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It’s the gift-giving time of year again and there is a wide assortment of great holiday DVDs for every taste. Any title cited here makes a great stocking stuffer for your favorite film fan. Let’s start with a dozen spectacular box sets that rank among the best DVD releases of the year:
Last year, Fox stunned buffs with the titanic FORD AT FOX. This year they reward us with MURNAU, BORZAGE AND FOX, my pick for DVD box set of the year. The most adventurous of all studio chiefs, William Fox brought German wunderkind F. W. Murnau to Hollywood after the director’s success with THE LAST LAUGH (1924) and FAUST (1926). His first film was the highly influential SUNRISE (1927), starring Janet Gaynor and George O’Brien in a melodramatic tale of a country husband who falls prey to the wiles of a hussy from the big city (the set also includes the rarely seen alternate European version of the film, restored by the Nardoni Filmovy Archiv). With its expressionistic cinematography, production design and montage, SUNRISE revolutionized cinema and influenced a generation of American directors, including Fox contractees John Ford, Raoul Walsh, Howard Hawks, William K. Howard and Frank Borzage. This collection also includes Murnau’s silent CITY GIRL (1930), in which waitress Mary Duncan leaves the city to marry farm boy Charles Farrell, only to battle with his puritanical father (Ernest Torrence), and a lengthy visual reconstruction of his lost film 4 DEVILS (1928).
Murnau has always been in the forefront of Pantheon directors; not so with the criminally neglected Frank Borzage, the most spiritual and romantic of directors. A true auteur, his films stress the power of love to overcome adversity. The real joy of this amazing set lies in the rediscovery of his important late 20s-early 30s works. LAZYBONES (1925), a laconic love story starring an against-type Buck Jones, gave an early inkling of Borzage’s interests, but, influenced by Murnau, it was his production of 7th HEAVEN (1927) that proved him an American master. Janet Gaynor is a poor Parisian girl rescued by street cleaner Charles Farrell from a cruel sister; their love transcends all. Borzage’s visuals are impressive (though the war scenes were directed by an uncredited John Ford), the emotions he elicits from his stars honest and truthful. It is just a beautiful film, one of the biggest box office hits of the 20s. Farrell and Gaynor were reteamed in Borzage’s STREET ANGEL (1928), another sumptuous romance, this time set in Naples. THE RIVER (1928), with Farrell and Duncan, is yet another exquisite love story set in a mountain mining camp, considered by some to be the most erotic of silent movies; the film is presented with the existing footage (43 out of 84 minutes) and still photos to fill in the missing scenes. LUCKY STAR (1929), again with Gaynor and Farrell, is a major revelation, tremendously moving, with the leads as star-crossed lovers in a poverty-stricken rural community. Borzage made a fluid transition to talkies with THEY HAD TO SEE PARIS (1929), a comedy with Will Rogers coming into a windfall and taking his family to Paris. There are two versions of the charming SONG O’MY HEART (1930) starring legendary tenor John McCormack and introducing Maureen O’Sullivan in her screen debut, with lovely location work in Ireland; and another rarity, LILIOM (1930), starring Farrell and Rose Hobart, based on the Ferenc Molnar play that served as the basis for CAROUSEL (Fritz Lang’s 1934 French version starring Charles Boyer is available as a bonus feature on Fox’s CAROUSEL DVD). Borzage won an Oscar for 7TH HEAVEN, and another for BAD GIRL (1931), a key Depression romance, a small production with James Dunn and Sally Eilers as two Manhattan lovers trying to save their relationship that became a sleeper hit. Unavailable for years, BAD GIRL is a crackling comedy-drama, and one of the set’s highlights. AFTER TOMORROW (1932), another rarity, has Farrell and Marian Nixon trying to save their Depression nickels to get married, while YOUNG AMERICA (1932) is an early Spencer Tracy starrer about juvenile delinquency. BAD GIRL, AFTER TOMORROW and YOUNG AMERICA are pre-Code gems, and it is absolutely wonderful to finally have them available. It should be noted that most of these Fox films were saved from nitrate decomposition in the early 70s through the efforts of longtime NBR member William K. Everson (the NBR Film History Award is named in his honor). The box set includes a beautifully done feature-length documentary on Murnau, Borzage and Fox, and two lavish photo-laden books, one on the trio, and one on 4 DEVILS. Thank you, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, from the bottom of this film geek’s heart, for this collection. How about more FORD AT FOX, or RAOUL WALSH AT FOX for next year?
Sony has issued a marvelous box set that will please many movie buffs – COLUMBIA PICTURES: THE BEST PICTURE COLLECTION. It’s just that – every Columbia title that won Oscars for Best Picture, and it’s quite a lineup – Frank Capra’s IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (1934) with Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert, Capra’s YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU (1938) with Jean Arthur and James Stewart, Robert Rossen’s ALL THE KING’S MEN (1949) with Broderick Crawford and Mercedes McCambridge, Fred Zinnemann’s FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (1953) with Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift and Frank Sinatra, Elia Kazan’s ON THE WATERFRONT (1954) with Marlon Brando and Rod Steiger, David Lean’s THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI (1957) with William Holden and Alec Guinness, Lean’s LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962) with Peter O’Toole and Anthony Quinn, Zinnemann’s A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS (1966) with Paul Scofield and Robert Shaw, Carol Reed’s OLIVER! (1968) with Oliver Reed, Robert Benton’s KRAMER VS. KRAMER (1980) with Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep, and Richard Attenborough’s GANDHI (1983) with Ben Kingsley.
Universal has assembled all 24 of their Abbott and Costello titles, handsomely packaged in a “trunk” box, with travel stickers from around the world in ABBOTT & COSTELLO: THE COMPLETE UNIVERSAL PICTURES COLLECTION. Highlights include BUCK PRIVATES (1941) with commentary by Bob Furmanek and Ron Palumbo; IN THE NAVY (1941) with commentary by Jeff Miller; WHO DONE IT? (1942) with commentary by Frank Coniff; THE TIME OF THEIR LIVES (1946), my personal favorite, with commentary by the indefatigable Frank Thompson; ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN (1949), a close second, with commentary by Gregory Mank; ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE (1953), with commentary by Tom Weaver and Richard Scrivani, and the hitherto unreleased IT AIN’T HAY (1943), which had been held up for years by the underlying Damon Runyon story rights. A bonus disc includes three compilation features, THE WORLD OF ABBOTT AND COSTELLO, ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET JERRY SEINFELD, and ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE MONSTERS.
Fans of the maestro will want the ALFRED HITCHCOCK PREMIERE COLLECTION (MGM Home Entertainment), eight discs with some of Hitch’s best – two key films of his British period, SABOTAGE (1936) with Sylvia Sidney and YOUNG AND INNOCENT (1937, with Nova Pilbeam, the Oscar-winning REBECCA (1940) with Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine, LIFEBOAT (1944) with Tallulah Bankhead, SPELLBOUND (1945) with Ingrid Bergman and Gregory Peck, NOTORIOUS (1946) with Bergman and Cary Grant, and THE PARADINE CASE (1947) with Peck. The set is loaded with audio commentaries, featurettes, screen tests, still galleries, vintage radio interviews, and a 32-page notebook with trivia and production notes, plus the AFI TRIBUTE TO ALFRED HITCHCOCK.
Warner Home Video has put together an elaborate three-disc set of Michael Curtiz’ CASABLANCA (1943), perhaps the penultimate Golden Age classic. There’s a Roger Ebert commentary, an introduction by Lauren Bacall, a documentary on the movie, the doc BACALL ON BOGART, additional scenes and outtakes, the Bugs Bunny cartoon CARROTBLANCA, the premiere episode of the short-lived 50s TV series, scoring session outtakes, production history gallery, a radio show, a documentary on Jack Warner, and bonus collectibles (passport holder, luggage tag, 48-page photo book, ten one-sheet repro cards, and archival correspondence). And of course, there’s the movie, a movie that stands up to umpteen viewings, with Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Conrad Veidt, Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet and Dooley Wilson. Play it, Sam.
WHV has another slambang WARNER BROS. PICTURES GANGSTER COLLECTION, this time VOLUME 4. The focus is on Edward G. Robinson, spoofing his tough guy image in Roy Del Ruth’s delightful satire LITTLE GIANT (1933) with Mary Astor, as Eddie G. tries to go straight and make it in society; and in Lloyd Bacon’s LARCENY, INC. (1942) operating a luggage store, and pre-dating THE LADYKILLERS by more than a decade, drilling through the basement wall to rob a bank. A great supporting cast includes knucklehead cronies Broderick Crawford and Edward Brophy, along with Jane Wyman, Jack Carson and Anthony Quinn. In Anatole Litvak’s THE AMAZING DR. CLITTERHOUSE (1938), things are more serious, with Robinson in the title role joining a group of jewel thieves to plumb the criminal mind. All these Warner crime pictures have fantastic casts; this one boasts Humphrey Bogart, Claire Trevor, Allen Jenkins and Donald Crisp, with a script co-written by John Huston three years before his directorial debut on THE MALTESE FALCON with Bogart. In Michael Curtiz’ KID GALAHAD (1937), Robinson is a fight promoter a step above the law who discovers a new star in Wayne Morris. In one of her last thankless roles before superstardom with JEZEBEL (1938), DARK VICTORY (1939) and THE LETTER (1940), Bette Davis is Robinson’s girl, with Bogart again the heavy. George Raft, Humphrey Bogart and William Holden (in one of his first pictures) star in Lloyd Bacon’s INVISIBLE STRIPES (1939). Raft’s an ex-con trying to make an honest living, but driven back to the mob by society’s refusal to accept him. All the titles come with the popular Warners Night at the Movies selection of short subjects, newsreels and cartoons, as well as audio commentaries. A real highlight of the set is Constantine Nasr’s outstanding feature-length documentary PUBLIC ENEMIES: THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE GANGSTER FILM (2008), which studies the genre in a comprehensive, intelligent and entertaining manner (a highlight for me was restored footage from the 1927 Sternberg UNDERWORLD). A bonus on this disc is a selection of gangster-themed Warner cartoons, including RACKETEER RABBIT and BUGS AND THUGS.
WARNER BROS. AND THE HOMEFRONT COLLECTION is another treat from WHV’s George Feltenstein (the NBR’s 2006 William K. Everson Film History Award honoree). We get three Warners all-star musical revue extravaganzas from WWII – Michael Curtiz’ THIS IS THE ARMY (1942), David Butler’s THANK YOUR LUCKY STARS (1943) and Delmer Daves’ HOLLYWOOD CANTEEN (1944) and another excellent Constantine Nasr documentary, WARNER AT WAR (2008), narrated by Steven Spielberg, written and produced with academic acumen and a prerequisite appreciation of the entertainment values of both vintage cinema and the film history documentary. THIS IS YOUR ARMY has been over-circulating for years as a public domain title, duped and dubbed beyond dupedom and dubdom; finally its Technicolor glories are remastered from original archival materials. It is a miraculous transformation, like seeing the movie for the first time. The picture is of course pure propaganda, and also pure entertainment, based on the Irving Berlin stage play with his music and lyrics, and a cast including George Murphy, Joan Leslie, George Tobias, Alan Hale, Kate Smith (singing the definitive version of “God Bless America”) and Lt. Ronald Reagan. Best known for “Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning,” sung by Berlin himself, THIS IS THE ARMY was one of the first morale musicals from the major studios at the start of the war, and it’s an historically important piece of film. Warner has rejoined the overture and exit music to the film for the first time in 65 years, there’s a musical number never seen stateside, commentary by Joan Leslie and historian Dr. Drew Casper, newsreels, shorts, cartoons and trailers for this title and Warners’ EDGE OF DARKNESS (1943, directed by Lewis Milestone, with Errol Flynn, Ann Sheridan, and Walter Huston), which hopefully means the latter film will be on its way to DVD before long (hopefully with the Flynn-Raoul Walsh DESPERATE JOURNEY, NORTHERN PURSUIT, UNCERTAIN GLORY and SILVER RIVER). THANK YOUR LUCKY STARS played on the popularity of Eddie Cantor’s radio show. He’s cast in a double role as himself (doing the big ego schtick) and as a schlemiel. The usual misunderstandings transpire but we get to see skits and cameos from Humphrey Bogart (S.Z.”Cuddles” Sakall turns tough on Bogie), Bette Davis (singing “They’re Either Too Young or Too Old”), musical comedy bits from Errol Flynn, John Garfield, Ida Lupino, Olivia DeHavilland, Ann Sheridan and Dinah Shore. HOLLYWOOD CANTEEN really pulls out all the stops with guest stars, constructing the usual slim story around the landmark r & r stop for GI’s in Los Angeles during the war. Check out this cast: The Andrews Sisters, Jack Benny, Joe E. Brown, Eddie Cantor, Kitty Carlisle, Jack Carson, Dane Cark, Joan Crawford, Helmut Dantine, Bette Davis, Faye Emerson, Victor Francen, John Garfield, Sydney Greenstreet, Alan Hale, Paul Henreid, Robert Hutton, Joan Leslie, Peter Lorre, Ida Lupino, Irene Manning, Joan McCracken, Dolores Moran, Dennis Morgan, Eleanor Parker, Joyce Reynolds, Roy Rogers and Trigger, S. Z. Sakall, Zachary Scott, Alexis Smith, Barbara Stanwyck, Donald Woods, Jane Wyman, and the Jimmy Dorsey and Carmen Caballaro orchestras. In the best WHV tradition, all titles include cartoons, newsreels and shorts, plus (on THANK YOUR LUCKY STARS) a radio adaptation, all helping us appreciate the American homefront during the war, and the effort made by Hollywood to support and inspire our warriors both at home and abroad.
Let me say it up front. The 1951 Mervyn LeRoy epic QUO VADIS (1951) is not a movie you’ll return to seeking art or entertainment. It’s overlong at three hours, has tedious, tired sequences (LeRoy had long since debilitated from an exciting pre-Code director at Warners and Metro to become a boring director by if not the late 40s then certainly the 50s). Yet I can’t keep watching it. The saga of ancient Rome was filmed at Cinecitta studio in Rome in utterly ravishing Technicolor by cinematographers Robert Surtees and William V. Skall, a humongous production with a transcendent score by Miklos Rosza (anticipating his work in 1959’s BEN HUR), and a juicy, scene-stealing performance by Peter Ustinov as Nero (following in Charles Laughton’s footsteps from DeMille’s 1932 THE SIGN OF THE CROSS with equally entertaining scene-chewing). Deborah Kerr is as ravishing as the Technicolor as a Christian maiden trying to convert Roman war hero Robert Taylor (love him but he’s utterly miscast). MGM production chief Dore Schary spared no expense and it shows in every frame. WHV has so completely restored QUO VADIS (in a two-part special edition) with a new ultra resolution digital transfer from restored picture and audio elements that this damn movie is suddenly entertaining! I know this picture pleased many people on its first release (including nine-year-old Martin Scorsese), and this DVD release gives us a chance to relive the experience, including the original roadshow and exit music. Critic and film historian F.X. Feeney does an interesting audio commentary, and there’s new featurettes on the film and the genesis of the Biblical epic. I hasten to add that the superb Burning-of-Rome sequence was directed by an uncredited Anthony Mann, and that Sergio Leone worked on the picture as a second unit director in Roma. I don’t know who directed the shot of Finlay Currie as St. Peter crucified upside down on an inverted cross (I‘d like to think it’s Mann), but I will say that the image was burned in my Catholic school brain when I first saw it on TV as a kid. I found it just as powerful today.
WHV also has a new ultimate collectors edition of I AM LEGEND (2008), three-discs that will have fans of the Will Smith post-apocalyptic thriller salivating. There are two versions of the film (one with a controversial ending), a digital copy of the theatrical version, 12 unseen deleted scenes with filmmaker commentary, four animated comics, and over two hours of brand new featurettes. Rounding out the set is a 44-page concept sketch book, a lenticular licite commemorative piece featuring images from the movie, and six collectible art cards showing international cities ravaged by the virus.
The WHV release everyone’s been waiting for is here – Christopher Nolan’s instant classic THE DARK KNIGHT (2008), recently named to the NBR’s Top Ten list of the year’s releases. Christian Bale returns as Bruce Wayne aka The Caped Crusader, supported by Michael Caine as Alfred, Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox and Gary Oldman as Lt. Jim Gordon. The newcomers include Maggie Gyllenhaal as Rachel Dawes, Aaron Eckhart as D.A. Harvey Dent, and of course, the magnificent Heath Ledger as the scene-stealing Joker. Nolan does a spectacular job, even better than his outstanding BATMAN BEGINS, with state-of-the-art visuals and effects. With a worldwide box office gross approaching a billion dollars, THE DARK KNIGHT is one of the biggest hits of all time. The two-disc special edition includes “Gotham Uncovered,” exploring how Nolan and his team developed the Bat-suit and Bat-pod, and composer Hans Zimmer musically characterized The Joker’s mayhem; six action sequences shot on the largest possible format, in their original IMAX framing; six episodes of “Gotham Tonight,” Gotham Cable’s premiere news program; galleries of poster art and production stills, and a digital copy of the feature film.
Paramount releases THE GODFATHER films for the third time on DVD with THE GODFATHER: THE COPPOLA RESTORATION. Double-dipping is bad enough, let alone triple-dipping, but in this case it’s worth the buy. Francis Coppola has been allowed to return the visuals to the way he originally envisioned them. Five discs contain THE GODFATHER (1972), THE GODFATHER PART II (1974) – both fully restored with all-new 5.1 digital Surround Sound -- and a newly remastered THE GODFATHER PART III (1990), with over four hours of supplemental materials. In addition to the director’s commentary and featurettes from the earlier DVD release, there are new documentaries exploring the series’ influence on film and culture, and an examination of the restoration.
Budd Boetticher’s series of late ‘50s Randolph Scott Westerns get showcased in Sony’s THE FILMS OF BUDD BOETTICHER. Five of Boetticher’s best –indeed some of the decade’s finest—are here; THE TALL T (1957), DECISION AT SUNDOWN (1957), BUCHANAN RIDES ALONE (1958), RIDE LONESOME (1959), and COMANCHE STATION (1960). Like Anthony Mann’s westerns, the Boetticher films are sparse, taut, blessed with rigorous screen plays and volatile heroes and villains. Besides stoic Randolph Scott, the casts include memorable performances by Richard Boone, Maureen O’Sullivan, John Carroll, Craig Stevens, Pernell Roberts, Claude Akins, Lee Van Cleef, and in his screen debut, James Coburn. There is also an excellent documentary called A MAN CAN DO THAT and audio commentaries by Jeanine Basinger (THE TALL T), film historian Jeremy Arnold (RIDE LONESOME), and Taylor Hackford (COMANCHE STATION). Martin Scorsese talks about the TALL T and RIDE LONESOME, Clint Eastwood about COMANCHE STATION, and Hackford on DECISION AT SUNDOWN and BUCHANAN RIDES ALONE. SEVEN MEN FROM NOW (1956) is available from Paramount Home Entertainment and if possible should be screened first. This is one of the most important sets of the year, filling a huge gap in genre history.
Hats should be flying way off in gratitude to Flicker Alley for their continued commitment to silent film, and a stunning new collection celebrating one of the greatest film artists of all time. DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS: A MODERN MUSKETEER gathers eleven films digitally remastered from 35mm or original negative prints on five discs, covering the breezy action comedies that made him the biggest star in Hollywood in the late teens, before moving exclusively into big-budget period swashbucklers in the 20s. Energy and optimism were the Fairbanks hallmarks, greatly influenced by the philosophies of Teddy Roosevelt. The titles included here are HIS PICTURE IN THE PAPERS (1916), FLIRTING WITH FATE (1916), THE MYSTERY OF THE LEAPING FISH (1916), THE MATRIMANIAC (1916), WILD AND WOOLLY (1917), REACHING FOR THE MOON (1917), A MODERN MUSKETEER (1918), and the first two films directed by former Fairbanks cameraman Victor Fleming (GONE WITH THE WIND, THE WIZARD OF OZ), WHEN THE CLOUDS ROLL BY (1919) and THE MOLLYCODDLE (1920). THE NUT (1921), Doug’s last contemporary silent comedy, is also included, as well as the first Fairbanks swashbuckler, THE MARK OF ZORRO (1920), digitally mastered from an original 35mm fine grain. A MODERN MUSKETEER was long thought to exist only in fragments, but is presented here in a full restoration by the Danish Film Institute in association with the Museum of Modern Art and Lobster Films. These are all wonderfully inventive entertainments, all highly recommended, with musical scores by Eric Beheim, Philip Carli, Frederick Hodges, Robert Israel (on a vintage Fotoplayer), Rodney Sauer, the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, and Franklin Stover. Bonus material includes audio commentary by Jeffrey Vance and Tony Maietta on A MODERN MUSKETEER, an essay booklet by Vance and Maietta, and a gallery of stills from the Fairbanks collection at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. University of California Press has published a great companion piece for the DVD set, the definitive book on the actor-producer, Douglas Fairbanks, by Jeffrey Vance with Tony Maietta. The authors had access to the star’s personal and professional papers and scrapbooks, and include 237 photos, many unseen for 75 years. It’s a beautiful book, extensively researched, a model of film scholarship, one of the best cinema studies of this or any year.
Kino packages some of its best catalogue titles in GREAT DIRECTORS, and it’s tough to argue with their selections, every one a gem: Akira Kurosawa’s epic Oscar winner DERSU UZALA (1975) with man battling the elements in Siberia; Andrei Tarkovsky’s autobiographical THE MIRROR (1974); Claude Chabrol’s stunning New Wave classic LES BONNES FEMMES (1960) about a group of Parisian shopgirls who live for the night life; Michelangelo Antonioni’s IL GRIDO (1957), bridging his documentary work with his extraordinary early 60s L’AVVENTURA, LA NOTTE and L’ECLISSE, a melodramatic tale of lost love starring Steve Cochran and Betsy Blair; and Volker Schlondorff’s neglected CIRCLE OF DECEIT (1981), with Bruno Ganz and Hanna Schygulla outstanding in a story of sex and politics in war-torn Beirut.
Kino also does a fine job with GRIFFITH MASTERWORKS 2, spanning the controversial master’s career. Start with the Kevin Brownlow-David Gill feature documentary D. W. GRIFFITH: FATHER OF FILM; move on to 35mm archival prints of EDGAR ALLAN POE (1909) and THE AVENGING CONSCIENCE (1914); the 1920 personal epic WAY DOWN EAST, with the remarkable Lillian Gish-Richard Barthelmess ice floe sequence; SALLY OF THE SAWDUST (1925), a rare Griffith comedy starring W. C. Fields (who remade the film as the talkie POPPY in 1936), with an intro by Orson Welles filmed in the 60s; the sound feature ABRAHAM LINCOLN (1930), with Walter Huston excellent in the title role, beautifully remastered and including the long lost opening slave ship sequence (bearing the characteristics of production designer William Cameron Menzies), with an introduction to the sound version of THE BIRTH OF A NATION with Huston interviewing Griffith , and a comparison of the Lincoln assassination sequence from BIRTH and LINCOLN; and Griffith’s final feature, the much maligned THE STRUGGLE (1931), a morality play about the evils of alcohol starring Hal Skelly and Zita Johann.
Martin Campbell’s CASINO ROYALE (2007) was a kick ass re-invention of James Bond, with Daniel Craig making 007 a brutal, violent, no-nonsense secret agent, certainly the best Bond since Sean Connery. I was disappointed by Marc Forster’s QUANTUM OF SOLACE (2008), a Jason Bourne movie in disguise, so I’m thrilled about Sony’s three-disc CASINO ROYALE collectors’ edition set. The movie plays even better after seeing QUANTUM, and you have to love the performances by Craig, Eva Green, Giancarlo Giannini, Jeffrey Wright and Judi Dench. This set has director, producer and crew commentary, a batch of special features, the Chris Cornell music video for “You Know My Name,” never before seen deleted scenes, a storyboard sequence, and a half dozen new featurettes. A perfect stocking stuffer for Bond fans is the CD THE BEST OF BOND … JAMES BOND, which collects The John Barry Orchestra’s “James Bond Theme” with 22 title songs from the series performed by the original artists. Highlights include Shirley Bassey’s “Goldfinger,” Tom Jones’ “Thunderball,” Nancy Sinatra’s “You Only Live Twice,” Louis Armstrong’s “We Have All the Time in the World,” Paul McCartney and Wings’ “Live and Let Die,” and all the rest through Lulu, Carly Simon, Sheena Easton, Rita Coolidge, Duran Duran, A-Ha, Galdys Knight, Tina Turner, Sheryl Crow, kd Lang, Garbage, Madonna, and Chris Cornell. There’s a bonus track featuring John Arnold’s unreleased “James Bond Theme.” It’s one great disc.
CASINO ROYALE (1967), also from Sony, is one of the great guilty pleasure movies of all time. Easily the most influential film on the AUSTIN POWERS franchise, produced at the height of Sxities Bondmania, the film takes a slapstick approach to Ian Fleming’s first Bond novel. Because the producers could not make a deal for Sean Connery, the movie boasts no less than three James Bonds (Peter Sellers, David Niven, and Woody Allen), and, less happily, five directors (Joe McGrath, John Huston, Val Guest, Ken Hughes, and Robert Parrish). The result is a psychedelic hodgepodge of bullets, babes, and Bonds. Adding to the chaos is a huge cast of guest stars including Orson Welles, William Holden, Charles Boyer, George Raft, Jean-Paul Belmondo, and Peter O’Toole plus Bond girls Ursula Andress, Joanna Pettit, Daliah Lavi, Deborah Kerr, and Barbara Bouchet. A large part of the film’s watchability can be attributed to Burt Bacharach’s sensational iconic score, including Dusty Springfield’s exquisite rendition of the Oscar nominated “The Look of Love.”
One of the funniest movies in a long time, Ben Stiller’s TROPIC THUNDER (2008) has hilarious work from Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black, Nick Nolte, Tom Cruise (as a psychotic studio head), and the director himself. As a spoof of Hollywood actors, it’s just priceless, as a movie crew on location for a jungle war movie gets involved with real bad guys with real bullets. Paramount offers a double-disc unrated director’s cut with deleted and extended scenes, an alternate ending, video rehearsals, a gaggle of production featurettes, and filmmaker and cast commentaries.
Paramount also repackages three beloved classics in new double-disc collections – Billy Wilder’s SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950) – the NBR’s Best Film of the Year; the Oscars chose ALL ABOUT EVE -- and SABRINA (1954), and William Wyler’s ROMAN HOLIDAY (1953). Working from Wilder’s Oscar-winning script, Gloria Swanson immortalizes the role of silent screen star Norma Desmond (“We had faces then!”) in SUNSET BOULEVARD, with William Holden as the struggling screenwriter trapped in her delusional web. This is Wilder at his darkest, a bonafide masterpiece and one of the best Hollywood-on-Hollywood movies ever. Eric von Stroheim is magnificent as Desmond’s butler Max, and there are cameos from Cecil B. DeMille, Buster Keaton and a handful of other silent stars, with lots of great footage of the Paramount lot circa 1949.Wilder biographer Ed Sikov provides audio commentary, and there are more than a dozen featurettes, including a map of the locations. The director shows a softer side in SABRINA, gathering a high voltage cast with Holden, Audrey Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart in a lush North Shore, Long island, Cinderella romantic drama. Special features cover the making of the film and Paramount in the ‘50s. Hepburn made her screen debut and picked up a Best Actress Oscar with ROMAN HOLIDAY, playing a princess who escapes from her Rome hotel and finds romance in the Eternal City with Gregory Peck. Dalton Trumbo won an Oscar for his story and Edith Head won for her costume design, with the film earning a total of ten nominations. The featurettes cover the Hepburn legend, the Trumbo story, and the film’s restoration.
KUNG FU PANDA (2008), from Dreamworks Entertainment, is another must for the kids, a wonderful animated feature with Jack Black voicing Po, a noodle-eating panda who dreams of becoming a Dragon Warrior. There’s a stellar cast of voices – Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan, Lucy Liu, Ian McShane, Seth Rogen, and Kyle Gass (the other half of Tenacious D). Lots of bonus features, too, ranging from “Dragon Warrior Training Academy” and “How to Use Chopsticks” to The Food Network exclusive “Alton Brown at Mr.Ping’s Noodle House” and “Help save the Wild Pandas” to a “Kung Fu Fighting” music video. Ethan Reiff and Cy Voris (THE ELEVENTH HOUR, SLEEPER CELL, BULLETPROOF MONK) wrote the story Mark Osborne and John Stevenson directed. It’s available as a “Pandamonium Double Pack” with an unreleased sequel KUNG FU PANDA: SECRETS OF THE FURIOUS FIVE (2008), with Black back voicing Master Po, teaching his secrets to a group of bunnies.
Anthology films were popular in the 50s and 60s, with Italian filmmakers delivering BOCCACCIO ’70 (1962), YESTERDAY, TODAY AND TOMORROW (1964), and SPIRITS OF THE DEAD (1967), to name a few. New Yorker Video has unearthed the rare SIX IN PARIS (1965), produced by Barbet Schroeder, a precursor to last year’s PARIS J’TAIME. Schroeder enlisted six top French filmmakers to contribute a short film about a particular Paris neighborhood – Jean Douchent (“Saint-Germain-De-Pres”), Jean Rouch (“Gare du Nord”), Jean-Daniel Pollet (“Rue Saint-Denis”), Eric Rohmer (“Traffic”), Jean-Luc Godard (“Montparnasse and Levallois”), and Claude Chabrol (“La Muette”). The Rohmer, Godard and Chabrol chapters fill in minor blanks in their filmography and shouldn’t be missed. Extras include interviews with Schroeder, Jackie Raynal, Albert Maysles and Richard Brody.
Larry Bishop (son of Joey) indulges his love of 60s biker movies with HELL RIDE (2008), from Dimension/Genius, a rousing homage perfectly cast with writer-director Bishop (a veteran of biker classics), Michael Madsen, Vinnie Jones, Eric Balfour, David Carradine, and Dennis Hopper. It’s a Quentin Tarantino presentation and complements last year’s GRINDHOUSE, camp played straight by people who know and love the genre. Bishop (who played the strip club owner in KILL BILL) provides candid audio commentary with cinematographer Scott Kevan, and there are segments on the production, the cast, the choppers, and Madsen’s video diary.
20th Century-Fox has released a 2-disc special edition of Robert Wise’s seminal sci-fi classic THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (1951) as a tie-in with the new Keanu Reeves remake. The original is a smart, adult cautionary tale with brilliant work from Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal and Sam Jaffe. There are seven all-new featurettes, an interactive pressbook, commentary by the late Wise and Nicholas Meyer (director of STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN, commentary by film and music historians John Morgan, Steven Smith, William Stromberg and Nick Redman, an isolated track featuring Bernard Herrmann’s musical score, a reading by Jamieson K. Price of the original Harry Bates short story, and an episode of Fox Movietone News from 1951.
Sony releases Ray Harryhausen’s classic fantasy adventure THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD (1958), with such dazzling stop-motion animation creatures as the Cyclops and the Roc, and an equally dazzling Bernard Herrmann score. Harryhausen does the commentary with contemporary FX masters Phil Tippett and Randall William Cook, author Steven Smith and Arnold Kunert, and there are production featurettes and an interview with Harryhausen by John Landis.
The third installment in Universal’s latter-day MUMMY series is undoubtedly the best, in part because of the presence of Jet Li, joining series regular Brendan Fraser in THE MUMMY: TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPEROR (2008). The two-disc deluxe edition is loaded with featurettes, deleted and extended scenes, and a feature commentary from director Rob Cohen. A handsome “pictorial moviebook” is available from Newmarket Press. Another Universal sequel that is guaranteed not to disappoint genre fans is Guillermo del Toro’s HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY (2008), reteaming Ron Perlman in the title role with romantic interest Selma Blair. I love that del Toro revisited this subject after his sublime masterpiece PAN’S LABYRINTH, bringing his unique vision to the adventure. The two-disc special edition has director’s commentary, deleted scenes with optional commentary, many featurettes, and a digital copy for simple portable uploading.
Classic musical fans will appreciate Fox’s ALICE FAYE COLLECTION VOLUME 2, featuring making-of documentaries and restoration comparisons. The set contains some of the beautiful blonde songbird’s best -- the Technicolor HOLLYWOOD CAVALCADE (1939), directed by Irving Cummings, co-starring Don Ameche as a silent movie pioneer, with appearances by Buster Keaton, Mack Sennett, and some of the original Keystone Kops, and a collection of outtakes; Gregory Ratoff’s show biz drama THE ROSE OF WASHINGTON SQUARE (1939), co-starring Tyrone Power and Al Jolson, with deleted scenes and isolated music track; Archie Mayo’s THE GREAT AMERICAN BROADCAST (1941) with John Payne, Cesar Romero, the Nicholas Brothers, The Four Ink Spots and The Wiere Brothers; Bruce Humberstone’s Technicolor Barbary Coast musical HELLO, FRISCO, HELLO (1943), with John Payne, Jack Oakie and Ward Bond, with isolated music track; and William Seiter’s WWII comedy FOUR JILLS IN A JEEP (1944), starring Kay Francis, Carole Landis, Martha Raye, and Mitzi Mayfair as the WACs, supported by Phil Silvers, Dick Haymes, Jimmy Dorsey and His Orchestra and guest stars Faye, Betty Grable, Carmen Miranda and George Jessel. There are deleted scenes and an isolated score track on this one.
POPEYE THE SAILOR 1941-1943 is Warner Home Video’s third volume of gorgeously remastered shorts starring Popeye, Olive Oyl, Bluto and Wimpy. Here we get 32 shorts including many little-seen World War Two propaganda shorts. Historian commentaries, a documentary about the roots of animation, and bonus shorts from the Fleischer vaults are included.
Classic rock fans will want THE STORY OF THE YARDBIRDS (ABC Entertainment) covering the band from 1963 to 1968, with concert and studio footage of Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page prior to their respective superstardom with Cream, Jeff Beck Group and Led Zeppelin. Songs include “I’m a Man,” “Heart Full of Soul,” “Train Kept Rolling,” “Over Under Sideways Down,” “Shape of Things,” and “For Your Love.” MVD Media has THE BEATLES: MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR MEMORIES, presented and narrated by Fab Four colleague Victor Spinetti, with fans and friends reminiscing about the group’s 1968 album and film.
ADOBE has upgraded two of their most popular programs with the Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 and Adobe Premiere Elements 7. As always, the product is user-friendly, with multiple uses for photos and videos. There’s a world of creative options here, whether you’re treating photos or editing your own videos. Check out www.adobe.com to check out the details.
BOOKS: A neglected master gets a long overdue career study with Glenn Lovell’s Escape Artist: The Life and Films of John Sturges (University of Wisconsin Press). After an apprenticeship for Selznick and RKO in the ‘30s, and a stint with the Army Air Corps in WWII, Sturges became one of the best directors at Dore Schary’s MGM in the 50s, with BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK (1954) his first significant effort. He went on to direct NEVER SO FEW (1959), THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (1960) and THE GREAT ECAPE (1963), giving Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson and James Coburn their first major big screen breakthroughs. Lovell has done a thorough job of research, interviewing many of Sturges collaborators, and the late director himself. This title is part of the Wisconsin Film Studies imprint, headed by the brilliant historian and author Patrick McGilligan, launched with titles on George Stevens, Stanley Kubrick, prostitution in the cinema, and Walter Mirisch’s memoirs. If Escape Artist is any indication we can look forward to some more important volumes.
Claude Rains: An Actor’s Voice (University Press of Kentucky) is a loving biography by David J. Skal and the artist’s daughter Jessica Rains. The book charts his rise in British theatre, his personal life and multiple marriages, and of course his gallery of great performances in classics like THE INVISIBLE MAN (1933), THEY WON’T FORGET (1937), THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD (1938), MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON (1939), THE SEA HAWK (1940), KINGS ROW (1941), THE WOLF MAN (1941), NOW VOYAGER (1942), CASABLANCA (1942), MR. SKEFFINGTON (1944), NOTORIOUS (1946), and LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962), as well as his 50s and 60s TV and Broadway work.
The Haunted Screen: Expressionism in the German Cinema and the Influence of Max Reinhardt is the pioneering work by Lotte H. Eisner (1896-1983), chief archivist for the French Cinematheque, available in a new paper reprint from University of California Press. All the greats of German cinema from the teens to the advent of the Nazis in 1933 are covered, including F. W. Murnau, Fritz Lang, E. A. Dupont, Robert Weine, G. W. Pabst, Robert Siodmak and Joe May. First published in French in 1952, revised and republished in English in 1965, this is one of the most important books of film history ever published.
Edgar G. Ulmer: Detour on Poverty Row (Lexington Books), edited by Gary D. Rhodes, is an impressive anthology with essays on Ulmer’s Poverty Row pictures, his film noirs (like DETOUR and MURDER IS MY BEAT), movies like BLUEBEARD, CARNEGIE HALL, THE MAN FROM PLANET X and DAUGHTER OF DR. JEKYLL, and especially his Karloff-Lugosi horror masterpiece THE BLACK CAT. The book is uniformly well-written, informative and thought-provoking, mining the oeuvre of a very unique and versatile filmmaker who never let low budgets stop him from making a good picture.
CDs: I’ve loved Boz Scaggs since his tenure in The Steve Miller band in the late 60s. The singer-songrwiter-guitarst went solo with some memorable work, and he’s been turning out quality stuff for almost four decades. His distinctive voice, super songwriting skills, and all around musicianship make his latest (BOZ SCAGGS: SPEAK LOW) a joy; he handles “I’ll Remember April,” “Save Your Love for Me,” and “This Time the Dream’s On Me” brilliantly.
Happy Holidays, movie lovers!
JOHN GALLAGHER
jgmovie@aol.com
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