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WARNER HOME VIDEO: Destined to be one of the best releases of the year, HOW THE WEST WAS WON (1962) comes to DVD in three dazzling, newly restored and remastered editions – a two-disc special, a two-disc Ultimate Collectors set, and Blue-ray Hi-Def. This landmark Cinerama epic has never been forgotten by those who saw the picture in its original release, and while there is a previous DVD edition, this new collection succeeds in eliminating the “join line” that was so annoying in standard 35mm release, on TV, and on video and DVD. Cinerama employed three cameras, three negatives, and three prints, presented in specially equipped theatres on three separate projectors. One of the joys of this set is Dave Strohmaier’s outstanding feature-length documentary CINERAMA ADVENTURE, detailing the history of the process from its development and the first feature applications by Lowell Thomas, including the debut film THIS IS CINERAMA (1952), which ran on Broadway for a year. The first few Cinerama features were eye-popping travelogues (SEVEN WONDERS OF THE WORLD, SEARCH FOR PARADISE), but HOW THE WEST WAS WON marked the first time the process was employed in a narrative fiction film … as well as the last. Even though a number of subsequent movies were touted as Cinerama, they were actually 70mm prints projected on the curved Cinerama screen (e.g., IT’S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD, 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, KRAKATOA EAST OF JAVA).
The true Cinerama of HOW THE WEST WAS WON is spectacular, with the film spanning the history of the West from 1820 to the 1880s. Three directors are credited on the picture – Henry Hathaway, John Ford, George Marshall – but Hathaway was responsible for most of it, with Richard Thorpe contributing uncredited second unit (Ford directed the Civil War episode, though some battle shots were culled from the 1957 RAINTREE COUNTY). MGM assembled one of the greatest all-star casts of all time, including James Stewart, John Wayne (as Union General Sherman), Gregory Peck, Henry Fonda, Richard Widmark, Carroll Baker, Lee J. Cobb, Karl Malden, George Peppard, Robert Preston, Debbie Reynolds, Walter Brennan, Andy Devine, Raymond Massey (in just one shot reprising his title role from ABE LINCOLN IN ILLINOIS), Harry Morgan, Thelma Ritter, Russ Tamblyn, Lee Van Cleef and Eli Wallach (in an outlaw performance that inspired Sergio Leone to cast him in THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY, not THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN as is commonly thought), with narration by Spencer Tracy. There are some incredible set pieces -- the pioneers surviving the ravages of the rapids, a buffalo stampede, a runaway train – and locations covering the breadth and scope of the West. These editions feature some of the best audio commentaries I’ve heard, by filmmaker David Strohmaier, Director of Cinerama John Sittig, indefatigable film historian Rudy Behlmer, music historian Jon Burlingame with insights into Alfred Newman’s expansive score), and, a real treat, legendary stuntman Loren Janes, who worked throughout this 164-minute film (which made the NBR’s Top Ten list).
WHV brings another great 60s film to DVD in a Deluxe Edition, Stuart Rosenberg’s COOL HAND LUKE (1967), starring Paul Newman as a rebellious convict in a Southern chain gang. This is a key Newman performance, nominated for an Oscar, and a key 60s film with its theme of rebellion against the establishment. It’s loaded with tension and humor, with a shock ending and an Oscar-winning turn by George Kennedy as a fellow convict. Strother Martin, one of the great character actors of the period, is also tremendous as the warden, who realizes that “What we have here … is a failure to communicate.” This edition, also available in Blu-ray, includes commentary by Newman biographer Eric Lax, and a new featurette detailing the making of the film.
WHV has also released four excellent movies about jazz musicians with Anatole Litvak’s BLUES IN THE NIGHT (1941), Jack Webb’s PETE KELLY’S BLUES (1955), Bernard Tavernier’s ROUND MIDNIGHT (1986) and Clint Eastwood’s BIRD (1988). BLUES IN THE NIGHT is a tough, taut melodrama in the Warners style, as a barnstorming quintet settles in as the house band at gangster Lloyd Nolan’s Fort Lee, New Jersey, dive roadhouse. Betty Field excels as his trouble-making moll, as does Jack Carson as an irresponsible horn player married to girl-next-door Priscilla Lane. Richard Whorf has a starring role (a good actor, he went on to a distinguished directing career in film and TV) as the band leader, and another future director, Elia Kazan, plays one of the boys in the band. The movie has a strong creative pedigree, directed by Anatole Litvak (CONFESSIONS OF A NAZI SPY, SORRY, WRONG NUMBER, THE SNAKE PIT, ANASTASIA), written by Robert Rossen (later writer-director of BODY AND SOUL, ALL THE KING’S MEN and THE HUSTLER). Extras include Jean Negulesco’s amazing Oscar-nominated musical short JAMMIN’ THE BLUES (1944), directed by the great still photographer Gjon Mili, and vintage Looney Tunes KITTY KORNERED, MY FAVORITE DUCK and SWOONER CROONER. Jack Webb directed and stars in PETE KELLY’S BLUES as a coronet player who goes up against mob boss Edmond O’Brien. There’s a great cast, including Janet Leigh as a gin-soaked heiress, Lee Marvin and Martin Milner as Webb’s side men, Ella Fizgerald singing “Hard Hearted Hannah” and the title song, an against-type Andy Devine as a vicious cop, and the Oscar-nominated Peggy Lee as a singer with a bottle problem. The soundtrack has been remastered in Dolby Digital 5.1, and the special features include Looney Tunes’ THE HOLE IDEA and two Oscar-nominated shorts, GADGETS GALORE and 24 HOUR ALERT. Jazz legend Dexter Gordon has a dramatic role in ROUND MIDNIGHT, and he’s unforgettable as an aging tenor sax great battling alcoholism, befriended by a young Frenchman who idolizes him. The story goes that director Tavernier based the relationship on himself and John Ford, who Tavernier had gotten to know in France in the mid-60s. Martin Scorsese has a supporting role as a New York jazz promoter, and Herbie Hancock’s score won an Oscar (Hancock also appears in the film). In 1988, Clint Eastwood surprised critics with BIRD, his sensitive bio-pic about jazz pioneer Charlie Parker, played to perfection by Forest Whitaker. Clint’s life-long devotion to jazz informs the film, as he painstakingly essays “Bird”’s talent and self-destruction. The two-disc set includes a CD with six cuts from the soundtrack.
THE BUSBY BERKELEY COLLECTION VOLUME 2 includes two films directed by Berkeley -- GOLD DIGGERS OF 1937 (1936) and HOLLYWOOD HOTEL (1937) – and two pictures for which he created and directed a musical finale – William Keighley’s VARSITY SHOW (1937) – and all the musical numbers – Ray Enright’s GOLD DIGGERS IN PARIS (1938). This is a set to be especially cherished since none of the movies have ever been available on home video or DVD, and while not up to his early 30s work (42nd STREET, GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933, FOOTLIGHT PARADE, DAMES, GOLD DIGGERS OF 1935, all available in WHV’s first Berkeley collection), these pictures still deliver solid musical entertainment. “Buzz” Berkeley reunites with Dick Powell and Joan Blondell in GOLD DIGGERS OF 1937; extras include the Technicolor short ROMANCE OF LOUISIANA, classic cartoons PLENTY OF MONEY and SPEAKING OF THE WEATHER, and two excerpts from the rare early talkie hit GOLD DIGGERS OF 1929. HOLLYWOOD HOTEL is the best of the bunch, again starring Powell, along with The Benny Goodman Orchestra at the height of their popularity, with drummer Gene Krupa kicking off a fantastic performance of “Sing, Sing, Sing.” The Technicolor short THE ROMANCE OF ROBERT BURNS, the Edgar Bergen/Charlie McCarthy short DOUBLE TALK, and the classic cartoon PORKY’S FIVE & TEN are included. Powell’s back in VARSITY SHOW, this time with Fred Waring and His Pennsylvanians, another Bergen/McCarthy short and the vintage cartoon HAVE YOU GOT ANY CASTLES? Rudy Vallee headlines GOLD DIGGERS IN PARIS, with Berkeley’s numbers making the picture worth watching. There’s a musical short (THE CANDID KID) and cartoon (CINDERELLA MEETS A FELLA) included; all four titles have the original theatrical trailers.
Here are two musical musts – double-disc special editions of Vincente Minnelli’s essential musicals AN AMERICAN IN PARIS (1951) and GIGI (1958), both produced by MGM’s Arthur Freed unit, both Oscar winners for Best Picture. Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron, Oscar Levant for comedy relief, music by George Gershwin, lyrics by Ira Gershwin, the City of Lights in all its Technicolor glory, the famous title ballet – AN AMERICAN IN PARIS is musical bliss, enhanced with a new ultra-resolution digital transfer. Disc One includes a vintage TravelTalks short on Paris, Tex Avery’s hilarious SYMPHONY IN SLANG cartoon, and a “Concerto of a Commentary” hosted by Patricia Ward Kelly and featuring interviews (many unreleased) with Kelly, Minnelli, Freed, screenwriter Alan Jay Lerner, musical directors Johnny Green and Saul Chaplin, art director Preston Ames, costume designer Irene Sharaff, musical virtuoso and Gershwin authority Michael Feinstein, and new observations by Leslie Caron and Nina Foch. Disc Two digs even deeper with a new documentary, the AMERICAN MASTERS episode on Gene Kelly, a “Love Walked In” outtake sequence, audio-only bonuses, outtake songs gallery and Kelly/Caron/Green radio promos. GIGI (here in a new digital transfer and a soundtrack remastered in Dolby Digital 5.1) was the last of the great Freed/MGM musicals, a confectionary adaptation of the Colette novel, adapted by Lerner, who also provided the lyrics in an important collaboration with composer Frederick Loewe. Minnelli assembled a marvelous cast – Leslie Caron, Maurice Chevalier (stealing the show), Louis Jourdan, Hermione Gingold, and Eva Gabor – and shows off his Technicolored visual style in this period piece set during La Belle Epoque. Disc One has Jeanine Basinger’s typically brilliant audio commentary, and is joined by Leslie Caron. There’s a class Cinemascope cartoon (THE VANISHING DUCK) and a vintage short (MILLION DOLLAR NICKEL). Disc Two has another brand new documentary about making the film, and a most welcome bonus feature, the original 1949 nonmusical version, starring Daniele Delorme, directed by Jacqueline Audry, in French with English subtitles.
FOX HORROR CLASSICS VOL.2 is an outstanding set featuring CHANDU THE MAGICIAN (1932), DR. RENAULT’S SECRET (1942) and DRAGONWYCK (1946), titles that stretch the definition of “horror” – but who cares? If that’s the label the marketing department chooses, that’s cool; after all, it means that we’re the benefits of movies that might not otherwise make it to DVD. The exotic adventure fantasy CHANDU reflects the visual dynamic of co-director William Cameron Menzies, the artist who practically created production design (his work includes the 1924 and 1940 THE THIEF OF BAGDAD, THINGS TO COME GONE WITH THE WIND, and FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS). Based on a popular radio series, Edmund Lowe stars in the title role as the mystic fighting the evil Roxor (Bela Lugosi in a wonderfully ripe performance) with all of his yogi powers. CHANDU, like many early 30s Fox films, was unavailable for years, showing up on recent years on Fox Movie Channel, and it is welcome indeed on DVD. Gregory William Mank provides his usual well-researched commentary, and there’s a terrific featurette, restoration comparison and still gallery. DR. RENAULT’S SECRET was new to me, and the most horror-oriented title in the set, a variation on THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU. George Zucco makes an ideal mad scientist, turning J. Carroll Naish from ape to man; Naish, a man of a thousand ethnicities, looks and voices, gives a curiously affecting performance and lifts the picture above the usual B fare. There’s a very good featurette, restoration comparison, still galleries and original trailer. DRAGONWYCK marked the directorial debut of Joseph L. Mankiewicz after a 15-year career as a successful writer-producer. Originally an Ernst Lubitsch production, the powerful director clashed with both Zanuck and Mankiewicz and had his producing credit taken off the final film. An American Gothic set in the mid-19th Century, based on the Anya Seton novel, with resonances of both REBECCA and JANE EYRE, the movie involves a farm girl (Gene Tierney) who goes to live at the Hudson Valley mansion of cousin Vincent Price. Defying the wishes of her puritanical father (Walter Huston), Tierney discovers a dark world of madness. Alfred Newman’s score gets an isolated music track, there are two vintage radio shows performed by the inimitable Vincent Price, an excellent making-of featurette, and informative commentary by author-filmmaker Steve Haberman and filmmaker-DVD producer Constantine Nasr.
New Fox Film Noirs are upon us. MOONTIDE (1942) is a moody waterfront drama set in a California coast town, with Jean Gabin in his first American movie, and a strong cast including Ida Lupino, Claude Rains and Thomas Mitchell working from a John O’Hara screenplay. Fritz Lang prepped this one but Archie Mayo was the eventual director. There’s incisive commentary by Foster Hirsch, and a good featurette about the film’s troubled production. Elia Kazan’s long delayed BOOMERANG (1947) comes to DVD, a gripping true life story about a Connecticut police chief (Lee J. Cobb) investigating the murder of a priest. Dana Andrews plays the state’s attorney prosecuting suspect Arthur Kennedy. Produced by Louis de Rochemont, BOOMERANG is part of Zanuck’s cycle of documentary realism that yielded THE HOUSE ON 92ND STREET (1945), CALLING NORTHSIDE 777 (1947), KISS OF DEATH (1947), and THE IRON CURTAIN (1948). Noir experts Alain Silver and James Ursini provide the commentary. Jean Negulesco’s ROAD HOUSE (1948) is classic noir about twisted love, starring Ida Lupino, Cornel Wilde, Celeste Holm and Richard Widmark. Noir historians Kim Morgan and Eddie Muller handle the commentary, and there’s a typically well-done featurette. This wave of Fox Film Noirs is among the series’ best.
Fox continues one of the most popular detective series in movie history with CHARLIE CHAN VOLUME 5, starring Sidney Toler as the master sleuth. Eight well-produced programmers are included – MURDER OVER NEW YORK (1940), CHARLIE CHAN’S MURDER CRUISE (1940), CHARLIE CHAN IN PANAMA (1940), all co-starring classic horror favorite Lionel Atwill, CHARLIE CHAN AT THE WAX MUSEUM (1940), DEAD MEN TELL (1941), CHARLIE CHAN IN RIO (1941), and CASTLE IN THE DESERT (1942). Extras include the “Era of Chan” featurette, original trailers and still galleries. Fox has steadily released its series films – Chan, Mr. Moto and Michael Shayne – and I’d love to see Sony follow their lead and release sets of The Lone Wolf, Crime Doctor and especially Boston Blackie.
Fox/MGM gives horror fans a pre-Halloween treat – CANDYMAN: FAREWELL TO THE FLESH (1995), a sequel to the Clive Barker chiller,.directed by Bill Condon three years before helming GODS AND MONSTERS (and winning the NBR Best Film Award), with a score by Philip Glass; John Carpenter’s THE FOG (1980), a disappointment after DARK STAR, HALLOWEEN, ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 and ELVIS, but a movie that seems really good today … no doubt because of decreased genre quality in the subsequent decades. Carpenter is a real filmmaker, a master of performance, camera, editing, sound effects, music, and his craft is evident in every frame of this atmospheric horror movie that “inspired” THE MIST. Like all Carpenter movies, the cast is good – this one boasts Janet Leigh, (her real-life daughter) Jamie Lee Curtis, Hal Holbrook, Adrienne Barbeau, and John Houseman. TERROR TRAIN (1980) is real 80’s slasher time, but with Ford/Peckinpah/Bogdanovich veteran Ben Johnson, Jamie Lee Curtis, Hart Bochner and magician David Copperfield in the cast, it’s never uninteresting. Editor (STRAW DOGS, THE GAMBLER, PAT GARRETT AND BILLY THE KID, HARD TIMES)-turned-director Roger Spottiswoode made his directorial debut with TERROR TRAIN before going on to THE PURSUIT OF D.B. COOPER, UNDER FIRE, TURNER AND HOOTCH, AIR AMERICA and AND THE BAND PLAYED ON.
SONY: THE THREE STOOGES COLLECTION: VOLUME THREE presents 23 digitally remastered shorts presented in their original release order from 1940 through 1942. Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Curly Howard provide plenty of anarchic nyuk nyuk nyuks and outrageous sound effects, with highlights including A PLUMBING WE WILL GO (Curly’s personal favorite), COOKOO CAVALIERS, BOOBS IN ARMS, IN THE SWEET PIE AND PIE, WHAT’S THE MATADOR?, and two highly unsubtle parodies of Hitler and gang, YOU NAZTY SPY! (Moe’s favorite; he was the first actor to spoof Der Fuehrer, even before Chaplin in THE GREAT DICTATOR) and I’LL NEVER HEIL AGAIN. Then again, the Stooges were never subtle, but they sure were funny, and are more popular today than they were in their prime.
Jon Avnet’s 88 MINUTES (2008) was severely trashed by the critics and avoided by audiences, but it’s not completely bad. Al Pacino plays a forensic psychiatrist targeted by a serial killer; LeeLee Sobieski, William Forsythe, Alicia Witt, Amy Brenneman and Deborah Kara Unger co-star. Two reels into the movie the killer tells Al he has 88 minutes to live, and the rest of the movie runs that long. The ticking clock device forces Avnet to at least keep the picture moving at a good pace, though it is a little ludicrous to see 68-year-old Pacino racing up flights of stairs two steps at a time. There’s commentary by Avnet, an alternate ending, a production featurette and a piece on Pacino’s character prep.
Also from Sony, on DVD and Blu-ray, and really for hardcore horror fans only, comes PROM NIGHT (2008), a remake of the 1980 slasher movie. Brittany Snow stars as a high school senior psyched for a night of partying, until a homicidal maniac (Jonathan Schaech) returns for stalking and mayhem. Extras include commentary by Snow, Schaech and director Nelson McCormick (TV’s PRISON BREAK and NIP/TUCK), deleted scenes and optional commentary, alternate ending, gag reel, making-of featurettes, and real-life prom stories from the young cast. PROM NIGHT is available in PG-13 and Unrated versions.
PARAMOUNT: The British SON OF RAMBOW (2008) was a hit at last year’s Sundance, a delightful comedy-drama set in 1982 about two outcast kids who get together to make their own variation on the then-popular Rambo debut, FIRST BLOOD, for an amateur film contest. The movie gets off to a slight start, but stick with it; once the boys start shooting the fun (and drama) begins. There’s commentary by writer-director Garth Jennings and producer Nick Goldsmith and cast, a production featurette, and “Aron,” Jennings’ short film that inspired the feature.
DISNEY: The new 3D is spectacular, as witness BEOWULF, U2-3D, JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH, and any number of animated features. Next year will see 3D features from Peter Jackson (TIN-TIN), Tim Burton (ALICE IN WONDERLAND) and James Cameron (AVATAR) – it’s not your Grampa’s 3D anymore. HANNAH MONTANA AND MILEY CYPRUS BEST OF BOTH WORLDS CONCERT (2008) had the best opening for any film over a Super Bowl weekend with an estimated $29 million take, just the perfect commercial combination of Teen Star of the Moment with a revitalized technological process. Disney’s released a two-disc extended edition, with both 2D and 3D versions, and four pairs of old-school 3D glasses included. While not as impressive as a theatrical experience with the new Rayban-style glasses, the concert film does a decent job of duplicating the experience (especially with guitar necks protruding at the viewer). I don’t know how many Hannah/Miley aficionados read this column, but hey, get it for your daughter or niece and sneak a peek at the 3D. Oh, and tell the girls that the Jonas Brothers are in the show too. Extras include a featurette where you get to spend the day with Miley and the Jonas boys, additional songs, and a sing along with the movie. So, where’s the U2-3D DVD?
THE WEINSTEIN COMPANY: Documentarian Morgan Spurlock proved his bravery by eating only MacDonald’s products for 30 days in his award-winning SUPERSIZE ME (2006). His newest film, WHERE IN THE WORLD IS OSAMA BIN LADEN? (2008) pushes his courage to the limit – with his wife in NYC expecting their first child, he takes off on a whirlwind hunt for Public Enemy Number One, traveling to Saudi Arabia, Israel, Egypt, Afghanistan and Pakistan, among other places. Spurlock brings his tremendous sense of humor to a most deadly serious subject, and succeeds in humanizing the Middle East conflict, achieving the impressive task of getting people from all walks of life, all political and religious persuasions, to open up for his camera. There’s an alternate ending, an animated history of Afghanistan, and interviews with Israeli President Shimon Peres, former IRA leader Martin McGuinness, Egypt’s Democracy activist Saad Ibrahim, and three young Saudi woman. This film is highly recommended, required viewing for various points of view on the most volatile region on the planet.
UNIVERSAL: BABY MAMA (2008) has lots of highly funny moments, with a high concept to die for. Infertile career woman Tina Fey wants a baby. Bad. She enlists a surrogate mother (Amy Poehler) to bear her child, and their social differences create instant friction and lots of fish-out-of water comedy (if you saw the trailer these are the moments that were exploited). But like KNOCKED UP, another great high-concept comedy, it slips after the half-way mark into a quicksand of movie mush. Fey and Poehler have terrific chemistry, dating back to their SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE days, and are certainly comedic masters, but I wish the script by director Michael McCullers (an SNL alumni in his directorial debut after writing the last two AUSTIN POWERS movies) had given them even more laughter-inducing opportunities. Bonus features include alternate ending, deleted scenes, a making-of featurette, a piece with Fey and Poehler talking about working with McCullers, and lively commentary with the director, producer Lorne Michaels, Fey and Poehler.
GENIUS: Dragon Dynasty has more artful, high-quality martial arts action with FIST OF LEGEND (1994), a Jet Li action masterpiece directed by Gordon Chan, with fights staged by Yuen Wo-ping (THE MATRI X). Made before Jet Li conquered Hollywood, FIST is one of the purest evocations of the master’s craft, and is up there with the best of Hong Kong Cinema. Dragon Dynasty, thankfully, treats their martial arts releases as if they’re part of the Criterion Collection, and lots of us fans are happy they do. This double-disc set has a feature commentary by in-house HK expert Bey Logan, an interview with Chan, an interview with kung fu impresario Chin Siu-ha, an interview with Japanese action legend Kurata Yasuaki, a screen fighting seminar at the Kurata action school, a chat between Brett Ratner and critic Elvis Mitchell, deleted scenes, and a trailer gallery.
LIONSGATE follows up its five-title ALAIN DELON COLLECTION with DIRTY MONEY (UN FLIC) (1972), a superb thriller from Jean-Pierre Melville. It is indeed the final film directed by Melville, one of the greatest crime genre auteurs in film history (BOB Le FLAMBEUR, LE SAMOURAI, LE CERCLE ROUGE). Delon, usually on the wrong side of the law, plays a Paris police chief whose friend, nightclub owner Richard Crenna, is also a notorious gangleader. Delon must thwart Crenna’s planned drug heist, and to complicate matters, he’s having an affair with Crenna’s girlfriend (Catherine Deneuve). This is top notch genre filmmaking, and I highly recommend it.
KINO continues its line of classic German silents with a new restoration of the original German release of F.W. Murnau’s masterpiece THE LAST LAUGH (1924).
With no dialogue subtitles, Murnau tells the purely visual tale of an aging doorman (beautifully portrayed by Emil Jannings) at a swank Berlin hotel who is demoted to restroom attendant. Anticipating his landmark American debut SUNRISE (1927), Murnau uses forced perspective and Karl Freund’s remarkably mobile camera to enormous effect. THE LAST LAUGHS ranks with THE BICYCLE THIEF and CITIZEN KANE as one of the cinema’s most timeless artistic achievements, and this version returns it to its pictorial glory. The two-disc set includes a wonderful 40-minute documentary that reveals Murnau’s production techniques, the original German titles, a new recording of Guiseppe Becci’s original score, and the unrestored export version.
Polish director Lech Majewski has been relatively unknown in this country, introduced by MOMA in 2006 with a national touring retrospective. Kino releases four of his provocative, surreal, emotionally charged, visually fascinating melodramas, concerned with love and death, regret and redemption – the English-language GOSPEL ACCORDING TO HARRY (1994) starring Viggo Mortensen; THE ROE’S ROOM (1997), in Polish with English subtitles; the silent GLASS LIPS (2007); and THE GARDEN OF EARTHLY DELIGHTS (2007), in English. If you’re looking to discover an interesting international filmmaker, the films of Lech Majewski are a good bet. The Museum of Modern Art honored Majewski with a national touring retrospective.
Joseph Cedar’s BEAUFORT (2007), an Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Film, is a riveting Israeli war drama, one of the best movies in recent years, an incredibly powerful narrative directed with awesome skill and insight (Cedar won Best Director at the Berlin Film Festival). The DVD includes a behind the scenes featurette, nine deleted scenes, and trailers (go to www.kino.com for information about new and catalogue titles).
In just a couple of years of business, FLICKER ALLEY has made a tremendous contribution to our silent film legacy, beginning with Lewis Milestone’s GARDEN OF EDEN (1928), an important early picture in the director’s filmography. Flicker has followed with a series of beautifully restored and presented silents – the 1917 French serial JUDEX, F. W. Murnau’s PHANTOM (1922), a tremendous disc devoted to rare and lost Valentino, DISCOVERING CINEMA (detailing early color and sound processes), SAVED FROM THE FLAMES (54 rare and restored films on 3 DVDs from 1896 to 1944), a 13-hour, five-disc George Melies set with 173 (!) rare and rediscovered films, a restoration of Abel Gance’s four-and-one-half hour LA ROUE (1923), and Gance’s stunning 1919 J’ACCUSE, one of the greatest, most realistic anti-war films ever made, with parts of the drama actually shot during the epic World War One Battle of St. Mihiel. This 166-minute digital restoration is a collaboration between Paris’ Lobster Film Studios, the Netherlands Filmmuseum and Flicker Alley, with Kevin Brownlow, the world’s leading Gance scholar (Brownlow restored NAPOLEON) and Lenny Borger astutely engaged as technical advisors. Brownlow also provides the set with a new booklet essay, and the 1915 PARIS PENDANT LA GUERRE (PARIS DURING THE WAR) is included. J’ACCUSE should join the list of key silent pictures that should be taught in film studies classes the world over. It’s that good, and that important.
Another new Flicker collection highlights the immigrant experience from 1910 to 1915. PERILS OF THE NEW LAND contains Reginald Barker’s THE ITALIAN (1915) and George Loane Tucker’s TRAFFIC IN SOULS (1913), two early social reform films that are absolutely fascinating today as time capsules and as evidence of early cinema’s devotion to advocacy. TRAFFIC IN SOULS deals with “white slavery” on New York locations, and is copied from the only known original nitrate print. Philip Carli provides the piano accompaniment, and there’s an optional scene-specific audio essay by author Professor Shelley Stamp. THE ITALIAN, one of the first releases from Paramount Pictures) is truly remarkable, telling the tale of Beppo (early star George Beban), an Italian immigrant to New York who gets trampled in the New World. The print source is copied from original nitrate elements and two other sources, with an optional scene-specific audio essay by Professor Giorgio Bertellini. The Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, led by Rodney Sauer, performs authentic photoplay music of the period on THE ITALIAN and on three early Edison shorts included in the two-disc set – POLICE FORCE, NEW YORK CITY, THE CALL OF THE CITY, McQUADE OF THE TRAFFIC SQUAD (www.flickeralley.com).
MPI has two titles to delight the aficionado of ‘70s grindhouse/drive-in exploitation. Jack Arnold is a sci-fi auteur who started his career with an Oscar nomination for Best Feature Documentary (1950’s WITH THESE HANDS), directed three 50s sci-fi classics (THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON, THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN, IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE), made good Westerns (MAN IN THE SHADOW, NO NAME ON THE BULLET) and the satirical hit THE MOUSE THAT ROARED (1959) with Peter Sellers, and directed two latter day Bob Hope comedies (BACHELOR IN PARADISE [1961], A GLOBAL AFFAIR[1964]). So it’s weird to find him in 1974 directing a blatant sex comedy. Filmed as THE BUNNY CAPER, on DVD now under the alternate GAMES GIRLS PLAY, it’s actually an entertaining farce, with Christina Hart (THE STEWARDESSES, HELTER SKELTER) as the promiscuous daughter of an American diplomat. When he’s assigned to London, he puts her in a strict private school, but of course she and her new girlfriends go wild, getting involved with the international diplomatic corps and almost sparking a global maelstrom. A contemporary interview with Hart is included. LINDA LOVELACE FOR PRESIDENT (1975), an R-rated gimmicker with the “star” of DEEP THROAT supported by Mickey Dolenz of The Monkees, Garry Goodrow, and Val Bisoglio (Travolta’s father in SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER). The movie is impossibly bad and incredibly stupid, making any Troma movie you can name seem like DR. STRANGELOVE.
NEW YORKER VIDEO continues its line of Peter Watkins films with PRIVILEGE (1967), this one in association with Universal, with a new hi-def video transfer. Manfred Mann’s Paul Jones plays the ultimate rock superstar, manipulated by corrupt corruptions until he eventually rebels. Watkins’ documentary style creates a verisimilitude rare in movies set in the rock world, and PRIVILEGE is a riveting, radical testament on celebrity. Sixties super model Jean Shrimpton co-stars. Special features include LONELY BOY (1962), a National Film Board of Canada short about pop idol Paul Anka, an original trailer, stills and poster gallery, a Watkins filmography, and a 40-page booklet that includes a new self-interview by the director.
MVD has been releasing a steady stream of music-oriented material. Among their new releases: A CLASSIC CONCERT: CAT STEVENS: TEA FOR THE TILLERMAN LIVE, a 1971 acoustic concert recorded at Los Angeles’ KCET Studios during his first American tour. It’s a stellar performance, with beautiful renditions of “Moonshadow,” “On the Road to Find Out,” “Where Do the Children Play?”, “Wild World,” “Miles from Nowhere,” Longer Boats,” “Father and Son,” “Hard Headed Woman,” and an animated short film illustrating “Teaser and the Firecat.” British Blues man John Mayall launched the career of Eric Clapton in 1966, and he’s continued ever since to practice a pure form of folk and blues. JOHN MAYALL’S BLUESBREAKERS is a live concert from Iowa State University with the veteran bluesman performing such favorites as “Parchman Farm,” “Room to Move,” and “Stepping Out” with guitarists Coco Montoya and Walter Trout, bassist Bobby Haynes and drummer Paul Hines. The double-disc YES: THE NEW DIRECTOR’S CUT features the original lineup of Jon Anderson, Steve Howe, Chris Squire, Alan White and Rick Wakeman in two full concerts recorded live during their 35th anniversary world tour at the N.I.A., Birmingham and Glastonbury Festival. Many of their hits are here, including “Roundabout,” “Long Distance Runaround,” and “I’ve Seen All Good People.” KRAFTWERK AND THE ELECTRONIC REVOLUTION is a documentary on the German technobeat phenomenon and the hugely influential “Krautrock” band that inspired so many artists, including David Bowie, Radiohead and Coldplay. This one’s loaded with extras, including interviews with the band and academics, writers and journalists; members of other groups including Tangerine Dream’s Klaus Schulze; rare photographs; and live and studio performances, including Kraftwerk’s classic “Autobahn” and “Trans Europe Express.” DESPERATELY SEEKING PAUL McCARTNEY is an oddball doc, with its source a 1965 interview by teen reporter Ruth Anson, who asked the Beatle if he had plans for marriage. “Only if you’ll marry me,” he replied. Forty years later she connects with filmmaker Marc Cushman to find Paul. The result is a witting and entertaining “mockumentary.”
SHOUT FACTORY: From 1952 to 1966, the Nelson family was the most popular clan on television. THE ADVENTURES OF OZZIE AND HARRIET exemplified the Fifties suburban white picket fence experience; watching today, the show is downright surreal, with entire 30-minutes episodes built around the mundane, such as Ozzie’s dilemma about what kind of ice cream to bring home. After achieving some success as a band leader, Ozzie and singer-actress Harriet (nee Hilliard) went on the radio with a sitcom co-starring real-life sons David and Ricky, then landed a TV show about the family’s daily life, essentially the first comedy series about nothing. Ricky grew from 12 to 26 in front of America, and with Ozzie’s careful management, became one of the decades’ first teen idols after starting a singing career during the fifth season. Ozzie, who directed and produced the show, made sure that Ricky had a chance to sing a rocker or a ballad at the end of the program, in front of swooning teeny boppers. A veritable fantasy time capsule of Eisenhower/Kennedy years, the show’s pop culture impact was enormous, lovingly rhapsodized in the Beach Boys’ “Disney Girls” and brilliantly parodied on THE CHAPPELLE SHOW. THE BEST OF RICKY AND DAVE contains 24 episodes spanning the run of the show with such compelling titles as “Rick Grades a Test” and “Father Son Tournament.” Each of the four discs includes Ricky’s musical performances, excerpted from the episodes, and two of the original radio episodes.
TV: A number of excellent shows are newly available on DVD. TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON (WHV) starring 300’s Lena Headey, is a tight, exciting show, a must for TERMINATOR fans. The set includes commentaries on three key commentaries by exec producer josh Friedman and cast and crew; a three-part look at the series’ production process; the broadcast version and an extended cut of Episode 7, “The Demon hand”; cast audition tapes; unaired moments; a storyboard animatic; a dance rehearsal by co-star Summer Glau; and a gag reel. DEXTER: THE SECOND SEASON (CBS/Paramount) continues the adventures of our favorite serial killer, played to perfection by Michael C. Hall. Writing, production, direction, acting – all are first-rate. Special features include the first two episodes from THE TUDORS ‘ second season, a Michael C. Hall interview and podcast, and two second season episodes of BROTHERHOOD. GOSSIP GIRL: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON (WHV) presents five discs with all 18 episodes of this surprise smash hit series, kind of a SEX AND THE CITY JUNIOR. There are unaired scenes, three featurettes, a gag reel, The Pierces music video, and a downloadable audiobook of Cecily Von Ziegesar’s original best-selling novel read by Christina Ricci.
BOOKS: Wesleyan University Press has an exceptional imprint, the Wesleyan Film series, with Jeanine Basinger’s sensational study Anthony Mann a highlight. Lisa Dombrowski has written The Films of Sam Fuller, an engaging scholarly study of the iconoclastic director of THE STEEL HELMET (1951), PARK ROW (1952), PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET (1953), RUN OF THE ARROW (1956), THE NAKED KISS (1963), SHOCK CORRIDOR (1964), THE BIG RED ONE (1980) – oh, hell, look at his filmography on imdb and see every Fuller film you can. Fuller has been well served in print, with a half dozen volumes available plus his own compelling autobiography, but to Ms. Dombrowski’s credit, she delivers an important contribution to Fullerology, sure to be the recommended first stop for guys and dolls new to the Fuller ethos. Hollywood Ambitions: Celebrity in the Movie Age by Marsha Orgeron is an interesting analysis of Hollywood celebrity, but without the usual suspects. The author presents the stories of five disparate individuals drawn to Tinsel Town for various reason – not the least of which was a desire for fame. Wyatt Earp, Jack London, Gertrude Stein, Clara Bow, Ida Lupino – not a predictable list but their stories are indeed fascinating.
With the baseball season racing towards playoff time, I want to recommend a wonderful book about the rough and tumble early days of the sport, Mack, McGraw and the 1913 Baseball Season by Richard Adler (McFarland Press). It’s a sweeping saga every bit as engaging as a good mini-series, loaded with action and drama, with two titanic leading men. John McGraw was the manager of the National League New York Giants (45 years before moving to San Francisco from upper Manhattan’s Polo Grounds), Connie Mack the skipper for the Philadelphia Athletics (42 years before their move to Kansas City, and to Oakland 13 years later), ballpark generals with diametrically opposed personalities. They coached the best ball clubs of their era and 1913 marked their third and final meeting in the World Series, with the A’s boasting Home Run Baker and pitchers Chief Bender and Eddie Plank, and the Giants “Laughing Larry Doyle” and pitching great Christy Mathewson, among other future Hall of Famers. Adler makes his book a real page-turner, and the baseball excitement contained herein is the equal of a present-day Mets-Phillies game.
McFarland has also published the little known story of rebel soldiers who saved the American Revolution from collapse just when the military revolt had barely begun. Linda Davis Reno’s The Maryland 400 in the Battle of Long Island, 1776 is an intensively researched tribute to the 400 Maryland Continental soldiers who held the line against an overwhelming assault by British and Hessian armies, allowing Washington’s nascent troops to escape to the higher ground of Brooklyn Heights. The battle was a disaster for the rebels, but thanks to the bravery of the Marylanders, Washington’s boys lived to fight again (and win, seven long years later) (www.mcfarlandpub.com).
CD’s: MAD MEN has become a cable sensation on the otherwise lame AMC (American Movie Classics, at one time the equal of TCM, degenerated into … don’t get me started. Former AMC fans know what I’m talkin’ bout). Under the supervision of THE SOPRANOS’ Matt Weiner, the show has developed into one of the best on TV, a candid, naturalistic look at the Madison Avenue advertising world of the early 60s, in a way contemporary movies like MADISON AVENUE (1962) never could. EMI/Manhattan Records has a cool soundtrack available, MAD MEN: MUSIC FROM THE SERIES, VOL. 1. It’s a great mix that includes “On the Street That You Live” by Vic Damone, “Volare” by The McGuire Sisters, “Botch-a-Me” by Rosemary Clooney, “Fly Me to the Moon” by Julie Bishop and three pieces of original score by David Carbonara.
THEATRE: [title of show] is a bright and refreshing take on show biz, a four character celebration of the creative process enacted by Hunter Bell, Susan Blackwell, Heidi Blickenstaff and Jeff Bowen. Bowen devised the music and lyrics, and Bell did the book for this ultimate “little show that could,” which started far off Broadway and made it to the Great White Way. The audience at the Lyceum Theatre had clearly experienced the show in previous venues, and were full of love for the frenetic proceedings.
Steve Ditmyer directs a new production of Jim McLure’s PVT. WARS from September 11th through the 22nd at the venerable Neighborhood Playhouse (340 East 54th Street in Manhattan). McLure’s black comedy about three Vietnam veterans recuperating in a psychiatric ward was originally written and produced as a one-act, witty, sardonic, devastating. This is a rare New York production of the full-length play (the last one I can remember is Sylvia Caminer’s acclaimed 1991 Off-Broadway production at the Actors Playhouse), and it’s certain to be a superlative theatrical evening, graced by an experienced director, three brilliant young actors (Tom Sibley, Adam Schneider, Stephen Lundberg), and a genius play. Tickets are available at 212.868.4444 or www.smarttix.com. See PVT. WARS at the Playhouse -- sadly, because of the age in which we live, it’s become more timely than ever.
www.playbill.com/news/article/120971.html
www.broadwayworld.com/viewcolumn.cfm?colid=31897
www.talkinbroadway.com/allthatchat/d.php?id=1622791
SHAMELESS PLUG DEPT.: I’m off to the 15th annual Oldenburg International Film Festival (called “the German Sundance” by Variety) in northwestern Germany. It’s my 10th trip to this intimate fest, programmed with a keen eye by director Torsten Neumann (OK, I’m prejudiced, he’s shown a dozen films I’ve been involved with over the years). This year James Toback will be present for a retrospective, as well as reclusive Michael Wadleigh, director of WOODSTOCK and WOLFEN. I’m honored to be serving on the jury to determine the winner of the German Independence Award, along with LeVar Burton, New York-based producer Jen Gatien (HOUNDDOG, Abel Ferrara’s CHELSEA ON THE ROCKS), French actress Fanny Bastien (KILLING TIME), and London-based distributor Rosana Coutinho. I’m also thrilled to be screening a new short, “and the winner is …”, written and directed by your humble scribe, produced by Maggie Levin and Emma Canalese, shot by Mike Fox, edited by Adam Schneider (yes, he’s a terrific editor as well as actor), line produced by Frank Dauro, with music by my longtime collaborator Ernie Mannix. It stars Christina Broccolini, with Christina Gooding, Margherita Ramella, Danelle Eliav and Oriane Hazan – all Neighborhood Playhouse grads I met in my Film Acting class there two years ago (Maggie, Emma and Adam are also products of that NeighPlay class). The short is a celebration of classic movies, with Maggie and Emma also administering 27 makeup, hair and wardrobe changes for Ms. Broccolini in the five minute piece. We premiered in early June at the Chashama Film Festival, winning a Jury Award for Best Actress and Audience Award for Best Short Film (out of nearly 50 shorts screened), an Audience Award for Best Actress at the Picturestart Film Festival, and now we’re selections of the Oldenburg and Ft. Lauderdale International Film Fests. If you’ve got a spare five minutes, log onto www.youtube.com/johnandrewgallagher and check out “and the winner is …” And leave a comment … but only if it’s favorable, of course!
JOHN GALLAGHER
jgmovie@aol.com
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