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SISTERS 2007: After ten years of directing indies (GREETINGS, HI, MOM!) and a failed studio film (GET TO KNOW YOUR RABBIT), SISTERS (1973) became Brian DePalma’s breakout feature. His psycho-sexual screenplay (written with Louisa Rose) about two separated Siamese twin sisters, one good, one evil (both played by Margot Kidder) made ample use of split-screen, a perambulating camera and a musical score by Hitchcock maestro Bernard Herrmann. For his 21st Century remake, producer Edward R. Pressman (DAS BOOT, WALL STREET, THANK YOU FOR SMOKING) chose maverick filmmaker Douglas Buck, who had distinguished himself on the genre and underground film festival circuit with a series of disturbing shorts collected into the feature FAMILY PORTRAITS (available on DVD from Image) that won praise from genre auteurs Abel Ferrara, Gaspar Noe, and Larry Fessenden (one of SISTERS ‘07s exec producers). Buck’s version is truly exceptional, actually better than the original in execution (no pun intended). DePalma had made an unabashed homage to Hitchcock; Buck eschews some of DePalma’s cinematic pyrotechnics in favor of mood and atmosphere. Beginning with the main title sequence he creates a sense of dread and foreboding worthy of Roman Polanski’s great apartment movies (REPULSION, ROSEMARY’S BABY, THE TENANT). The original featured very good performances by Margot Kidder and especially Jennifer Salt as an investigative reporter; the new film casts the extraordinary Chloe Sevigny to great advantage as the journalist, the inimitable Stephen Rea in the mad doctor role, and introduces an intriguing new personality as the twins, French actress/model Lou Doillon (daughter of legendary actress/singer Jane Birkin and director Jacques Doillon). Doillon was cast only days before shooting began, when Asia Argento was forced to drop out for a previous commitment.
Enough for comparisons. Doug Buck makes SISTERS completely his own, working from a script he co-wrote with John Freitas. FAMILY PORTRAITS was really a collection of shorts, so SISTERS represents his debut feature; as such it is one of the most assured and accomplished debuts in years. There is not a wasted frame in the movie, and the cinematography by John Campbell (MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO) is especially evocative. SISTERS does have a modicum of blood to appease the sanguinary marketplace, but it is much more artful than most contemporary horror films; it is, in fact, a “thinking man’s horror film.” Chloe Sevigny does some of her best work in this film and there is clearly a special working chemistry between actress and director. Another outstanding actor, Dallas Roberts (“Sam Phillips” in WALK THE LINE), has a large supporting role as a young doctor romantically involved with one of the sisters, and he too excels in this film. My only criticism lies in a pair of hapless detectives who seem to have wandered in off the set of some hokey TV cop show.
SISTERS was made independently (filmed in Vancouver, Canada), and has screened at festivals in France, Spain, Austin, and Philadelphia while distribution deals are finalized for a release later this year.
Now, I have to be completely honest: Doug Buck is a friend of mine, known him for almost ten years through Internationales Filmfest Oldenburg in Germany and mutual cineaste and IFFO honcho Torsten Neumann. But don’t take the above review with a grain of salt. If anything, I’m tougher on him because he’s a pal, and if I didn’t feel so strongly about the film, believe me, I wouldn’t even be writing about it. Check out SISTERS for yourself later this year.
20th CENTURY-FOX/MGM: This spring we’ve enjoyed the DVD releases of some of 2006’s best movies, most notably Richard Eyre’s NOTES ON A SCANDAL, a scintillating adaptation by Patrick Marber of the Zoe Heller novel. Cate Blanchett is tremendous as a young wife and mother who teaches in a London school and gets involved with one of her students; as good as Blanchett is, Dame Judi Dench is pure genius as the lonely teacher who befriends and then blackmails Blanchett. This is strong, emotional drama, and, I believe, an instant classic. It just doesn’t get any better than this, acting, writing, and direction of the highest caliber, all set to the relentless music of Philip Glass. 20th’s DVD includes audio commentary from Eyre, and three featurettes and five webisodes documenting the making of the film in great detail.
Two versions of Victor Hugo’s timeless LES MISERABLES are available on one DVD from 20th Century-Fox, and offer an excellent opportunity to compare how two premiere directors handle the same material. The 1935 version, directed by the underrated and forgotten Richard Boleslawski (author of a key text on acting), casts Fredric March as Jean Valjean and Charles Laughton as Inspector Javert in their third and final teaming (they had previously co-starred in 1932’s THE SIGN OF THE CROSS and 1934’s THE BARRETTS OF WIMPOLE STREET). This is one of the best Hollywood films of the Thirties, perfectly executed under the supervision of auteur producer Darryl Zanuck, with key technical contributions from brilliant cinematographer Gregg Toland (later to shoot CITIZEN KANE), pioneering set designer Richard Day, and music composer Alfred Newman. After turning Warner Brothers Pictures into an early 30s cash cow as head of production, Zanuck joined with Joseph Schenck to form Twentieth Century Pictures, based on the Sam Goldwyn lot (still in use) at Santa Monica Boulevard and Formosa Avenue, releasing through United Artists. LES MISERABLES was one of his first prestige pictures, lavishly produced, perfectly acted by March, perfectly over-acted by the always entertaining Laughton. Twentieth Century merged with the foundering Fox Film Corporation shortly after Zanuck produced LES MISERABLES and turned 20th Century-Fox into a major studio. In 1952, he remade the Hugo novel with Lewis Milestone directing (ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT), and Michael Rennie (fresh from THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL) and Robert Newton (Long John Silver in Disney’s 1950 TREASURE ISLAND) as the hunted and the hunter, respectively. With a much lower budget than the 1935 epic, Milestone does an admirable if economic job; the director is forced to rely on his superior editing skills, and the talents of his actors, including Elsa Lanchester, Edmund Gwenn, Debra Paget, Cameron Mitchell and Sylvia Sidney. The DVD includes restoration comparisons, a featurette and a trailer for the 1952 version. This disc is highly recommended for both versions, particularly the still powerful March-Laughton film.
Here’s a delightful surprise from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, four of the terrific Michael Shayne crime thrillers from the early Forties, out of sight for years, now unearthed in MICHAEL SHAYNE MYSTERIES VOLUME ONE. MGM may have had an “A” detective series with THE THIN MAN, but 20th ruled the “B” field with CHARLIE CHAN and MR. MOTO (two DVD collections each are available from the studio). Columbia had BOSTON BLACKIE, THE LONE WOLF and CRIME DOCTOR, but they couldn’t beat the Shayne films for stories, production values, and casts.
These movies are all about Lloyd Nolan (1902-1985), playing Michael Shayne as an extremely likeable, mildly sarcastic, happy-go-lucky Irishman. Shayne is very much an everyman kind of guy … and not the brightest private dick on the silver screen, which gives him his appeal. He races into situations acting first and thinking later, and much of the series’ entertainment value stems from this character flaw. The character of Shayne was created by Brett Halliday; his pulp detective fictions were published for years, even posthumously by other writers, and though there was a radio show, a monthly mystery magazine, and a short-lived TV series, there is only one Michael Shayne for detective fans, and that’s Lloyd Nolan.
In MICHAEL SHAYNE, PRIVATE DETECTIVE (1940), the first in the series, our hero is hired by a millionaire to keep an eye on his degenerate gambler daughter (adorable Marjorie Weaver, “Mary Todd” in John Ford’s 1939 YOUNG MR. LINCOLN). Elizabeth Patterson is a riot as her spinster aunt with a predilection for murder mysteries. As in all the Shaynes, the supporting cast is impressive; this one includes Walter Abel, Donald McBride and Douglas Dumbrille. THE MAN WHO WOULDN’T DIE (1942) is probably the best of the series, with a great “Old Dark House” atmosphere, a killer with eyes that glow in the dark and a pretty good car chase. Marjorie Weaver returns as a flighty rich girl, with Olin Howlin as a goofy country sheriff, DeMille star Henry Wilcoxon (CLEOPATRA, THE CRUSADES, UNCONQUERED, SAMSON AND DELILAH) as a shady doctor, and Francis Ford (brother of John) as the caretaker. These two pictures, tight and clean at 77 and 65 minutes, respectively, are grouped on Disc One along with restoration comparisons and excellent featurettes on Halliday and the art of Robert McGinnis, the artist behind the great Michael Shayne pulp paperback covers. Disc Two of the set offers SLEEPERS WEST (1941), the second installment in the series, and BLUE, WHITE AND PERFECT (1942). In SLEEPERS, Shayne escorts a key witness (beautiful Mary Beth Hughes) from L.A. to San Francisco, trailed by an overambitious reporter (Lynn Bari). BLUE, WHITE AND PERFECT is really fun, with Hughes back again (this time as Shayne’s fiancée), with George (ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN) Reeves in a major role (don’t want to spoil it for you) in a suspenseful thriller involving diamond thieves and German spies. Reeves was only 27 when he made this movie, and he is utterly charming and dashing. One forgets what a prolific actor he was in his pre-SUPERMAN days, with credits like GONE WITH THE WIND and THE FIGHTING 69th, and seven features in 1941 alone including BLOOD AND SAND and THE STRAWBERRY BLONDE, and it’s a treat to see him matching wits here with Lloyd Nolan. Disc Two includes restoration comparisons, an interactive trivia game, and another well-done featurette on the Shayne movies. DRESSED TO KILL (1941) is already available on DVD from 20th Century-Fox Home Entertainment, leaving JUST OFF BROADWAY (1942) and TIME TO KILL (1942) for a second Michael Shayne Mysteries volume.
20th also plumbs the MGM Home Video catalogue for three new crime titles – Robert Altman’s THIEVES LIKE US (1974), Mike Hodges’ PULP (1972) and Ulu Grosbard’s TRUE CONFESSIONS (1981). I know Robert Altman (1925-2006) has his rabid disciples, and for sheer productivity he had an extraordinary TV and film career, but in my opinion, besides THE PLAYER (1992), GOSFORD PARK (2001) and half of SHORT CUTS (1993), I find most of his 45 features overrated, overindulgent and undisciplined … with the notable exception of his incredible run from 1970 through 1975, when he directed eight unique, original works of American cinema: MASH (1970), BREWSTER McCLOUD (1971), McCABE AND MRS. MILLER (1971), IMAGES (1972), THE LONG GOODBYE (1973), THIEVES LIKE US (1974), CALIFORNIA SPLIT (1974) and NASHVILLE (1975). Only a few directors – Ford, Hitchcock, Wellman, Walsh, Capra – have achieved such a string of remarkable films, back to back to back. THIEVES LIKE US is a true Altman highlight – simple and prosaic in a way he never achieved again. Based on the Edward Anderson novel that provided the source material for Nicholas Ray’s THEY DRIVE BY NIGHT (1949), THIEVES tells the story of a trio of bank robbers (Keith Carradine, Bert Remsen, John Schuck) in the Depression-era Midwest and Carradine’s romance with country girl Shelley Duvall. Altman dispenses with the obvious gangster pyrotechnics for deep and rich characterization … much like Terence Malick in the same year’s BADLANDS. The DVD comes with a typically candid Altman audio commentary.
PULP re-teamed director Hodges and star Michael Caine after their successful GET CARTER, a really terrific early 70s thriller, but I think they misfired in tone with PULP. Caine plays a pulp paperback writer hired to ghost the memoirs of crime kingpin Mickey Rooney and gets involved in sorts of trouble. The movie is entertaining, and certainly a must for Caine completists, but it’s rather inconsequential stuff. Not so TRUE CONFESSIONS – it’s a gem, starring two of the greatest actors of 1981 or any year, Robert DeNiro and Robert Duvall. They plays brothers, one a Monsignor (DeNiro), the other a detective (Duvall) investigating the Black Dahlia murder in post WWII Los Angeles. Their fraternal conflict is at the core of the story, scripted by John Gregory Dunne and Joan Didion from a Dunne novel. I’m so happy the film is finally available on DVD, as it represents wonderful work from DeNiro, Duvall, Charles Durning, Kenneth McMillan, Burgess Meredith and especially Rose Gregorio. I interviewed Grosbard when the movie came out in 1981; I mentioned that DeNiro played the priest with his usual precision. The director commented, “His choices are just wonderful. He had a particularly difficult job, because he’s playing a priest who during the course of the story is really more of a businessman than a priest. Des (the character) is an operator. When DeNiro and I discussed wardrobe, the kind of shoes he would wear, the haircut, almost inevitably his instinct is unerringly right. He had a sense of it, even his walk, and the very subtle physical things he does. DeNiro is a very intelligent man, and a rather private person. He’s very friendly, but private. It’s an interesting combination. He is meticulous in many areas and I am too. He has a sense of truth about behavior that is a joy. He is the kind of actor, like Duvall, who really does work for the same thing I want to go after, so that one is genuinely on the same wavelength.”
WARNER BROS. delights film buffs every month with more box sets from their cinematically rich archives, with hours upon hours of entertainment in each set. James Cagney (1899-1986) gets his first collection from Warners with a rather unusual selection of films. Cagney made 44 features for Warners between 1930 and 1955; his keystone films THE PUBLIC ENEMY (1931), FOOTLIGHT PARADE (1933), G-MEN (1935), ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES (1938), THE ROARING TWENTIES (1939), EACH DAWN I DIE (1939), CITY FOR CONQUEST (1940), YANKEE DOODLE DANDY (1942), WHITE HEAT (1949) and MISTER ROBERTS (1955) have already been released on DVD by WHV. There are nearly 20 terrific early 30s pre-Code Cagney/Warners vehicles begging for release – perhaps we’ll get them in some of WHV’s upcoming FORBIDDEN HOLLYWOODs or the next volumes of Cagney collections. The earliest Cagney in JAMES CAGNEY: THE SIGNATURE COLLECTION is William Keighley’s THE FIGHTING 69TH (1940), with Pat O’Brien as Father Duffy and George Brent as Wild Bill Donovan, leading the New York Fighting Irish regiment across the no man’s land of World War One France. Cagney does his usual great job as an insubordinate tough guy bully who turns coward under fire, then redeems himself. It’s a patriotic film that started production just as World War Two was beginning in Europe and helped kick off the cycle of Hollywood patriotic pictures. The Warner Night at the Movies Short Subject gallery is featured on all five discs in this set – on this one there’s a vintage newsreel (two patriotic propaganda shorts, YOUNG AMERICA FLIES and the Oscar-nominated LONDON CAN TAKE IT!), the classic Looney Tunes THE FIGHTING 69 ½th and PILGRIM PORKY; trailers for THE FIGHTING 69TH and BROTHER ORCHID; and a radio version of the movie with Pat O’Brien, Robert Preston and Ralph Bellamy.
Keighley’s TORRID ZONE is also from 1940, a lusty comedy with luscious Ann Sheridan as the romantic interest, with Cagney pitted against frequent co-star Pat O’Brien on a banana republic rubber plantation. It’s also the best film in this collection, fast-paced and funny. The TORRID ZONE disc has a vintage newsreel; a musical short of Ozzie Nelson and His Orchestra performing years before the bandleader’s OZZIE AND HARRIET fame; a Technicolor historical short, PONY EXPRESS DAYS starring the omnipresent George Reeves; the Oscar-nominated cartoon A WILD HARE starring an early, brutal incarnation of Bugs Bunny; and trailers for TORRID ZONE and the Errol Flynn vehicle SANTA FE TRAIL.
THE BRIDE CAME C.O.D. (1941), again directed by Keighley, teamed Cagney with Bette Davis for the first time since 1934’s JIMMY THE GENT; it came late in the screwball comedy cycle, and although it’s nowhere near any of the great screwball gems like MY MAN GODFREY 91936), THE AWFUL TRUTH (1937) or NOTHING SACRED (1937), the stellar cast makes it quite entertaining. When spoiled heiress Bette is about to elope with playboy bandleader Jack Carson, her millionaire father Eugene Pallette hires Cagney to kidnap her and deliver her for $10 a pound – just enough for Jimmy to pay off on his airplane. That’s the set-up for a battle of the sexes between screen icons Cagney and Davis. Again, there’s a load of extras: vintage newsreel, musical shorts CARNIVAL OF RHYTHM and the Oscar-nominated FORTY BOYS AND A SONG; classic cartoons PORKY’S POOCH and RHAPSODY IN RIVETS; and trailers for BRIDE and HONEYMOON FOR THREE.
Jimmy’s an aviator once again in Michael Curtiz’ CAPTAINS OF THE CLOUDS (1942), playing a Canadian bush pilot who gets involved training pilots for the Royal Canadian Air Force. This seems like two movies in one – the first half in the wilderness, the second a training film, with an implausible triangle romance between Jimmy, Dennis Morgan and Brenda Marshall (Mrs. William Holden in real life). The real star of this movie, however, is the absolutely stunning Oscar-nominated Sol Polito Technicolor cinematography, both in the air and on the ground. Again we get a vintage newsreel, the color sports short ROCKY MOUNTAIN BIG GAME, the Bugs Bunny cartoons FRESH HARE and WHAT’S COOKIN’ DOC?, and trailers for CAPTAINS and IN TIS OUR LIFE.
The final disc is Roy Del Ruth’s musical THE WEST POINT STORY (1950). It was always a treat to watch Cagney dance, but unfortunately we only had a handful of chances, most notably in FOOTLIGHT PARADE and YANKEE DOODLE DANDY. At age 51, Cagney more than holds his own in the musical numbers, supported by Virginia Mayo, Doris Day, Gordon MacRae and Gene Nelson. The slight story (it’s a musical, after all!) casts Cagney as a Broadway showman who’s brought to West Point to stage a show. The Jule Styne-Sammy Cahn songs are fun but forgettable, but the real appeal here is Cagney, who always considered himself a hoofer first and foremost. There’s a vintage newsreel, the Oscar-winning sports short GRANDDAD OF RACES; the cartoon HIS BITTER HALF; and trailers for THE WEST POINT STORY and TEA FOR TWO.
JAMES CAGNEY: THE SIGNATURE COLLECTION (five discs) is priced at $49.92, with individual titles at $19.97 each.
The ERROL FLYNN SIGNATURE COLLECTION VOLUME TWO is another high quality box set with five Flynn features, three bonafide classics, one entertaining swashbuckler, and one not-so-great picture. After his sensational starring debut in Michael Curtiz’ CAPTAIN BLOOD, Flynn was re-teamed with Curtiz and co-star Olivia deHavilland in the epic THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE (1936). It’s a rousing adventure film that has little to do with the actual charge at the battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War in 1854 (and immortalized in the Tennyson poem). It’s also notable as Max Steiner’s first musical score for Warners after five years at RKO. This movie, by the way, is also the source of a great Michael Curtiz malapropism, quoted by co-star David Niven in his memoirs. When the Hungarian-born director wanted a troop of riderless horses to take the field, he barked out the direction, “Bring on the empty horses!” The Warner Night at the Movies 1936 Short Subject gallery includes a vintage newsreel; the spectacular Oscar-winning short GIVE ME LIBERTY; the Bob Hope comedy short SHOP TALK; the vintage cartoon BOOM BOOM; and trailers for CHARGE and ANTHONY ADVERSE.
Edmund Goulding’s THE DAWN PATROL (1938) is a close remake of Howard Hawks’ 1930 Richard Barthelmess-Douglas Fairbanks Jr. World War One aviation drama, and actually uses the aerial footage from the Hawks picture. Goulding’s film is elevated to classic status by virtue of its exceptional cast – Errol Flynn, Basil Rathbone, David Niven, Donald Crisp and Barry Fitzgerald. Extras include a vintage newsreel, the musical shorts THE PRISONER OF SWING and ROMANCE ROAD; the Porky Pig cartoon WHAT PRICE PORKY?; and trailers for THE DAWN PATROL and FOUR’S A CROWD.
DIVE BOMBER (1941), Flynn’s last film with Curtiz, is something of a dud, casting our hero as a flight medical researcher and Fred MacMurray (on loan from Paramount) as a flight commander, working to help test pilots fight high-altitude sickness. Frank Wead, the subject of the 1957 John Ford/John Wayne biopic THE WINGS OF EAGLES, co-wrote the film, but it’s not one of his best; that distinction goes to AIR MAIL (1932), CEILING ZERO (1935) and THEY WERE EXPENDABLE (1945). The movie is part of the preparedness propaganda cycle just prior to the U.S. entering World War Two, but at 132 minutes, it is only redeemed by Bert Glennon’s gorgeous Oscar-nominated Technicolor cinematography. A featurette, DIVE BOMBER: KEEP ‘EM IN THE AIR, includes some fun anecdotes from Robert Osborne and Flynn authority Rudy Behlmer.
Raoul Walsh’s GENTLEMAN JIM (1942) is one of Flynn’s best, a biopic about boxer “Gentleman Jim” Corbett. Walsh had a special flair for recreating the 1890s (THE BOWERY, THE STRAWBERRY BLONDE) and he makes this a really outstanding movie with a great cast (Alexis Smith, Jack Carson, Alan Hale and an unforgettable Ward Bond as John L. Sullivan). While Flynn’s Curtiz films are better known, he much preferred working with Walsh, collaborating on THEY DIED WITH THEIR BOOTS ON (1941), DESPERATE JOURNEY (1942), NORTHERN PURSUIT (1943), UNCERTAIN GLORY (1944), OBJECTIVE BURMA! (1945) and SILVER RIVER (1948), as well as GENTLEMAN JIM. Besides a newsreel, the Warner Night at the Movies 1942 extras include the sports shorts THE RIGHT TIMING and the terrific SHOOT YOURSELF SOME GOLF with then-married Warners stars Ronald Reagan and Jane Wyman; the classic cartoon FONEY FABLES; a radio adaptation starring Flynn, Smith and Bond; and trailers for GENTLEMAN JIM and THE MALE ANIMAL.
Vincent Sherman’s lush Technicolor ADVENTURES OF DON JUAN (1949) – originally a Raoul Walsh project -- has never had much of a reputation because of unfair comparisons to Flynn’s ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD (1938) and THE SEA HAWK (1940). But DON JUAN has an entertaining tongue-in-cheek quality, with Flynn and perennial sidekick Alan Hale having a lot of fun. Ably filling the shoes of silent matinee idol John Barrymore, who originated the role in a 1926 Warners film, Flynn romances a bevy of beauties including Viveca Lindfors and Ann Rutherford. Watch for Don Juan’s early castle escape, featuring liberal use of the nocturnal chase sequence from ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD, and expertly integrated into the later film. Director Sherman passed away last year at age 100; in recent years WHV recorded audio commentaries for each of his films in their library, so we are blessed with Sherman’s personal commentary on this film, along with Rudy Behlmer. There’s also the vintage newsreel; the Oscar-nominated Joe McDoakes comedy short SO YOU WANT TO BE ON THE RADIO; the Oscar-nominated travel short CALGARY STAMPEDE; the Bugs Bunny cartoon HARE SPLITTER; and trailers for DON JUAN and SILVER RIVER.
ERROL FLYNN: THE SIGNATURE COLLECTION VOLUME 2 (five discs) is available for $49.92, with individual titles priced at $19.97.
THE DORIS DAY COLLECTION VOLUME 2 features six new-to-DVD titles from the popular actress-singer’s early days at Warners. At 24, she got the lead in her debut film, ROMANCE ON THE HIGH SEAS, when Betty Hutton had to exit because of her pregnancy. Director Michael Curtiz recognized her talent immediately upon testing her, and she is shown to fresh-faced advantage in this clever musical comedy set on a cruise, co-starring Jack Carson, Janis Paige and Oscar Levant, with fabulous character actors like S. Z. Sakall, Franklin Pangborn, Eric Blore and Grady Sutton in the cast. Doris Day got the “A” treatment in her very first movie; in addition to Curtiz, the behind-the-scenes talent included screenwriters Julius and Philip Epstein (CASABLANCA) – with additional ialogue by future Billy Wilder collaborator I.A.L. Diamond, songwriters Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn (“It’s Magic” became a hit), and choreographer Busby Berkeley, with the movie photographed in sumptuous Technicolor. The disc includes a trailer, the musical short LET’S SING A SONG FROM THE MOVIES, and the classic Tweety Bird cartoon I TAW A PUTTY TAT.
ROMANCE ON THE HIGH SEAS made Doris Day a superstar, and Curtiz and the Brothers Warner decided to re-team her with Jack Carson in a remake the 1934 Ginger Rogers/Dick Powell hit TWENTY MILLION SWEETHEARTS. The songs this time are by Harry Warren (42ND STREET) and Ralph Blane (MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS), the setting the radio business, and the movie, MY DREAM IS YOURS (1949), fulfills Day’s star potential. The highlight here is a great musical number with Day, Carson and Bugs Bunny in a combination live action/animated scene reminiscent of Gene Kelly and Jerry the Mouse in ANCHORS AWEIGH (1945). There’s a theatrical trailer, another Joe McDoakes comedy short (SO YOU WANT TO BE AN ACTOR), an Oscar nominated short (THE GRASS IS ALWAYS GREENER) and a cartoon (A HAM IN A ROLE).
Roy Del Ruth’s ON MOONLIGHT BAY (1951) is a charming piece of Americana based on Booth Tarkington’s Penrod stories, with a tomboy trying to change her ways for the love of the boy next door. Doris Day and Gordon Macrae make a nice screen team in one of Day’s best and most popular screen confections. Extras include a trailer, musical short (LET’S SING A SONG ABOUT THE MOONLIGHT) and the cartoon (A HOUND FOR TROUBLE). The huge success of this movie resulted in Day and Macrae reunited in the sequel BY THE LIGHT OF THE SILVERY MOON (1953), along with original cast members Rosemary DeCamp, Mary Wickes and Billy Gray, and also included in this boxset. There are two Joe McDoakes shorts on this disc (SO YOU WANT TO LEARN TO DANCE and SO YOU WANT A TELEVISION SET), an Oscar-nominated cartoon (FROM A TO Z-Z-Z-Z), and the theatrical trailer.
Michael Curtiz also directed I’LL SEE YOU IN MY DREAMS (1952), with Danny Thomas as the great songwriter Gus Kahn and Doris Day as his wife Grace. It’s not much as a bio-pic, but as a musical catalogue of Kahn’s work, it’s highly entertaining, with twenty-three songs on display, including “It Had to Be You,” and “Love Me or Leave Me” (the title of the brilliant Doris Day biopic of Ruth Etting produced at MGM in 1955, co-starring James Cagney). Doris gets to sing “Makin’ Whoopee,” “No, No, Nora,” “Toot, Toot, Tootsie, Goodbye,” and “The One I Love Belongs to Somebody Else.” The disc has a trailer, the vintage short THE SCREEN DIRECTOR and the cartoon LOVELORN LEGHORN. Finally, the set includes LUCKY ME (1954), directed by choreographer Jack Donahue, with Doris supported by Robert Cummings and Phil Silvers, in a DVD remastered in 16 X 9 widescreen to showcase the early CinemaScope process (this was one of Warners’ first widescreen films). She sings "I Wanna Sing Like an Angel," "I Speak to the Stars," "Love You Dearly," "High Hopes," "The Superstition Song," "Men," and "Blue Bells of Broadway" by Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster. There’s a short subject (WHEN THE TALKIES WERE YOUNG), an Oscar-nominated cartoon (SANDY CLAWS) and the theatrical trailer.
All the titles in THE DORIS DAY COLLECTION VOLUME 2 (six discs) are newly remastered digital transfers; the gift set’s retail price is $59.92, with individual titles available separately at $19.97.
Other new releases from WHV include:
BLOOD DIAMOND (2007): One of the best films of 2006, nominated for five Academy Awards, NBR Top Ten and Best Supporting Actor (Djimon Hounsou), Ed Zwick’s intense condemnation of the conflict diamond trade in 1999 civil war-torn Sierra Leone is also an adventure epic in the tradition of John Huston. Leonardo DiCaprio stars as a South African ex-mercenary turned smuggler who joins forces with Hounsou to retrieve a rare diamond and rescue Hounsou’s son from the rebel army that has turned him into a child soldier. Zwick, the director of GLORY and THE LAST SAMURAI, has become one of our very best filmmakers, and he outdoes himself with a movie that is both a compelling, socially relevant drama and an action-packed journey into the heart of the jungle darkness. DiCaprio and Hounsou are fantastic together, ably supported by Jennifer Connelly as a combat journalist. There’s a single disc version available and a two-disc special edition; both have a director’s commentary from Ed Zwick, but pick up the special edition for featurettes that explore the path of a diamond from the ground to the jewelry store; DiCaprio’s preparation for the movie; Connelly on women journalists at war; filming the action setpiece siege of Freetown; and a music video, “Shine on Em,” by Nas. BLOOD DIAMOND is essential viewing and highly recommended.
HAPPY FEET (2006) won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature; it’s a joyous musical romp with a properly green social message. Deep in Antarctica, a penguin just isn’t a penguin unless he or she can belt out a tune. Mumble (voiced by Elijah Wood) can’t sing, but he sure can tap dance, and sets out on a journey to find his “heart song” and his true love. George Miller directs this movie with so much skill that you literally forget in some of the dramatic scenes that you are watching animated penguins, but then again, he achieved the same thing in BABE and BABE: PIG IN THE CITY with talking pigs! In addition to Wood, the voice talent includes Robin Williams, Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman and Brittany Murphy. The HAPPY FEET DVD includes two new fully animated sequences (MUMBLE MEETS A BLUE WHALE and A HAPPY FEET MOMENT), a segment with the brilliant Savion Glover demonstrating his world-class tap, two music videos (Gia’s “Hit Me Up” and Prince’s “The Song of the Heart”), and the classic 1936 Warner cartoon I LOVE TO SINGA (“about the moon-a and the June-a and the spring-a!”), which seems to have had a mild influence on HAPPY FEET. The IMAX DEEP SEA (2006) DVD, is a great companion piece to HAPPY FEET, a spectacular 41-minute journey to the bottom of the ocean, stunningly filmed by director Howard Hall, narrated by Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet, with music by Danny Elfman. The documentary contains simply the best underwater cinematography ever captured on film. My only complaint is the narration, which is seems to be geared exclusively to very young children; otherwise, DEEP SEA makes for some sensational video wallpaper.
WHV had a major success with REST STOP, the first in its series of direct-to-DVD raw Feed horror movies. It had all the earmarks of the modern fright film, plenty of gore with scantily-clad young girls held hostage and abused. The second Raw Feed picture, SUBLIME (2007) is a much more subtle horror thriller, intricately structured, revolving around a family man (played with intelligence by Tom Cavanaugh of TV’s brilliant-but-cancelled series ED) who checks into a hospital for routine surgery and finds himself in a surreal, living nightmare. Director Tony Krantz (exec producer of 24) does an admirable job in creating a macabre foreboding atmosphere, while playing on our collective fears about hospitals and surgery. Lawrence Hilton Jacobs (Freddy “Boom Boom” Washington from WELCOME BACK, KOTTER) is excellent as a scary hospital orderly, and a star is born in the person of the stunningly beautiful Katherine Cunningham-Eves. The DVD includes commentary by and interviews with Krantz and writer Erik Jendresen, and a faux documentary about surgical exorcism. SUBLIME is available in rated and unrated versions.
Here’s a press release from Warner Home Video on a wonderful new catalogue promotion beginning April 24th: “Warner Home Video will help make every film lover’s dream come true with the release of The Essential Classics Collections, a selection of the studio’s most popular classic films in attractively-priced collectible giftsets. In this first offering, there will be five different collections to choose from, each with three films focused on a specific genre. Sure to satisfy a variety of tastes, these film favorites have been cherished by movie fans for decades and have garnered a total of 54 Academy Awards®.
The Collections in this first wave are the Classic Romances (Gone with the Wind, Casablanca, Doctor Zhivago); Classic Family Films (Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, Goonies, Wizard of Oz); Classic Dramas (The Maltese Falcon, Citizen Kane, Ben Hur); Classic Musicals (My Fair Lady, Singin’ in the Rain, Gigi); and Classic American Musicals (The Music Man, Meet Me in St. Louis, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers).
The Essential Classics Collections will boast the very latest remastered versions of the films along with bonus content to further expand the entertainment and enjoyment. Each set will be beautifully packaged in foil and will sell at a consumer-friendly price of $30.97 SRP, a significant savings over purchasing the titles separately. The Collections are perfectly timed for Mother’s Day (May 13) gift giving and priced so attractively it will be easy to buy several.
PARAMOUNT: When awards season rolls around later this year, I hope critics won’t forget Hilary Swank and FREEDOM WRITERS (2007), directed by Richard LaGravanese … although since it was released early in the year on January 5th, it probably will. It’s the true story of Erin Gruwell (Swank), a high school teacher who revolutionizes her struggling minority high school class with a writing program that gained national attention. This kind of material can easily turn into schmaltz, but the filmmakers and cast elevate the material into a truly inspirational motion picture. Patrick Dempsey co-stars as Swank’s husband, and Tilda Staunton (VERA DRAKE) is exceptional as a jealous teacher. The well-appointed Paramount Home Entertainment DVD includes an insightful audio commentary by LaGravenese and Swank, deleted scenes, a making-of featurette, a photo gallery, a trailer, and a featurette about the real Erin Gruwell and the Freedom Writers Diary program.
In 1959, Desi Arnaz unleashed THE UNTOUCHABLES on ABC-TV, a hard-hitting series about G-man Eliot Ness and his elite team of Prohibition crime fighters battling Al Capone, Frank Nitti, and a rogues’ gallery of Chicago mobsters. Audiences and critics loved the show even as civic groups decried its violence and Italian-Americans complained about its ethnic depictions. (No, THE SOPRANOS wasn’t the first TV series to provoke such a response). Paramount brings the Emmy Award-winning THE UNTOUCHABLES SEASON 1 VOLUME 1 to DVD with the first 14 of 28 episodes, plus THE SCARFACE MOB, the two-part introduction that was also released theatrically. This is one of the best written, directed and cast series in television history, starring Robert Stack in his ultimate role as Eliot Ness. The guest stars of the shows represented on these discs are a Baby Boomer’s delight, and include Claire Trevor, Lloyd Nolan, Clu Gulager, William Bendix, Vince Edwards, Cliff Robertson and Martin Landau. THE UNTOUCHABLES still packs a punch, and Paramount is to be commended for bringing it to DVD.
SONY PICTURES HOME ENTERTAINMENT gives movie lovers a treat with Paul Mazursky’s beautiful, underrated TEMPEST (1983), an updating of Shakespeare’s work that is a pure delight. John Cassavetes is a successful NYC architect going through a serious mid-life crisis, his (real-life) wife Gena Rowlands a successful Broadway actress, Molly Ringwald (in her screen debut) their 15-year-old caught in the middle. John heads to his ancestral homeland, Greece, where he meets and picks up expatriate Susan Sarandon. Cassavetes, Sarandon and Ringwald end up on a remote island in the Aegean, tended by the Calibanesque Raul Julia, until Rowlands and suitor Vittorio Gassman show up. That’s the plot outline, but it can’t do justice to the heart and soul of this movie. It’s the only time John and Gena starred under someone else’s direction in a film worthy of their prodigious talents, and it is a total gift, from the wonderful cast to the gorgeous locations to the dazzling Don McAlpine cinematography to the ethereal Stomu Yamashita music.
SPHE kicked off the start of Major League Baseball’s new season (Let’s Go Mets!) with some relevant DVDs. Barry Levinson’s THE NATURAL: DIRECTOR’S CUT revitalizes the director’s 1984 masterwork in a two-disc set. “I was able to not just simply add a few more scenes to the Director’s Cut, but to actually re-cut the first act as it was originally conceived,” says Levinson. “This version is much closer to what I envisioned and it was fantastic to finally bring it to fruition.” The film has also gone through new color mastering, enhancing Caleb Deschanel’s Oscar-winning cinematography. It is a gorgeous looking film, set in the 1930s, adapted from the Bernard Malamud novel by Roger Towne and Phil Dusenberry. Robert Redford gives one of his finest performances as Roy Hobbs, a pitcher who is shot by a mysterious woman, and receives a chance 15 years later to play for a losing team. The outstanding cast also includes Glenn Close, Kim Basinger, Wilford Brimley, Barbara Hershey, Robert Prosky, Richard Farnsworth, Joe Don Baker, Michael Madsen and Mike Starr. Sony has loaded the DVD with no less than 11 featurettes that thoroughly document the genesis and making of the movies, as well as a video introduction by Barry Levinson. SPHE has also released a baseball double feature, with two fun Columbia Pictures catalogue titles, KILL THE UMPIRE! (1951) and SAFE AT HOME (1962). KILL THE UMPIRE! had two real comedy pros behind it, writer Frank Tashlin (originally a writer for Bugs Bunny and Porky Pig cartoons, later to direct THE GIRL CAN’T HELP IT and WILL SUCCESS SPOIL ROCK HUNTER) and director Lloyd Bacon, a longtime Warners contract director, best known for 42ND STREET, who had started in the business as a foil for Charlie Chaplin. William Bendix plays a rabid baseball fan who hates umpires, and, by a serious of circumstances, is forced to become an umpire himself. In Walter Doniger’s SAFE AT HOME, a Little Leaguer brags about his friendship with superstars Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris (who had broken Babe Ruth’s home run record just the year before) and is forced to find them at spring training to help him out of his jam. In addition to Mantle and Maris, the movie features fellow Yankees Whitey Ford and manager Ralph Houk. This is a great movie for baby boomers who grew up on Mantle and Maris. Both movies coincidentally co-star William Frawley.
And leave it to Kino International to put together a staggering two-disc compilation entitled REEL BASEBALL, packed with great, early baseball films. HEADIN’ HOME (1920) stars the legendary Babe Ruth, and another feature, THE BUSHER (1919), stars silent screen greats Charles Ray, Colleen Moore and John Gilbert. The rest of the set includes shorts and fragments – a Kinogram featuring babe Ruth, the comedy BUTTER FINGERS (1926) starring Billy Bevan; CASEY AT THE BAT (1922) with DeWolf Hopper; an 18-minute excerpt from ONE TOUCH OF NATURE with fiery New York Giants manager John McGraw; the 1914 John Bunny comedy HEARTS AND DIAMONDS; the Felix the Cat cartoon FELIX SAVES THE DAY (1922); and very rare early silents CASEY AT THE BAT (1899), HOW THE OFFICE BOY SAW THE BALLGAME (1906); HIS LAST GAME (1909); THE BALL PLAYER AND THE BANDIT (1912); and HAPPY DAYS (1926).
GENIUS: BOBBY (2006) is a very strange picture, an Altmanesque attempt by writer-director Emilio Estevez to portray the life of the Ambassador Hotel the day Robert Kennedy was assassinated there. He assembled the all-star cast of 2006 – Harry Belafonte, Nick Cannon, Laurence Fishburne, Brian Geraghty, Heather Graham, Anthony Hopkins, Helen Hunt, Ashton Kutcher, Shia LaBeouf, Lindsay Lohan, William H. Macy, Demi Moore, Freddy Rodriguez, Martin Sheen, Christian Slater, Sharon Stone, Elijah Wood and Estevez himself. Estevez’ intentions are incredibly heartfelt and sincere, yet for over 90 minutes of its two-hour running time, BOBBY is one of the worst written, acted (with the exception of Rodriguez) and directed major movies I’ve ever seen as it dissects the lives of characters no one can really care about. Then, as the film focuses on Kennedy, deftly integrating newsreel footage with newly staged material, BOBBY suddenly comes to life with an incredible emotional force. It is truly a remarkable change, from bad imitation Lifetime TV movie to docudrama of considerable impact. Although it earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Picture, and placed on the NBR’s top indie list, audiences stayed away from the theatre. Now that it’s on DVD (with making-of featurette and eyewitness accounts from people who at the Ambassador that tragic day in 1968), check it out, even if you have to fast forward to get to the good stuff.
UNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOME ENTERTAINMENT follows up their 2004 Volume One release with THE W.C. FIELDS COMEDY COLLECTION VOLUME 2 …. and it’s even better than the first collection. Five of Fields’ funniest are here, looking and sounding better than ever. Erle C. Kenton’s YOU’RE TELLING ME (1934) is one of Fields’ best domestic comedies, with all his trademarks present – henpecking wife, devoted daughter, and a get-rich-quick scheme. In THE OLD FASHIONED WAY (1934), Field is the self-styled Great McGonigle, a vaudevillian in the 1890s managing a traveling acting troupe, always one step ahead of the sheriff ... matching wits with frequent nemesis Baby LeRoy. POPPY (1936), directed by Edward Sutherland, is a remake of the 1925 DW Griffith film SALLY OF THE SAWDUST, which also starred Fields. It’s a fine old-fashioned melodrama leavened with Fields comedy, including an episode in which he employs ventriloquism to sell a bartender a talking dog! NEVER GIVE A SUCKER AN UNEVEN BREAK (1941), the last true Fields feature, is an incoherent almost surreal mess that also contains a couple of his all-time funniest bits, including a conflict with a waitress in a studio café. Fields ostensibly plays himself, The Great Man, an egomaniacal movie star creating havoc at Universal Studios; the non-existent plot is enlivened by a comedic cast including Franklin Pangborn, Margaret Dumont, and Leon Errol. The highlight of this set is THE MAN ON THE FLYING TRAPEZE (1935), one of William Claude’s all-time greats. Reprising the domestic formula, the movie features the brilliant sequence in which a couple of burglars break into his basement and find his personal stash of applejack. Prodded by his wife to go down and scare them away, Fields ends up drinking with them and harmonizing to “On the Banks of the Wabash.” When a cop arrives, he too partakes in the “Jersey lightning” and joins the chorus. This picture, along with IT’S A GIFT (1934) and THE BANK DICK (1940), ranks as a true comedy milestone. The DVD set includes a 1960s special hosted by Wayne and Schuster that includes lots of great Fields clips.
Universal has also released a couple of 2006 films that were overlooked at awards time (as well as by audiences) but will undoubtedly win converts on DVD. THE GOOD SHEPHERD, directed by Robert DeNiro, is an epic narrative about the career of a C.I.A. agent (brilliantly played with chilling stillness by Matt Damon), following him from university through a loveless marriage with Angelina Jolie (doing some of her best acting work in years) into his later, bitter years. This is a slow and stately film, told with the same precision that marks DeNiro’s most memorable performances (DeNiro has a supporting role a CIA exec). DeNiro’s first feature as director was the classic A BRONX TALE (1993); THE GOOD SHEPHERD is the polar opposite of that film (though both feature Joe Pesci in telling one-scene cameos). THE GOOD SHEPHERD plays more like THE GODFATHER, with an operatic pace, loaded with psychological violence rather than the sanguine kind. At 168 minutes, THE GOOD SHEPHERD requires patience but the viewer will be rewarded by the artistry of director and cast (including Alec Baldwin, Billy Crudup, William Hurt, Timothy Hutton and John Turturro). Bonus features on the DVD include 16 minutes of deleted scenes, two of which can be accessed:
DELETED SCENE: “Edward & Sam watch Russian Embassy”
http://www.thegoodshepherdmovie.com/media/DeletedScene_Russian_Embassy_128k.mov
DELETED SCENE: “Ulysses is trying to tell us something”
http://www.thegoodshepherdmovie.com/media/Deleted_Scene_ulysses_128k.mov
I am really surprised CHILDREN OF MEN didn’t perform better at the U.S. box-office ($35 million as of March on a $72 million budget) – I really hope it’s not because it is intelligent, thought-provoking adult entertainment with an important message, y’know, like WILD HOGS and BLADES OF GLORY. Alfonso Cuaron’s dramatic thriller, based on the P.D. James novel, is set in the year 2027, in a ravaged world that has not seen the birth of a new child in 18 years. Clive Owen becomes involved with a revolutionary group’s efforts to save a pregnant woman who is the literal hope for humanity. Julianne Moore and Michael Caine co-star but Owen really gets to shine, carrying the film literally on his shoulders. Cuaron creates a completely believable world of Future Shock, aided by his great cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki (THE NEW WORLD, SLEEPY HOLLOW) and production designers Jim Clay (MATCHPOINT, THE CRYING GAME) and Geoffrey Kirkland (THE RIGHT STUFF, BIRDY). Cuaron’s directorial credits include such triumphs as GREAT EXPECTATIONS (1998), Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN (2001), and HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN (2004); now, CHILDREN OF MEN places him firmly among our most versatile and visionary filmmakers. I love listening to him and watching him work in this DVD’s special features section. For this disc he directed a documentary called THE POSSIBILITY OF HOPE, demonstrating how the themes of CHILDREN OF MEN relate to today’s world; and there are also a featurette about the film’s futuristic design; and especially a featurette showing how he achieved the amazing one-take attack sequence with five actors in a car under attack by the rebels. Extras also include CHILDREN OF MEN comments by political philosopher and cultural critic Slavoj Zizek and interviews with Owen and Moore.
MIRAMAX: Among the items in Helen Mirren’s trophy room is her NBR Award as Best Actress of 2006 for THE QUEEN, presented to her at our awards gala by her co-star James Cromwell. What Best Actress award didn’t she earn last year? I can’t think of any. Mirren’s performance as Queen Elizabeth transcends impersonation, like Denzel Washington in MALCOLM X or Jamie Foxx in RAY. When I walked into the screening room to see THE QUEEN I was less than excited – I just knew this was going to be something fit only for Royal-lovers, a club I have never understood or appreciated (must be the Irish in me). Shame on me, cause I should have known better – Stephen Frears is a great director, and he told a completely compelling story about Her Majesty’s struggle to come to terms with her subjects’ love for Princess Diana in the wake of her tragic death. Michael Sheen excels as Tony Blair, as does Cromwell as Prince Philip and Sylvia Syms as the Queen Mother. The DVD includes a making-of featurette, and two audio commentaries – one with Frears and writer Peter Morgan (he had a good ’06 – besides his original screenplay for THE QUEEN, he co-authored THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND), and one with British historian and Royal expert Robert Lacey, author of Majesty.
In other news, check out:
The hilarious second season of Home Purchasing Club has premiered at www.BUYHPC.com. This VH1 original online video series spoofs the world of ridiculous home shopping networks, and features cast from THE OFFICE, CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM and OFFICE SPACE. Each Monday a new episode of HPC will premiere.
JOHN GALLAGHER
jgmovie@gmail.com
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