blu ray Powerhouse Indicator 1965 – 1969 / 96, 93, 91, 94, 92 min. / 2:33:1, 1:85, 1:66 Starring Christoper Lee, Tsai Chin Cinematography by Ernest Steward, John Von Kotze, Manuel Merino Directed by Don Sharp, Jeremy Summers, Jesús Franco Arthur Henry Ward was born in Birmingham in 1883—at the age…
French filmmaker Alain Jessua comes up with a commercial thriller with a science-fiction, medical horror twist. Alain Delon and Annie Girardot don’t shy away from some matter-of-fact nude scenes, that serve a legit dramatic purpose. Outside France the sex content was almost the only angle exploited. Beneath the glamour and intrigues at a chic…
With a full moon gracing us just in time for Halloween 2020, this critic decided to revisit one of the less-loved Universal Classic Monsters, Henry Hull’s titular beast in the flop curio Werewolf of London (1935). We’ll examine what was essentially a werewolf-infused reinterpretation of the Robert Louis Stevenson novel Strange Case of Dr Jekyll…
Pairing wine with movies! See the trailers and hear the fascinating commentary for these movies and many more at Trailers From Hell. A show of hands: how many remember trick-or-treating when a tampered-with candy bar was the biggest fear? Should a surgical mask be worn inside or outside the scary character mask? The 1925 version…
The Cuban masterpiece has been restored, and is now viewable on the Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project 3 boxed set. Humberto Solás’ nearly 3-hour national epic revisits two earlier revolutions to tell the stories of three Lucías. The first Lucía is entangled in the war of independence against Spain, and the second opposes the gangland-era…
It’s Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing together in a horror picture, a formula no shock feature fan can resist. Most of us remember staring at the beautiful full-color photo of Chris Lee in monster makeup in Denis Gifford’s picture book about horror movies. Yet this has remained one of the pair’s most obscure items,…
If you like Euro-crime and haven’t seen this one you’re in for a real treat. English killers are on the road in Spain, executing a hit on a ‘Supergrass’ who’s spent ten years in protective custody. The brilliant cast — Terence Stamp, John Hurt, Tim Roth and Laura Del Sol give the criminal twists…
Clint Eastwood proves again that he Owns the western genre with this odd tale of land reform insurrection and establishment blowback, in New Mexico of 1906. To direct the script by the great Elmore Leonard, Eastwood brought in the western movie legend John Sturges. But Sturges discovered that collaboration now meant acceding to whatever…
The appealingly atmospheric crime thriller Alphabet City (1984) debuts on Blu-ray this fall courtesy of Fun City Editions. Directed by Amos Poe, with a script by Poe, Gregory K. Heller (additional dialogue is credited to Robert Seidman), Alphabet City belongs in the company of After Hours and Into The Night (both 1985) as one of…
Pairing wine with movies! See the trailers and hear the fascinating commentary for these movies and many more at Trailers From Hell. What better trio of films to receive a wine pairing than a handful of Hitchcocks. If you’re a fan of Alfred Hitchcock’s films – and you’d better be – you know there’s going…
The Ape Blu ray Kino Lorber 1940 / 62 min. / 1:33:1 Starring Boris Karloff, Maris Wrixon Cinematography by Harry Neumann Directed by William Nigh William Nigh directed over 40 silent films before he signed on for The Ape, which might account for this 1940 film looking far older than its release date—the staging is…
This CinemaScope musical remake of 1939’s The Women is highly watchable, especially in this flawless digital remaster. The actresses that bare their claws, compete for husbands and just plain cat-fight are a choice batch, with favorites from the ’50s (June Allyson, Agnes Moorehead) the ’40s (Ann Sheridan, Ann Miller) the ’30s (Joan Blondell, Charlotte Greenwood)…
Easily the best family-oriented black experience movie of the early 1970s, the Third World Cinema Corporation’s first film features Diahann Carroll and James Earl Jones in a funny, endearing saga of life in the welfare system, with human feeling and compassion to spare. But the triumphant socially progressive movie fails the 2020 diversity test…
This big, expensive and well-produced action-suspense Sci-fi epic mostly delivers on its promise to be Aliens at the bottom of the sea. At heart it’s a 1950s pulse-pounder with a bigger monster, a zillion times the budget and a script that does everything but make us care. We appreciate the likable characters but it’s…
Fade To Black, released 40 years ago today, is a deliciously demented, and surprisingly tragic, slice of meta-cinema. The tale of a much-maligned matinee maniac gone sour, Fade To Black rides a riveting, tour de force star turn from Dennis Christopher into certifiable legend status. This criminally under-seen thriller received a chilly reception upon its…
Pairing wine with movies! See the trailers and hear the fascinating commentary for these movies and many more at Trailers From Hell. Crime is a hot topic in the movies, but be careful – you don’t always know who the criminals are. Clay Pigeon didn’t exactly set 1971 on fire, but if it had it…
It’s finally back on Blu in Region 1, the ‘sixties spy movie beloved by enthusiasts that yearned for something a bit more substantial & nutritious than James Bond. This first Harry Palmer adventure seems even more perfect than when it was thanks to a great espionage recipe and quality ingredients. Michael Caine is sensational…
The Chalk Garden Blu ray 1964 / 106 min. / 1:85:1 Starring Deborah Kerr, Hayley Mills, John Mills Cinematography by Arthur Ibbetson Directed by Ronald Neame Julie Andrews thrived in the role of governess—even when pitted against the Nazis in The Sound of Music she found plenty of time for sing-alongs—the same for Mary Poppins where…
If you have to name ONE movie that’s not likely to ever be screened in a prison, this one’s a good bet. In his sophomore starring outing Burt Lancaster leads a group of rebel convicts on a do-or-die bust-out against Hume Cronyn’s utter Nazi of a warden Captain. Richard Brooks’ script and Jules Dassin’s direction…
Producer-star Richard Widmark may have thought he was inventing a new kind of spy film but his adaptation of an Alistair MacLean novel just grinds the Cold War grist, mixing good atmosphere with unconvincing action derring-do. The handsome production makes good use of Austrian and Swiss locations and the unfamiliar cast is a big assist….
Pairing wine with movies! See the trailers and hear the fascinating commentary for these movies and many more at Trailers From Hell. And watch your speed, unless you want to be breaking news. 2019’s Ford v Ferrari is a gearhead’s movie. A speed freak’s movie. A Ford man’s movie. Keep your Chevys in the garage…
A bona fide film classic, George Stevens’ movie is less revered as an excellent adaptation of Theodore Dreiser than for its intense, almost hallucinatory romantic scenes between Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor. A guileless poor boy tries to succeed above his economic background and entangles himself between two very different women. I guess the…
TV’s 1979 Titanic movie comes to Blu in two versions. We liked it when new but didn’t care for the cut-down theatrical version that hit DVD in 2002. Kino’s disc completes a set of various film versions of the infamous 1912 disaster, and allows us the chance for a Titanic ‘battle of the bands’…
The Vincent Price Collection Blu ray 1960,’61, ’63, ’64, ’68, ’71 / 79, 85, 87, 90, 86, 94 min. / 2.35 : 1, 1:85:1 Starring Vincent Price, Barbara Steele, Hazel Court Cinematography by Floyd Crosby, Nicolas Roeg, John Coquillon, Norman Warwick Directed by Roger Corman, Michael Reeves, Robert Fuest The Vincent Price Collection, the first…