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FORD AT FOX: The DVD box set of the year, no, the decade, is here – 24 films, a new documentary, and a new book celebrating the remarkable achievement of John Ford (1895-1973) during his on-again off-again tenure at Fox Films and its successor 20th Century-Fox. Probably the greatest American director, Ford has been cited as such by Ingmar Bergman, Akira Kurosawa, Orson Welles, George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg and countless others. He is also one of the most written about, with a half dozen outstanding volumes available: Peter Bogdanovich’s interview book John Ford, Andrew Sarris’ The John Ford Movie Mystery, grandson Dan Ford’s Pappy, Tag Gallagher’s John Ford: The Man and His Films, Scott Eyman’s Print the Legend and the Taschen photo book John Ford, and Joseph McBride’s Searching for John Ford. FORD AT FOX is a staggering collection spanning his career from 1920 through 1952 (he started in 1914 and made his last picture in 1966), with 17 rare features new to DVD, including five silents with new musical scores.
The earliest Ford film here is JUST PALS (1920), his first for Fox (still billed as “Jack” Ford) after an apprenticeship directing Harry Carey Westerns at Universal. Buck Jones stars in a melodramatic comedy-drama that reveals Ford’s already well-developed pictorial sense, playing a n’e’er do well in a small Western town who bonds with an orphan boy. The influence of D.W. Griffith’s photographic style is abundantly evident, with beautifully bucolic compositions. The epic Western THE IRON HORSE (1924) established Ford as a major director, and it is still an impressive achievement, telling the saga of the building of the transcontinental railroad after the Civil War. What started as a simple horse opera grew into a huge film as Ford’s location footage excited studio owner William Fox enough to pump lots more cash into the project. Scene after scene of the race between the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific Railroads, with hundreds of Irish and Chinese immigrants building the rails, look like newsreel footage from the 1860s. The international version of the film included, as are commentary by author and historian Robert Birchard, restoration comparison, the original theatre program, an advertising gallery, and a featurette about the scoring of Christopher Caliendo’s new and utterly appropriate music. Ford followed the success of THE IRON HORSE with 3 BAD MEN (1926), shot on location in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and the Mojave Desert, a better pure film than the earlier picture, and a good indication of Ford’s growth as a specialist in Americana. The highlight here is the Land Rush sequence with thousands of homesteaders pouring across the prairie to claim their lands, but there’s also plenty in the picture to satisfy Western fans as well as Fordian scholars.
Fox during the silent era probably boasted the finest directorial staff of all the major studios – Ford, Raoul Walsh, Frank Borzage, Howard Hawks, David Butler, and earlier in the decade Woody Van Dyke and William Wellman. In 1926 Fox imported German maestro F.W. Murnau (NOSFERATU, THE LAST LAUGH, FAUST); his first film for the company, SUNRISE (1927), was an artistic sensation and had a huge influence on Ford. FOUR SONS (1928) became one of the biggest hits of the 20s, with Ford directing in an expressionistic, Murnau-like style. It’s the story of a German mother and the four sons that are swallowed up by World War One. It’s a little tough going today with its unabashed sentiment (another Ford trademark), but is blessed with spectacular direction and cinematography. Prints exist (including the copies formerly circulated by Paul Killiam in the 70s and 80s and infrequently revived on TV) with the original score and synchronized sound effects – unfortunately, the transfer included here, while gorgeous, substitutes a new score for the original, presumably because of rights problems. A reproduction of the original program is included. Ford’s next film is an under-known masterpiece that also reflect’s Murnau’s influence – HANGMAN’S HOUSE (1928), starring frequent Ford actor Victor McLaglen as an exiled Irish rebel who comes home to Ireland to avenge his sister (keep an eye out for a very young John Wayne as a cheering extra during the horse race). Ford’s work here is exquisite, with simply stunning images, recreating the misty moors of Erin on a Fox soundstage with fluid camera and a heavily expressionistic – almost fantastical - style. Like most silent film directors who continued to work in the sound era, Ford knew how to tell a story purely visually. Watch almost any Ford talkie, turn off the sound, and you can follow the proceedings with no problem.
Fox has always been the hardest Golden Age studio to study; in 1937, a fire ravaged their New Jersey storage facility and many negatives were lost. In 1974 Alex Gordon and the NBR’s William K. Everson were able to save a batch of Ford-Walsh-Borzage-Hawks-Howard films, including the next batch of Ford films in FORD AT FOX. BORN RECKLESS (1930) was the director’s contribution to the gangster cycle of late 20s-early 30s. I saw it at MoMA in the early 80s but it didn’t really stay with me, other than to note an early unbilled performance by Randolph Scott. Seeing it in another lovely print I have to agree with Scott Eyman that it’s a minor gem. There’s wonderful low-key cinematography in the opening robbery and the climactic marsh sequence, still inspired by Murnau. Ford captures the atmosphere of the ghetto, fighting a confused script that starts as a gangster story, becomes a war movie, then goes back to being a crime picture. UP THE RIVER (1930) is a real rarity, and though the print has deteriorated, presented with many picture and sound jump splices, it is wonderful to have it included here, a loose prison comedy starring Spencer Tracy in his first movie and a very callow Humphrey Bogart in his second. SEAS BENEATH (1931) is a followup to Ford’s hit MEN WITHOUT WOMEN (1930), a First World War Q-boat spy saga loaded with extraordinary location footage, marred by a horrible performance by a leading lady inflicted on Ford by the studio – you can almost hear the directorial wheels grinding to stop her from sinking the picture. PILGRIMAGE (1933) is considered Ford’s first masterwork of the sound era, virtually unknown today except by hardcore Fordians. The completely forgotten actress Henrietta Crosman is unforgettable as a domineering mother who sacrifices her son and learns the error of her ways. This is an incredibly powerful drama, another compelling piece of Americana Ford-style; its presence in this set will undoubtedly give its proper place in film history. Joseph McBride does a fascinating commentary and there’s a restoration comparison. THE WORLD MOVES ON (1934) is a major misfire, by far Ford’s worst film, a boring multi-generational epic enlivened solely by a World War one battle sequence, one of those assignments a contract director was forced to undertake in between the good stuff, memorable only for some typically well-staged battle scenes. It was the first film released under the new Production Code.
Throughout his career, Ford, like most great directors, found lead actors with whom he had a cinematic chemistry, from Harry Carey in the late teens, to George O’Brien in the 20s and early ‘30s, Henry Fonda in the late 30s and early 40s, and of course John Wayne from 1939 til the end of Ford’s career (the last three appear together in 1948’s FORT APACHE). Will Rogers was another, and the three Ford-Rogers collaborations are included here. DOCTOR BULL (1933) is a charming small-town story with Rogers in the title role as the beloved village doctor, and STEAMBOAT ROUND THE BEND (1935) is a Mississippi River comedy that’s also great fun (the Sacramento River doubles for the Mighty Miss), and a favorite of Ford aficionados, previously available in a Rogers collection, but the real gem is 1934’s JUDGE PRIEST, one of the director’s best, a favorite of Ford himself (he liked it so much he remade it in 1953 as THE SUN SHINES BRIGHT) After decades of horrible public domain prints, it has been rescued and restored, and includes the long unseen pre-credit shot of Rogers calling court to order. Set in 1890 small town Kentucky, the comedy-drama has humor and pathos (and perhaps the first use of a Ford trademark scene with Rogers speaking to his dead wife), and a great monologue by Henry B. Walthall about the “War for the Southern Confederacy.” The ghosts of the Civil War haunt JUDGE PRIEST; Ford dealt directly with the conflict in THE PRISONER OF SHARK ISLAND (1936), another long unseen masterwork, among the director’s very best. It’s the story of Dr. Samuel Mudd (Warner Baxter), the physician who innocently treated Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth’s broken leg the night of the tragedy and was tried as a conspirator. Mudd escaped the gallows but was sentenced to rot in an horrific Dry Tortugas prison under the supervision of a cruel commandant (John Carradine). In a career full of amazing cinematography, this film includes some of the finest lighting and camerawork in all Ford, courtesy of Bert Glennon.
Shirley Temple and John Ford may seem an unlikely match, but 1937’s WEE WILLIE WINKIE (1937), inspired by the Rudyard Kipling story about a child at a British army post on the India frontier, is a delight, a rousing adventure with a wonderful Victor McLaglen performance, sparkling pictorialism and lots of heart. The movie has been restored to its original sepia tinted version and it’s a stunner. FOUR MEN AND A PRAYER (1938) is another studio assignment, with four brothers (David Niven, George Sanders, Richard Greene, William Henry) globetrotting to clear the name of murdered father C. Aubrey Smith. Ford transcends the material with action, romance (from Loretta Young) and some screwball comedy.
DRUMS ALONG THE MOHAWK (1939) was Ford’s first in Technicolor, an adventure drama about frontier folk fighting British and Indian marauders in upstate New York’s Mohawk Valley during the American Revolution. For me, this is one of Ford’s greatest unsung works, and one of the only good pictures made about the Revolutionary War. The cast is fantastic – Henry Fonda, Claudette Colbert, John Carradine, Ward Bond, Edna May Oliver, Francis Ford, Arthur Shields – the three-strip Technicolor gorgeous. While this title was released on DVD a couple of years ago, the version presented here is a completely restored print courtesy of the Film Foundation. Nick Redman and Julie Kirgo provide commentary and there are extensive art and still galleries. TOBACCO ROAD (1941), based on the wildly popular John Kirkland play from an Erskine Caldwell novel, is a much maligned film, a comedy about poor Georgia dirt farmers starring Charley Grapewin, Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews and Ward Bond. There is some painfully unfunny parts, but also some touching work by Grapewin and Ford’s unerring compositional eye. It is a very odd work indeed from the man who had directed THE GRAPES OF WRATH just the year before.
Ford at Fox includes four of Ford’s most important, beloved and best known pictures, all previously released. YOUNG MR. LINCOLN (1939) casts Henry Fonda in the title role, in the same version released last year by Criterion, minus the extras. Ford and Fonda reteamed for the classic adaptation of John Steinbeck’s GRAPES OF WRATH (1940) about the migration of the Okies from Dust Bowl Oklahoma during the Depression; McBride handles the commentary, there’s an episode of BIOGRAPHY on Fox production chief Darryl Zanuck, the U.K. prologue and five Movietone News segments. HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY (1941) is another key film in the Ford canon, about a family of Welsh coal miners, with commentary by McBride and actress Anna Lee Natha, and an episode of the AMC series BACKSTORY about the film. MY DARLING CLEMENTINE (1946), like the previous two titles, come from the Fox Studio Classics line, Ford’s first post-war Western, with Fonda as Wyatt Earp in this landmark version of the O.K. Corral story. Wyatt Earp II does the commentary, and the disc includes Ford’s original, pre-release cut. The NBR named all four of these films to their Top Ten lists, with GRAPES winning Best Film.
WHEN WILLIE CAME MARCHING HOME (1950) is new to DVD, a light service comedy with Dan Dailey that Ford seems to have had fun with. The World War One drama WHAT PRICE GLORY (1952) has also been previously released, with James Cagney and Dailey essaying the roles of Captain Flagg and Sergeant Quirt played by Victor McLaglen and Edmund Lowe in Raoul Walsh’s 1926 original. Joe MacDonald’s Technicolor cinematography redeems the often tiresome proceedings. Finally, there is a new feature-length documentary, BECOMING JOHN FORD, about Ford’s career at Fox, his three World War two documentaries – THE BATTLE OF MIDWAY (1942), TORPEDO SQUADRON (1942), DECEMBER 7th (1943) – and comprehensive pressbook, poster and still galleries.
This mammoth collection sets a new standard for exploring the work of a great director. Yes, the retail price of $299.98 is hefty, but any serious film buff will want this. Fox is also making available three sub-sets at $49.98 -- THE ESSENTIAL JOHN FORD (DRUMS ALONG THE MOHAWK, GRAPES OF WRATH, HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY, MY DARLING CLEMENTINE and a bonus feature, the 1939 Allan Dwan-Randolph Scott Wyatt Earp FRONTIER MARSHAL), JOHN FORD’S AMERICAN COMEDIES (UP THE RIVER, the three Will Rogers films, WHEN WILLIE COMES MARCHING HOME, WHAT PRICE GLORY) and JOHN FORD’S SILENT EPICS (JUST PALS, THE IRON HORSE, 3 BAD MEN, FOUR SONS, HANGMAN’S HOUSE) -- and certain single discs at $19.98.
I am praying these sets sell, not only to convince Fox to do similar sets on Raoul Walsh, Howard Hawks and Frank Borzage, but to encourage them to release the rest of Ford’s extant Fox films – THE VILLAGE BLACKSMITH (1922), CAMEO KIRBY (1923), NORTH OF HUDSON BAY (1923), LIGHTNIN’ (1925), KENTUCKY PRIDE (1925), THE SHAMROCK HANDICAP (1925), THE BLUE EAGLE (1926), the surviving reels of MOTHER MACHREE (1927), RILEY THE COP (1928), THE BLACK WATCH (1929), SALUTE (1929), MEN WITHOUT WOMEN (1930) -- the sound version is lost but the silent version exists -- THE BRAT (1931) and SUBMARINE PATROL (1938).
Werner Herzog’s RESCUE DAWN (2007) is the riveting true story of Navy pilot Dieter Dengler (Christian Bale) and his harrowing escape from a North Vietnamese prisoner-of-war camp. Steve Zahn and Jeremy Davies lend strong support, and Herzog creates a reality every bit as unnerving as his masterpiece AGUIRRE: WRATH OF GOD (1973). RESCUE DAWN also echoes AGUIRRE’s arduous jungle atmosphere, with a verisimilitude rare this side of a documentary (the movie is adapted by Herzog from his Emmy-nominated doc LITTLE DIETER NEEDS TO FLY). Extras include audio commentary by Herzog and interviewer Norman Hill, four featurettes, and three deleted scenes with optional Herzog-Hill commentary.
CASSAVETES GAZZARA & FALK: My Neighborhood Playhouse student Craig Henderson alerted me to the presence on Youtube of the legendary episode of THE DICK CAVETT SHOW with John Cassavetes, Ben Gazzara and Peter Falk. Broadcast on September 21, 1970 on ABC, the three were there to promote HUSBANDS, directed by Cassavetes, starring Cassavetes, Gazzara and Falk. The result is unlike any talk show appearance in TV history, as the maverick actors wreak havoc and completely deconstruct the very notion of a talk show. It’s in effect a mini-Cassavetes movie. Go to www.youtube.com and search “cassavetes cavett” or click here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2X3KiCi6Zb8&feature=related
It’s a four-parter of ten minutes each, with the original commercials intact. HUSBANDS (owned by Sony) is long overdue for DVD release. It’s a Cassavetes masterpiece, with an especially searing performance by Gazzara.
PARAMOUNT: Francis Coppola’s documentarian wife Eleanor had her camera rolling throughout the tortuous making of his APOCALYPSE NOW in the Philippines, capturing the extreme difficulties of making this landmark Vietnam epic. She captured the casting crises (Harvey Keitel fired and replaced by Martin Sheen, Sheen’s eventual heart attack, Marlon Brando’s temperamental behavior) and the logistical nightmares (the Filipino government recalling helicopters in the middle of filming to fight insurgents in the hills, a typhoon that destroyed sets), as well as intimate glimpses of Coppola under creative duress. Fax Bahr and George Hickenlooper later edited her footage into a Showtime documentary entitled HEARTS OF DARKNESS: A FILMMAKER’S APOCALYPSE (1991), an essential film-on-film work. It’s available for the first time on DVD, along with Eleanor Coppola’s new documentary CODA: THIRTY YEARS LATER (on the same disc) about the making of Francis’ first directorial effort in a decade, YOUTH WITHOUT YOUTH. The new film reveals a mellower Coppola just as passionate about the filmmaking process. Highly recommended.
Dave CHAPPELLE’S SHOW gave us some of the funniest sketches ever performed on television in two hilarious seasons on Comedy Central. CHAPPELLE’S SHOW: THE SERIES COLLECTION (2003-04), completely uncensored, is a perfect holiday gift for your edgier friends, guaranteed to produce prodigious laughter. Season One includes Dave’s crack addict bits, parody outtakes from ROOTS, what would happen if THE REAL WORLD did a season with an all-black cast and one ultra-white dude, the sci-fi spoof BLACKZILLA, the faux reality show TRADING SPOUSES, and ASK A BLACK DUDE with the brilliant Paul Mooney. Bonus materials includes unaired footage from the Mooney sketch, audio commentary on five of the season’s 12 episodes with Chappelle and co-creator Neal Brennan, and a half-hour of bloopers and deleted scenes. Season Two is even better. Sketches include Samuel Jackson beer, Paul Mooney as Negrodamus, a spoof of P. Diddy’s MAKING THE BAND, a world where everyone is gay, Nelson Mandela’s boot camp for troubled teens, the World Series of Dice, Dave’s life as the daddy of Oprah’s baby, and plenty of rap parodies (Dave’s Lil’ Jon character) and performances by Snoop Dogg, Kanye West, Erykah Badu, Wyclef Jean, and Mos Def. But the funniest sketches belong to Charlie Murphy (brother of Eddie) as he tells his “True Hollywood Stories” about his run-ins with Rick James (played by both Chappelle and Mooney). Extras for this season include extra stand-up from Chappelle, over an hour of bloopers and deleted scenes, extended interview with Rick James (Mooney), two unaired Charlie Murphy stories, and audio commentary by Chappelle and Brennan. THE LOST EPISODES includes the three shows from the aborted third season, unaired sketches, deleted scenes and bloopers, a making-of featurette, and audio commentary. CHAPPELLE’S SHOW: THE COMPLETE SERIES is essential for the Chappelle completist, a permanent record of one of the funniest shows ever.
DR. KATZ: PROFESSIONAL THERAPIST ran six seasons on Comedy Central from 1995 to 2000. The brilliant animated series was created by stand-up comedian Jonathan Katz and Tom Snyder, and employed a technique dubbed “Squigglevision,” in which the characters had no lateral movement, with only lips and eyes were animated, while the edges of the frame was constantly moving and vibrating. After the first season, Katz won an Emmy for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance. This expansive 13-disc collection includes all 618 episodes of the show, which focused on the good doctor treating an array of patients voiced by the top stand-up comics in the business – Ray Romano, Rodney Dangerfield, Dave Chappelle, Joy Behar, Larry Miller, Dave Attell, Anthony Clark, Steven Wright, Kathy Griffin, Jon Stewart, Rita Rudner, Carol Leifer, Gary Shandling, Conan O’Brien, Joan Rivers, Denis Leary, Emo Phillips, Sandra Bernhard, Janeane Garofalo, Eddie Brill, Wanda Sykes, Whoopi Goldberg, Gilbert Gottfried, Susie Essman, Jeff Garlin, and The Smothers Brothers, along with Lisa Kudrow, David Duchovny and even David Mamet. Well-written and loaded with laughs, the series developed a huge cult following. In addition to the hundreds of episodes, the box set includes audio commentaries galore, three lost episodes a live from Comedy Central segment, and “Short Attention Span Theater” shorts.
What would Christmas be without Eric Cartman, Kyle, Stan, Kenny and Mr. Hankey? The brilliant degenerates at South Park have compiled CHRISTMAS TIME IN SOUTH PARK collecting six Yuletide episodes from past seasons: “Merry Christmas Charlie Mason!,” “Mr. Hankey’s Christmas Classics,” “A Very Crappy Christmas,” “Red Sleigh Down,” “It’s Christmas in Canada,” and “Woodland Critter Christmas.” They’re all highly scatological and very funny … though decidedly not for South Park newbies.
The quintessential Christmas movie is back in a restored remastered two-disc set – Frank Capra’s IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946). It is one of the great American films, with an amazing cast – James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, Thomas Mitchell, Beulah Bondi, Henry Travers, Gloria Grahame, Ward Bond, H.B. Warner – and it’s also one of the first indie films, made by Capra through his Liberty Films, the company he founded after the war with fellow directors William Wyler and George Stevens. I’m always struck by what a dark movie it is; after all, it’s about a guy who commits suicide on New Year’s Eve. This version brings out every delicate nuance of the black and white cinematography, and there’s also a colorized version. The emotional resonances in this film are incredible, and if this film doesn’t get to your heartstrings you must be dead. If you haven’t seen this in a while, check it out; if you’ve never seen it, I’m jealous of your first time watching. My first time was on a late night movie show when I was 13 or 14, before it was rediscovered and embraced as one of the great ones. This edition includes a making-of documentary hosted by Tom Bosley, the original theatrical trailer and a personal tribute by Frank Capra Jr.
LOVE AMERICAN STYLE was a popular early 70s TV series, an anthology show that featured three or four romantic comedies along with short blackouts in between. LOVE AMERICAN STYLE: SEASON ONE, VOLUME ONE from 1969 is a real time capsule exploiting the sexual revolution of the time – at least as much as they could get away with on primetime TV -- along with contemporary fashions and hairstyles, and filmmaking styles influenced by the Beatles movies and sex comedies like UNDER THE YUM YUM TREE. What really makes this show fun are the actors who cavort through the episodes, covering every possible demographic, including Larry Storch, Jane Wyatt, Dwayne Hickman, Bill Bixby, Sid Caesar, Bob Crane, Phyllis Diller, Broderick Crawford, Ozzie and Harriet Nelson, Flip Wilson, Eddie “Rochester” Anderson, Mantan Moreland, Rich Little, Morey Amsterdam, Tom Smothers, Scatman Crothers, Andy Devine, Brandon deWilde, Ann Sothern, Regis Philbin, and in one of his first acting gigs, Harrison Ford! This series ran in syndication up until just a few years ago, so it’s nice to have the uncut episodes for some retro viewing.
Bruce Geller’s MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: THE THIRD TV SEASON features 25 one-hour episodes, digitally restored and remastered on seven discs, of the intense 60s espionage show. The memorable theme, the smart scripts, and especially the ensemble cast (Martin Landau as Rollin Hand, Barbara Bain as Cinnamon Carter, Peter Graves as James Phelps, Greg Morris as Barney Collier, Peter Lupus as Willy Armitage) made this one of the best shows of its day. Season Three boasts what is considered one of the very best episodes, “The Exchange,” directed by Kubrick crony Alexander Singer, with very strong work from Barbara Bain, and two two-part episodes. Guest stars for the 1968-69 Season Three include Martin Sheen, Joan Collins, Robert Conrad, Lee Grant, Ed Asner, Ruth Roman, Bo Svenson, Fernando Lamas, Sugar Ray Robinson and a fine selection of character actors including Sid Haig, Vincent Gardenia, Nehemiah Persoff, Henry Silva, Vic Tayback, Theodore Bikel, Anthony Zerbe, Fritz Weaver, 40s Universal horror regulars Martin Kosleck and Peter Coe, and Cassavetes veteran Val Avery.
The NBR’s Career Achievement Award honoree for 2007 is Michael Douglas. He became a star on the early 70s series THE STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO; the first two season are on DVD from Paramount Home Video. Douglas and Karl Malden play homicide detectives who fight crime in Frisco; the shows were timely, intelligent and hugely popular. Douglas has often remarked that he learned about acting from working with Malden, and their chemistry is what makes this series special.
James Cameron's over-hyped epic TITANIC (1997) actually holds up very well almost a decade later and eventually becomes a gripping thriller and a potent love story. TITANIC: 10TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION is a two-disc set with separate commentary track from Cameron, and a separate cast and crew commentary from Kate Winslet, Gloria Stuart, Lewis Abernathy, Rae Sanchini and Jon Landau; historical commentary by Don Lynch and Ken Marschall, plus behind-the-scenes featurettes. Disc Two concludes the movie with the same commentaries, plus an alternate ending that expands the Bill Paxton, Suzy Amis and Gloria Stuart characters (but was wisely withheld); more featurettes, and the execrable music video of Celine Dion singing the most overplayed song of 1997-98, “My Heart Will Go On.” Everything here was included on the three-disc Collector’s Edition released in 2005; this is a streamlined version of that set and worth picking up as a holiday gift if you missed out on the previous set.
Mel Gibson’s BRAVEHEART (1995), one of the best epics of all time, certainly one of the best pictures of the ‘90s, has been re-released in a double-disc special collectors edition – toss your DVDs of its previous release cause this one has been digitally remastered and John Toll’s cinematography is more stunning than ever. The NBR was the first critical group to honor BRAVEHEART on its way to a much deserved Best Picture Oscar. Gibson plays William Wallace, the medieval rebel who led his fellow Scotsmen against the English occupiers. Sophie Marceau, Patrick McGoohan, Catherine McCormack and Brendan Gleason co-star, James Horner’s score is magnificent, and the battle scenes are exhilarating (and extremely violent). Extras include Gibson’s entertaining and informative audio commentary, a featurette on writer Randall Wallace, a new making-of featurette, photo montage and archival interviews with the cast. Freedom!
WARNER BROS.: BURT LANCASTER: THE SIGNATURE COLLECTION is another must-have five-disc, five film box set from WV, delivering some of Burt’s lesser known titles from his bread-and-butter period. Burt inherited Errol Flynn’s swashbuckling mantle at Warners with THE FLAME AND THE ARROW (1950), directed by genre genius Jacques Tourneur (CAT PEOPLE, I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE, CANYON PASSAGE, OUT OF THE PAST). Set in medieval Italy, there are Robin Hood overtones, beautiful Technicolor photography and the even more beautiful Virginia Mayo. The Joe McDoakes short SO YOU’RE GOING TO HAVE AN OPERATION and the Beaky Buzzard cartoon STRIFE WIT FATHER is included. Michael Curtiz’ JIM THORPE – ALL AMERICAN (1951) was one of the actor’s most powerful early movies, a biopic about the Native American athlete who battled poverty and prejudice to become an internationally known sports figure only to fall prey to alcoholism and obscurity, fighting his personal demons to become a fixture in Hollywood movies of the early 30s. Extras include another vintage Joe McDoakes short (SO YOU WANT TO BE A PAPER HANGER), the Bugs Bunny cartoon HARE WE GO, and a sports movies trailer gallery. Arthur Lubin’s SOUTH SEAS WOMAN (1953) is a good old-fashioned star vehicle, with Lancaster romancing Virginia Mayo and fighting Chuck Connors in an action comedy that casts Burt as a brawling Marine during the early days of World War Two. Special features include Joe McDoakes’ SO YOU WANT TO BE AN HEIR, the classic Warners cartoon MUCH ADO ABOUT NUTTING and the theatrical trailer. After THE FLAME AND THE ARROW, Lancaster had another hit with THE CRIMSON PIRATE (1952, available on DVD from WHV), and followed them up with Byron Haskin’s Fiji-lensed, Technicolored swashbuckler HIS MAJESTY O’KEEFE (1954) about 1870s South Seas traders. There’s another Joe McDoakes (SO YOU WANT TO KNOW YOUR RELATIVES), another vintage cartoon (I GOPHER YOU) and the original theatrical trailer. We jump ahead 20 years for David Miller’s EXECUTIVE ACTION (1973), a forgotten thriller about a right-wing conspiracy to assassinate President John F. Kennedy, intelligently written by Dalton Trumbo. The disc includes a contemporary featurette and a Lancaster trailer gallery. As with all WHV box sets, the prints are wonderful and the packaging handsome, with the original artwork on each disc cover.
THE SONG REMAINS THE SAME (1976) is one of the great concert films, thanks to the cinematography of Ernest Day (camera operator on LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, DR. ZHIVAGO, A CLOCKWORK ORANGE) and an uncredited Phil Parmet, and of course the musicianship of the great rock ‘n roll band Led Zeppelin (singer Robert Plant, guitar virtuoso Jimmy Page, bassist John Paul Jones and the late drummer John Bonham). The two-disc special edition is a vast improvement on the original DVD release, with all 16 performances from their 1973 Madison Square Garden concert (including the band’s signature “Stairway to Heaven” and “Whole Lotta Love”) and more than 40 minutes of additional material, including unreleased concert footage of “Misty Mountain Hop” and “The Ocean.” There’s a bizarre opening sequence of a 30s period gangland hit, but that quickly gives way to the music. Special features include airplane footage of the band’s arrival, an interview with Plant and manager Peter Grant on a Thames River barge, and a 1976 radio profile by Cameron Crowe before he became a filmmaker.
Director Steven Soderbergh and stars George Clooney, Matt Damon, Brad Pitt, Don Cheadle, and Elliot Gould reteam for OCEAN’S THIRTEEN (2007), the second sequel to Soderbergh’s OCEAN’S ELEVEN. Al Pacino joins the cast (which also includes Casey Affleck, Bernie Mac, Ellen Barkin and Scott Caan) and lends some additional vitality to the Vegas heist formula. The movie is slick and stylish, elaborately plotted, and with this kind of charismatic star power, you can’t go wrong for a night’s entertainment. Extras include production featurettes and additional scenes. UNIVERSAL: MR. BEAN’S HOLIDAY (2007) is the best and funniest of the Bean movies, starring Rowan Atkinson as the hapless, clueless Britisher. This time he wins a vacation to Paris and the south of France, with all kinds of slapstick mayhem ensuing. The locations are gorgeous (especially the Provence countryside and the Cannes Film Festival) and the laughs frequent, with Willem Dafoe priceless as a pretentious arrogant poseur director. The finale is especially fun, with the filmmakers borrowing liberally from Buster Keaton’s THE CAMERAMAN (1928) and Vittorio DeSica’s AFTER THE FOX (1966). Extras included (wisely) deleted scenes and an assortment of production featurettes. If you’re looking for a comedy ideal for family viewing, this Bean’s for you.
I love HOT FUZZ (2007). Here’s my review from the August column: Director Edgar Wright burst onto the scene with his brilliant hit zombie parody SHAUN OF THE DEAD. His latest film, HOT FUZZ (2007), is now on DVD, and so far, it’s my favorite movie of the year. This is a real “movie movie,” a hybrid action cop mystery comedy with gore, and loving references to martial arts, horror and even spaghetti Westerns. In many ways it’s the ultimate genre film. Simon Pegg and Nick Frost return along with Jim Broadbent and Timothy Dalton, Wright revels in his crash cut whip zoom stylistics, and offers a great soundtrack with artists like Adam Ant and The Kinks; indeed, The Kinks’ “Village Green Preservation Society” is the perfect song for this picture, with Pegg as super-London-cop Nick Angel, exiled from the big city to a picture perfect English country village where nothing is as it seems. There are tons of fantastic extras, including outtakes, deleted scenes, a video log of the Wright-Pegg-Frost promotional tour across the U.S., a Fuzz-O-Meter trivia meter and more. HOT FUZZ is must viewing. It made me re-watch SHAUN OF THE DEAD, and research how these guys started out. Wright, Pegg, Frost and stock company regular Juliet Stevenson had a comedy series in the U.K. called SPACED, unavailable on DVD in the States. Pegg and Stevenson wrote and starred in the show as two people who meet randomly, both searching for an affordable apartment. They find one, with a catch – the landlord will only rent to a married couple, so they pose as man and wife to get the place. All the episodes are posted on (yep) Youtube. Just search for “Spaced” and let the laughs begin.
The new HOT FUZZ: 3-DISC COLLECTOR’S EDITION is a real treat for HOT FUZZ fans, with over five hours of bonus features, including everything from the initial release. The promotional tour includes 40 new minutes of footage, there are five audio commentaries (including one with Quentin Tarantino), eight production featurettes, a special effects featurette, storyboards, 23 video blogs, outtakes and 22 deleted scenes with optional filmmaker commentary, a long making-of documentary, and Wright’s student film DEAD RIGHT, with hilarious audio commentary by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost trashing the amateur actors!
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE: THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON from 1976-77 represents the high water mark of the original Not Ready for Primetime Players – John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, Jane Curtin, Laraine Newman, Garrett Morris, the last season for Chevy Chase, the first season for Bill Murray. The eight-disc collection gives us the complete uncut 90-minute live episodes, loaded with comedy classics like Land Shark, Gilda’s Barbara Walters parodies (Baba Wawa), Belushi’s Samurai, Aykroyd’s Jimmy Carter, and especially The Coneheads. The guests hosts demonstrate producer Lorne Michaels’ eclecticism – Lily Tomlin, Norman Lear, Eric Idle (twice), Karen Black, Steve Martin (twice), Buck Henry (twice), Dick Cavett, Paul Simon, Jodie Foster, Candice Bergen, Ralph Nader, Ruth Gordon, Fran Tarkenton, Sissy Spacek, Broderick Crawford, Jack Burns, Julian Bond, Elliott Gould, and Shelley Duvall. The musical guests represent some of the era’s finest – James Taylor, Chuck Berry, Frank Zappa, Brian Wilson, Ry Cooder, the Kinks, Linda Ronstadt, Joan Armatrading, Tom Waits, Santana, George Benson, The Band (the week before they filmed THE LAST WALTZ), Joe Cocker dueting with Belushi-as-Cocker, and George Harrison and Paul Simon (doing lovely acoustic versions of “Here Comes the Sun” and “Homeward Bound”). Special features include an SNL Mardi Gras special, dress rehearsal audio, Andy Kaufman’s screen test (reciting “McArthur Park” and the opening to the SUPERMAN TV show), and a collectors’ scrapbook.
NORTHERN EXPOSURE: THE COMPLETE SERIES features all six seasons, 110 episodes on 26 discs, with extended scenes from all six seasons, of the Emmy-winning and Golden Globe-winning series. Airing on NBC from 1990 to 1995, the show, created by Joshua Brand and John Falsey, was an intelligent comedy-drama about a young doctor (Rob Morrow) assigned to a practice in small town Cicely, Alaska, where he deals with a host of eccentric characters. The quirky regular cast includes Cynthia Geary, Barry Corbin, Darren E. Burrows, John Cullum, Doug Ballard, Janine Turner and John Corbett. Truly one of the best shows of the ‘90s, NORTHERN EXPOSURE: THE COMPLETE SERIES will provide hours of pleasure.
SONY: Dutch director Theo van Gogh was shot, stabbed and killed by a Muslim extremist in 2004, in response to his film SUBMISSION. Van Gogh and his producer Gijs Van De Westelaken had been planning to remake three Van Gogh films in the U.S. with American directors. INTERVIEW (2007), directed by Steve Buscemi is the first. Buscemi plays a political journalist assigned to write a fluff piece about a TV and movie diva actress, played by Sienna Miller. The interview turns into a psychological cat-and-mouse mind game; the result is a compelling drama, driven by the two actors (perhaps Miller’s best performance), rife with sexual tension and smart dialogue, and, like the original, a meditation on media and celebrity. Most of the film takes place in the actress’ loft, and Buscemi, working with Van Gogh’s camera crew and three simultaneous digital cameras, imported from Holland to Manhattan, keeps it visually interesting. Buscemi provides audio commentary, and there are two making-of featurettes.
ANGEL-A (2007) went relatively unnoticed in its theatrical release and will hopefully find a wider audience on DVD. It’s a sweet and charming take on IT’SA WONDERFUL LIFE from writer-director Luc Besson (THE BIG BLUE, LA FEMME NIKITA, THE PROFESSIONAL, THE FIFTH ELEMENT). Besson and his long-time cinematographer Thierry Arbogast offer a picturesque black-and-white Paris backdrop for this fable about a small-time hustler (Jamel Debbouze) about to take his life by jumping off a bridge into the Seine, only to save the life of a tall, gorgeous model (Rie Rasmussen) who is his guardian angel. Besson is a consummate filmmaker, camera always in the right place and perfectly framed. While the movie tends to drag in the third act, it’s still a delight. There’s a lengthy making of featurette included as an extras. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has also released the eye-popping anime PAPRIKA (2006) from director Satoshi Kon (PERFECT BLUE, TOKYO GODFATHERS), a trippy thriller about a stolen dream machine. A detective and a beautiful psycho-therapist embark on an odyssey to recover the device before it falls into the hands of a dream terrorist. Kon’s vision is innovative and disturbing; he provides audio commentary and there are four featurettes. This is cutting edge animation and a magical ride to boot.
DISNEY: Gore Verbinski’s PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN (2007) is the third installment of the wildly successful series, and the most lavish, sumptuous and entertaining, a bonafide epic. Johnny Depp once again steals the show as rascally (and slightly effeminate) Jack Sparrow, and cast mates Geoffrey Rush, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, Stellan Skarsgard, Bill Nighy and the Rolling Stones’ Keith Richard (as Jack’s pappy) are back again, and Chow Yun Fat joins the gang as the pirate lord of Singapore. The storyline takes a decided back seat (the movie started shooting without a completed screenplay) to the cinematography, art direction, and special effects, and delivers equal does of action, romance, comedy, fantasy and the supernatural. Special kudos go to cinematographer Dariusz Wolski (SWEENEY TODD, THE CROW, and the first two PIRATES films). The double-disc limited edition is crammed with extras, including eight featurettes, deleted scenes and bloopers.
The NBR named RATATOUILLE the Best Animated Feature of 2007, and it’s a beauty, courtesy of Pixar (CARS, FINDING NEMO) and writer-director Brad Bird (THE INCREDIBLES). Remy the Rat dreams of being a great chef; separated from his rodent family, he ends up at a five-star restaurant in Paris, where he realizes his talents with the help of Linguini the garbage boy. Like the best animated movies, RATATOUILLE has a lot of heart, with humor and a heart-warming message about family and friendship. Extras includes deleted scenes, two new animated shorts (including one starring Remy and Linguini), and a making-of featurette with Bird and uber-chef Thomas Keller.
MILESTONE: The Russian film I AM CUBA (1964), directed by Mikhail Kalatozov (THE CRANES ARE FLYING) has long been a legendary film, and, like Milestone’s recent release of Charles Burnett’s KILLER OF SHEEP, extremely difficult to see. Now the specialty distributor has released I AM CUBA: THE ULTIMATE EDITION, creatively packaged in a cigar box. This collaboration between Khrushchev’s Soviets and Castro’s Cubans interweaves four stories about the Communist Revolution in Cuba, with breathtaking, gravity-defying black-and-white cinematography by Sergei Urusevsky. The camera work is all the more remarkable for its early use of infrared film stock and experiment with filters; the movie is also nearly entirely hand-held. The director intended to make a POTEMKIN for the Cuban revolutionaries, and succeeded in turning propaganda into poetry, with scenes of the decadent Batista regime contrasted with the appalling poverty of the peasants. Never shown outside of Cuba and the Soviet Union, I AM CUBA was rediscovered in 1992 with a screening at the Telluride Film Festival and a year later at the San Francisco International Film Festival. Milestone secured the rights, made new prints from the original camera negative, and engaged Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola to present the picture at the Film Forum in 1995. The response to these screenings was overwhelming (at the SFIFF there were two standing ovations DURING the screening). Milestone’s DVD is one of the most important releases of the year. Disc One includes a new hi-def master from the original 35mm fine grain master, a half-hour video interview with Scorsese, still galleries, original trailer; Disc Two has a 90-minute documentary, Vicente Ferraz’ THE SIBERIAN MAMMOTH (2005), about the making of the film, and a half-hour 2004 CUNY City Cinematheque interview with screenwriter Yevgeny Yevtushenko; and Disc Three contains the two-hour documentary A FILM ABOUT MIKHAIL KALATOZOV. The box also includes a handsome booklet, I Am Cuba: The True Story. This film is a undeniable cinematic milestone (no pun intended), further confirming (though no confirmation is really needed) that Milestone Film & Video as an international treasure. Visit them at www.milestonefilms.com.
KINO: Just last month Kino gave us an exquisitely restored BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN; this month it’s F. W. Murnau’s vampire NOSFERATU (1922), another classic silent that has been readily available in truncated, poor quality prints. NOSFERATU: THE ULTIMATE EDITION is exactly that, created from a new hi-def transfer, with an orchestral performance of Hans Erdmann’s original score, recorded in 5.1 stereo surround sound. Like with POTEMKIN, it’s like seeing the film for the first time. The double-disc set includes the option to watch with newly translated English intertitles or the original German intertitles (with optional English subtitles); a 52-minute documentary; a featurette on the digital restoration; photo gallery; and lengthy excerpts from Murnau’s JOURNEY INTO THE NIGHT (1920), THE HAUNTED CASTLE (1921), PHANTOM (1922), THE FINANCES OF THE GRAND DUKE (1924), THE LAST LAUGH (1924), TARTUFFE (1925), FAUST (1926) and TABU (1931). Kino’s FILM NOIR: FIVE CLASSICS FROM THE STUDIO VAULTS is an outstanding collection that brings us Fritz Lang’s masterful SCARLET STREET (1945), with Joan Bennett and Dan Duryea putting the con on milquetoast Edward G. Robinson in a dazzling digital transfer, from a 35mm negative preserved by the Library of Congress, with audio commentary by David Kalat; Anthony Mann’s ultra-low budget STRANGE IMPERSONATION (1946) with Brenda Marshall, distinguished by Mann’s chiaroscuro visuals; Ida Lupino’s psychological thriller THE HITCH-HIKER (1953), with Edmond O’Brien and Frank Lovejoy giving a lift in the desert to serial killer William Talman; Cavalcanti’s post-war British revenge thriller THEY MADE ME A FUGITIVE (1947), starring Trevor Howard an ex-black marketeer on the run from thugs; and Michael Powell and Emeric Pressberger’s Hitchcockian espionage thriller CONTRABAND (1940) starring Conrad Veidt.
PIETRO GERMI: The Italian director was recently the subject of a retrospective at New York’s Film Forum, capped off by a two-week run of his comedy DIVORCE, ITALIAN STYLE (1961) starring Marcello Mastroianni and Stefania Sandrelli, still a brilliant satire, winner of the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. Criterion has a terrific DVD available, and it’s highly recommended. No less an authority than Martin Scorsese has written about the movie: “One of the greatest films about Sicily. Ferdinando (Mastroianni) remains one of the great icons of my movie-going memory. Has some of the richest, most beautiful black and white photography ever put on film and, sensual atmosphere, where lust and passion become almost aromatic. Very inventive, it really moves, as few films do, with a deftness and the driest, most cutting wit... It’s a film that truly haunts me. As funny as it is, the emotions that Germi was dealing with were primal, savage, and most disturbingly of all, eternal.”
MARTIN SCORSESE: Author, historian and bon vivant Frank Thompson sent me this link, a must for Scorsese and Hitchcock fans (in other words, everyone who reads this column): http://www.scorsesefilmfreixenet.com/video_eng.htm.
SHOUT FACTORY: INSIDE THE ACTOR’S STUDIO: JOHNNY DEPP offers rare insights into arguably the greatest actor of his generation. Host James Lipton gets Depp to talk about his childhood, his early addiction to rock ‘n roll, and his transition from musician to actor with his debut role in A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET and the series that made him a teen idol, 21 JUMP STREET. A special emphasis is placed on Depp’s work with director Tim Burton, especially EDWARD SCISSORHANDS, ED WOOD and SLEEPY HOLLOW, and the actor’s struggle to maintain his creative integrity as an artist. In an introductory piece, Lipton shares with us the circumstances of the interview – the largest audience that has ever assembled for one of the Actor’s Studio interviews. This DVD is of course a must for Depp fans … and who isn’t?
Shout also brings to DVD two seasonal entries in their Country Music Hall of Fame Archive series – THE JOHNNY CASH CHRISTMAS SPECIAL 1976 and
THE JOHNNY CASH CHRISTMAS SPECIAL 1976. The Man in Black is in great voice (and spirits) here, with a gaggle of musical guests. The ’76 show has Johnny going solo on “Wandering,” “Christmas as I Knew It,” “That Lucky Old Sun,” and “Old Folks at Home,” and teaming up with wife June Carter Cash for “Old Time Feeling,” with June and Tony Orlando for “Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree,” with Orlando and Roy Clark for “Camptown Races” and “Oh! Susanna,” and with Clark on “Far Away Places.” Clark solos on “Juke Box Saturday Night,” “The Christmas Song,” and “Beautiful Dreamer” and June does “Follow Me.” Merle Travis performs “Cannonball Rag,” Barbara Mandrell rips “Steel Guitar Rag” and sings “It’s a Beautiful Morning with You.” Brother Tommy Cash sings “That Christmasy Feeling” and Reverend Billy Graham recites “A Story of Christmas.” On the ’77 special, Cash pays tribute to his old Sun records pal Elvis Presley, who had died in August of that year, gathering a group of Sun legends – Carl Perkins (“Blue Suede Shoes”), Jerry Lee Lewis (“Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On”), and Roy Orbison (“Oh, Pretty Woman”); Johnny himself does a great “Big River” and also solos on “Christmas Time’s A-Comin’.” Johnny and June do “Darlin’ Companion,” June warbles “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” and Jerry Lee Lewis delivers “White Christmas.” There’s a rousing “This Train is Bound for Glory” from Cash, Lewis, Perkins and Orbison, and plenty of Christmas standards like “Blue Christmas” (Cash and The Statler Brothers), “Here Comes Santa Claus,” “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” and “Frosty the Snowman” (Cash and Roy Clark), and “Silent Night” and “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” (Cash with family and friends). That is a whole lot of music on the kind of Christmas special they just don’t make anymore.
CAPITOL: The Beatles’ second feature film HELP! (1965) comes to DVD in a gorgeous restoration. While A HARD DAY’S NIGHT was a black-and-white documentary-style look at the Fab Four’s life on the road, HELP! (also directed by Richard Lester) was a color fantasy adventure that placed the boys in the middle of international intrigue, chased by a religious cult trying to recover a sacrificial ring from (you guessed it) Ringo. Lester’s dazzling technique is once again in full play, and instead of the cramped hotel rooms, studios, and train compartments of the first film, this time we’re taken to London, the Austrian Alps and the Bahamas. Equally as witty as HARD DAY’S NIGHT, with John, Paul, George and Ringo clearly enjoying themselves, HELP! also features performances of the title song, “You’re Going to Lose That Girl,” “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away,” “Ticket to Ride,” “The Night Before,” “I Need You,” and “Another Girl.” Special features on the two-disc set include a 30-minute documentary, a deleted scene, a featurette on the restoration process, reminiscences by cast and crew, three original theatrical trailers, 1965 radio spots, and a 16-page booklet with an introduction by Richard Lester and an appreciation by Martin Scorsese.
RHINO: More good news for Beatles fans – the three-disc DVD THE McCARTNEY YEARS, spanning four decades of Paul’s solo music with more than 40 music ideos Andover two hours of live performances. The first two discs contain the videos, with everything from “Maybe I’m Amazed” and “Band on the Run to “Tug of War” and “Pipes of Peace.” Disc Three highlights three live gigs – the 1976 Wings ROCKSHOW tour, his 1991 UNPLUGGED and the famous 2004 GLASTONBURY performance (which includes versions of Beatles standards “Hey Jude,” “Blackbird,” “Back in the USSR,” “Helter Skelter” and “Yesterday.” Extras include a segment from THE SOUTH PARK SHOW and his Live AID show.
VINCE GUARALDI: Here’s another perfect holiday gift, a remastered edition of Vince Guaraldi’s soundtrack for A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS: “For anyone who grew up during the ‘60s, the music from the beloved animated TV special A Charlie Brown Christmas resonates with deep sentimental meaning. That swinging soundtrack by the Vince Guaraldi Trio is as much a part of our musical upbringing as the early Beatles, Stones and Dylan albums and has continued to register with successive generations in rebroadcasts every year since its 1965 premiere. Memorable melodies like the cheerful “Linus and Lucy,” the whimsically swinging “Skating,” the bittersweet “Christmastime Is Here” and the groovy boogaloo “Christmas is Coming” have become ingrained in our collective consciousness. Like those Beatles, Stones and Dylan records, Guaraldi’s jazzy score has endured. Now, 41 years after its initial airing and 30 years after the pianist-composer himself passed away from a heart attack in 1976 at age 47, Fantasy is releasing a new Expanded Edition of this holiday favorite. Remixed in stereo using 24-bit remastering from the original tapes and featuring the original cover art reinstated with the approval of United Media and the Estate of Charles Schultz, A Charlie Brown Christmas includes four previously unissued bonus tracks by the Vince Guaraldi Trio (featuring Fred Marshall on bass and Jerry Granelli on drums).”
JOHN COLTRANE: This is a must for jazz aficionados: “Interplay, Prestige Records’ new 5-CD set, containing early collaborative recordings of the peerless tenor saxophonist and visionary John Coltrane serves two distinct purposes. The first is to offer an extraordinary collection of music that provides an excellent overview of the modern jazz scene during the fertile 1956-1958 period. The other – and arguably more important purpose to the legions of Coltrane faithful – is its rich delineation of the evolutionary process behind one of the most profoundly important and emotionally compelling artists this planet has ever seen. With all great musicians, the message is fully contained in the music, and the message of John Coltrane is one of powerful humanism, deep spirituality, unflinching emotion, relentless searching and supreme love. Interplay offers a most revealing roadmap to the early days of discovery in his unparalleled quest. One can misinterpret the astonishing focus and commitment that Coltrane had as being singular or even self-absorbed; but that is totally off-base. Coltrane was incredibly multi-faceted, a man of many interests in the pursuit of knowledge – both subjective and objective – who absorbed everything in his vision. In these recordings, surrounded by many of the finest musicians of the era, the listener can actually experience directly how Trane responds to his colleagues, transforming his own musical concepts to perfectly contribute to each environment in which he finds himself.”
MILO Z: One of the best live bands in New York City for the last 15 years has been Milo Z – fans and magazines have raved about them for years, Carson Daly had them as a guest house band last year, I’ve been fortunate to have some of their tunes in a couple of my features. Their funky soul-a-delic ziggidy-doo-dah sound is dance music at its best, and they’ve carved out a cult niche up and down the Eastern seaboard. They’ve also become popular in funk-crazy Greece, and their new release UP ON THE HILL is a combo CD and DVD of last summer’s Athens gig (with full rhythm section and beautiful background singers) atop the ancient ruins of one of the first places in Western civilization to ever have a concert. Milo himself is the coolest of the cool, singin’, swingin’ and swayin’, leading his mighty band through original tunes that refresh and revitalize the greatest traditions of funky R & B. Musicianship, emotion, love, showmanship – it’s all here. The DVD includes prep and rehearsal footage in NYC as the band prepare for the gig. Their website is www.miloz.com and you can also sample some tunes at www.myspace.com/milozband. Listen now and dig him later, or dig him now and listen later – either way you’ll be on your feet when you hear the beat.
DOTCOMEDY: NBC and Universal have been broadcasting promising comedic work on the internet; The Good ‘Ol Boys troupe have produced some office sketches that are pretty funny and worth checking out. The episodes run about three minutes each and feature a talented actress named Natalie Howe, who I’ve directed in a feature and a short. Check ‘em out at http://video.dotcomedy.com/player/?id=175660
http://video.dotcomedy.com/player/?id=175661
http://video.dotcomedy.com/player/?id=175662
JOHN GALLAGHER
jgmovie@gmail.com
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