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…
Ya like quality pro-intervention propaganda? Warners’ filmic call to arms inspired America’s reluctant warriors via a superhuman feat by a highly decorated WW1 veteran… and promptly got into hot water with the United States congress. Howard Hawks’ highly effective load of sentiment and sanctimony makes Tennesseans look like denizens of Dogpatch, U.S.A.. But America…
And now for something we had read about but never before saw: Tod Slaughter’s highly entertaining murder thriller is stylized in a vintage theatrical format, the Victorian blood & thunder barnstorming drama, originally from 1880 or thereabouts. Slaughter’s refined gentleman is also a crazed killer with a bizarre modus operandi. Everything that happens is…
Pairing wine with movies! See the trailers and hear the fascinating commentary for these movies and many more at Trailers From Hell. This week we mourn the loss of cinematographer Michael Chapman, who passed away recently at his Los Angeles home. If you like the way 1976’s Taxi Driver or 1980’s Raging Bull looks on…
Sci-fi alert! New classic science fiction discoveries are rare these days, which makes Arrow’s rejuvenation of Japan’s first science fiction tale in color a special item. Fans may need both hands to count the ‘copycat’ elements but Kôji Shima’s epic improves on many of its American predecessors. Despite the star-shaped arts ‘n’ crafts aliens,…
The Phantom of the Opera Blu ray 1962 / 84 min. / 1:85:1, 1:66:1, 1:33:1 Starring Herbert Lom, Heather Sears, Michael Gough Cinematography by Arthur Grant Directed by Terence Fisher Hammer Studios made their mark by viewing Universal’s classic horror films through a contemporary lens—which for the late 50’s and early 60’s meant more explicit…
Ride ’em, rope ’em, bite ’em? Is this ‘Dracula Goes West,’ or ‘Fangs of the High Chapparal?’ The fading Universal-International house of horrors squeaks out a bizarre horror item that one sits through just out of curiosity… are these people serious? We respect the professionalism of Michael Pate, Kathleen Crowley and Bruce Gordon as…
Is Joseph Losey’s elusive, maudit masterpiece really a masterpiece? Stanley Baker’s foolish lout of a writer ruins his life pursuing the wanton Jeanne Moreau, and it’s hard to tell if she’s punishing him or he’s punishing himself. Losey’s directing skills are in top form on location in Venice and Rome for this absorbing art…
Why is it that, when a horror film achieves something special, both the critics and the public tend to elevate it above and beyond the ‘lowly’ horror genre? David Lynch’s most humane and sympathetic film still makes our heads spin, and this new 4K remaster renders Freddie Francis’s great cinematography at its best. Lynch…
Universal Horror Collection Volume 5 Blu ray 1943, 1944, 1945, 1941 / 61, 61, 63, 64 min. Starring Ellen Drew, John Carradine, Acquanetta Cinematography by George Robinson, Jack MacKenzie, Maury Gertsman, Victor Milner Directed by Edward Dmytryk, Reginald Le Borg, Harold Young, Stuart Heisler The Universal Horror Collection Volume 5 should appeal to ape suit…
Pairing wine with movies! See the trailers and hear the fascinating commentary for these movies and many more at Trailers From Hell. We’re pairing wines with films about African kings and queens this week, a royally pleasurable pandemic diversion. Zulu Dawn was the 1979 prequel to 1964’s Zulu. Zulu Dawn is about the 1879 Battle…
It’s a perfect movie for a dark time: Carlo Levi’s famed novel about a political undesirable became a major Italian miniseries by the great Francesco Rosi, starring the now-legendary Gian Maria Volontè. In Mussolini’s most popular years of make-Italy-great-again Fascism, a dissident is given an indefinite ‘time out,’ an exile to a small town…
This mid-‘sixties black comedy from the mischievous George Axelrod defines and dissects ‘crazy California culture’ just as West Coasters were being slandered as godless weird-oh hedonists. It’s partly a sarcastic put-down, citing anecdotal extremes like drive-in churches (how 2020 can you get?), perverse youth encounter groups and mindless beach party movies. But Axelrod’s paints…
This past summer’s VOD Lawrence Brothers sensation Money Plane marks a bit of a digression as a recommendation from this fan. It falls into one of those very lovable subcategories of critical appreciation this viewer likes to call the “Dumb Action Movie.” This cost-effective, near-camp shoot-em-up confection cheerfully weathers its budgetary and technical constraints to…
The Cat and the Canary & The Ghost Breakers Blu ray Kino Lorber 1939, 1940 / 72, 83 min. Starring Bob Hope, Paulette Goddard Cinematography by Charles B. Lang Directed by Elliott Nugent, George Marshall Bob Hope’s brand of comedy may have been extinct by the sixties but it was alive and kicking in the…
It’s lurid, it’s soapy, it’s forbidden: where does the line form? Joseph E. Levine made hay from Harold Robbins’ best seller, with prose that The New York Times said belonged more properly “on the walls of a public lavatory.” So why is the picture so much fun? When the performances are good they’re very…
Does a musical have to have big dance numbers, glorious cinematography and stereophonic sound? I agree with a consensus of critics and fans that this 1932 pre-Code marvel is the best musical romance of all. Maurice Chevalier may be ‘nothing but a tailor’ yet he steals the heart of Jeanette MacDonald’s princess and shocks…
Pairing wine with movies! See the trailers and hear the fascinating commentary for these movies and many more at Trailers From Hell. This week we are mourning the loss of Diana Rigg, sexy Emma Peel of The Avengers on TV and a part of these three films on the big screen. 1969’s On Her Majesty’s…
Dr. Who and the Daleks/Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. Blu ray Kino Lorber 1965, 1966 / 82, 84 min. Starring Peter Cushing, Bernard Cribbens Cinematography by John Wilcox Directed by Gordon Flemyng The story of Doctor Who turns on a distinctly British conceit; our hero, a grandfatherly type usually found puttering in the garden, is…
It’s smart, it’s funny, it has a touch of romance… it’s Billy Wilder & Charles Brackett’s entertaining espionage thriller set between the battle lines of the North Africa campaign. Franchot Tone must impersonate a double agent, when the command staff of General Rommel (Erich von Stroheim!) takes over a half-bombed hotel run by the…
Witness one Robert Lippert, an American independent producer who flourished in multiple eras of Hollywood. We discuss his adaptation to changes in the movie biz in conjunction with a double bill DVD of two typical Lippert shows from the very early fifties, one produced in Hollywood and another in England. Robert Lippert is the…
Four months ago, we assessed the possible futures of post-quarantine cinema. Premium Video On Demand (PVOD) was on the upswing, after apparently netting Trolls: World Tour a lucrative opening weekend in rental grosses when the studio behind it, Universal, opted to release the animated sequel on streaming services for an elevated rate. Since then, everything…
“The only true wisdom comes in knowing that you know nothing.” -Socrates There’s a reason screenwriters Ed Solomon and Chris Matheson made a point of highlighting that quote in Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989), the classic science fiction comedy adventure that kicked off a most bodacious series of joyous cinematic quests. Like another surprisingly…
Universal’s top-of-the-line Alfred Hitchcock classics make the jump to Ultra HD in a worthy update. We’ve seen these before but they’re always different in a theatrical setting… and the quality is so amazing here, a big home theater setup can duplicate a theatrical experience. It might as well be a Robert Burks / John…