Glenn Erickson's Reviews: Month: March 2024

To Die For – 4K 03/30/24

Buck Henry’s screenplay slams monstrous celebrity careerism in the most entertaining way: because Nicole Kidman’s TV weather lady wants to climb the ladder of on-air celebrity, her inconveniently unglamorous first husband has to go. It’s the most blatant murder scheme ever, with a woman who considers herself to be perfection recruiting and seducing high schoolers to do the dark deed. Gus Van Sant’s satirical thriller gets high marks from our reviewer Charlie Largent; Kidman has a terrific backup cast in Joaquin Phoenix, Matt Dillon, Casey Affleck, Illeana Douglas and Dan Hedaya. On 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray from The Criterion Collection.
03/30/24

Sayonara 03/30/24

This import shows what’s uniquely terrific about a Home Video disc done well — the combined audio commentaries tell us much we didn’t know about a movie we thought we knew well. It’s one of Marlon Brando’s best and most committed performances … sidestepping some of the conventions of its time, what it does right far outweighs some outdated issues. James Garner, Patricia Owens and even Red Buttons are excellent — and Ricardo Montalban minimizes the damage of some genuine ‘what were they thinking?’ casting. On Blu-ray from Viavision [Imprint].
03/30/24

Phase IV – 4K 03/26/24

The celebrated filmic designer Saul Bass took on a tall cinematic challenge, directing a cerebral sci-fi thriller designed to rely heavily on his graphic communication techniques. He lost the faith of a studio along the way, and perhaps his own sense of ‘directorial imperative.’ What’s left of his unique, post-2001 mindblower barely holds together, even as we recognize the genius in its conception. The 4K Ultra HD encoding of Ken Middleham’s insect macrocinematography still amazes; a second, longer HD of Saul Bass’s Preview Version restores the legendary, lost end montage. With Michael Murphy, Nigel Davenport and Lynne Frederick. On 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome.
03/26/24

The President’s Analyst 03/26/24

Now available in a domestic Blu-ray — if The Phone Company doesn’t suppress it — is one of the smartest, funniest political satires ever, and James Coburn’s finest hour as an actor & project-chooser. Writer-director Theodore J. Flicker’s movie transcends the spy-craze politics of 1967: the White House shrink knows too many Presidential secrets, making him a prime target in a giddy international spy chase. Everything leads to an absurd Sci-fi conspiracy that nevertheless is now quickly becoming our reality. Coburn’s hipster cred holds up well, abetted by a lineup of great talent led by improv pioneers Godfrey Cambridge and Severn Darden. On Blu-ray from KL Studio Classics.
03/26/24

LOLA (2022) 03/23/24

It’s an ‘alternate future’ time warp tale of the kind that seldom works … but this is an exception. Andrew Legge’s modest found-footage movie serves up a rich dose of sci-fi ideas. What would you do if you could listen in on radio and TV signals from the future?  In 1940, two women use their ‘impossible’ information to thwart Germany’s bombing of England, but inadvertently set into motion unforseen time-twist problems. The way the story is told may not appeal, but it does hang together as an unusually imaginative, refreshingly rewarding time-paradox tale. Starring Emma Appleton and Stefanie Martini. On Blu-ray from Severin Films.
03/23/24

Noir Times 3 with Eddie G. 03/23/24

Film Noir the Dark Side of Cinema XVII  17th time is charmed! Kino’s long running noir series hits a winner: all three pictures are strict-definition noirs and two of them haven’t been easy to see on video. The set is also an Edward G. Robinson festival, charting three years when the grey-listed star was taking jobs where he could find them. Vice Squad is an amusingly ironic day in the life of a Los Angeles police captain; Black Tuesday a bleak and brutal gangster picture directed by Hugo Fregonese, and Nightmare is a remake by Maxwell Shane of his own Cornell Woolrich thriller from ten years before. On Blu-ray from KL Studio Classics.
03/23/24

All That Money Can Buy 03/19/24

William Dieterle’s film of Stephen Vincent Benét’s Faust-like folk tale is both traditional and experimental, part of a brief wave of ambitious, artistic RKO filmmaking. The agrarian horror-show pits an American statesman against what may be the screen’s best-ever Satan, a rustic tempter of farmers facing hard times. The cast is sensational: Edward Arnold, Walter Huston, Jane Darwell, Anne Shirley, John Qualen — and RKO’s red-hot French import Simone Simon. Intense restoration work rescues both the original version and one of Bernard Herrmann’s all-time best film scores. Criterion and the UCLA film experts are to be congratulated for this one. On Blu-ray from The Criterion Collection.
03/19/24

Abbott and Costello Show Season 2 03/19/24

Following up on 2021’s Abbott and Costello Show Season 1 disc set, Charlie Largent gives his take on the comedy duo’s popular TV show, shot on film and now restored to a brilliance never seen on 12-inch B&W TVs from 1953. The 3-D Film Archive did the restoration work on all 26 episodes. ClassicFlix says that this Second Season is less a variety show and more of a sitcom. The two discs have audio commentaries, plus all kinds of extra goodies — a Lost Episode, commercials, etc. On Blu-ray from ClassicFlix.
03/19/24

The Whip and the Body 03/16/24

Charlie Largent was knocked out by the terrific transfer on this dazzling restoration of Mario Bava’s most psychologically-sound terror show — the story of Christopher Lee tormenting the dark beauty Daliah Lavi rises a step or two in Il Maestro’s filmography of gothic greatness. We don’t know what to look at — the compelling, haunted Ms. Lavi, or the delicate web of colors that Bava drowns her in. Now in release for our domestic Region A. On Blu-ray from KL Studio Classics.
03/16/24

Faithless 03/16/24

Leave it to MGM to begin its dark Depression-Era pre-Code drama amid the top hat, silk gown & marble hall crowd. Talulah Bankhead is the wild heiress who loses her millions and then her self-respect; handsome Robert Montgomery is the pink-slipped ad man injured while driving a truck as a scab. Notorious stage personality Bankhead apparently didn’t click as a movie star — Variety said she had an ‘inability to command sympathetic response,’ even with a glamor quotient in the Garbo-Crawford-Dietrich range. On Blu-rayfrom The Warner Archive Collection.
03/16/24

The Playgirls and the Vampire 03/12/24

It’s vintage, it’s trashy, it’s Italian. Bellissima!  A vampire prowls in a castle, but all emphasis goes to cheesecake coverage of the five sexy showgirls he wants to bite, one of whom is the reincarnation of his original victim. By modern terms the ‘just for adults’ horror content is tame, a little silly, maybe endearing. The fangs are big on both a vampire count and a spirited vampire bride — who may be the screen’s first nude vampire. The handsome restored print has both the original Italian soundtrack and the English-language dub, plus three additional title sequences. On Blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome.
03/12/24

A Fistful of Dynamite 03/12/24

MGM reissues Sergio Leone’s least loved epic Duck You Sucker, a movie he didn’t want to direct, yet also the one with the most ambitious theme. The opposites-attract teaming of an Irish rebel and a Mexican bandit is a vulgar, violent fable preaching that revolution is little more than mass murder; our ‘hero’ is a dynamiter looking to atone for his sins back in Ireland. Leone detonates one of the biggest movie explosions every, and stages the rest of his picture on a scale worthy of Luchino Visconti. The movie also qualifies as a bravura Ennio Morricone concert. KL Studio Classics’ disc is basically a reissue, again under United Artists’ replacement title. On Blu-ray.
03/12/24

Nothing But a Man 03/09/24

This dramatic masterpiece is perhaps the most accurate and compelling account of American racism in the 1960s, despite being made by two Jewish filmmakers from New York. Filming at the height of the Civil Rights movement, Michael Roemer and Robert M. Young stick to a personal story and refrain from viewing the black experience through a white filter. Ivan Dixon and Abbey Lincoln’s young hopefuls must work through extra layers of disadvantage and discrimination. The landmark movie features early film work from actors Julius Harris, Gloria Foster and Yaphet Kotto. On Blu-ray from The Criterion Collection.
03/09/24

The Shootist 03/09/24

John Wayne’s final movie is a somber, blood-soaked farewell trimmed with sentimental guest-star cameos and closing-the-book gestures. Wayne is terrific as the gunfighter-at-sunset; Lauren Bacall makes the best impression amid a gallery of old friends that includes James Stewart. Audiences didn’t know what to make of the gory final gunfight … was Wayne giving in to changing times?  The polished production leads with Don Siegel’s assured direction; Arrow pours on the extras, with profiles of Siegel and author Glendon Swarthout. On Blu-ray from Arrow Video.
03/09/24

Inside the Mind of Coffin Joe 03/05/24

Charlie Largent has returned from da terra brasileira dos mortos to report on Zé do Caixão, otherwise known as Gool Old Coffin Joe, the sickest maniac South of the Tropic of Cancer. Arrow Video’s monster box of Brazilian horror would be a challenge for anyone, and we’re hoping that our Charlie has returned with his mind intact … his initial remarks were that, as a cumulative experience, the films do indeed generate a mind-warping weird state of mind. So beware all that enter here — the menu includes at least 11 synapse-rupturing titles, including the carefree lark At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul, the spirited Hallucinations of a Deranged Mind, and the fun-loving The Strange Hostel of Naked Pleasures. Let the good times roll. On Blu-ray from Arrow Video.
03/05/24

The Mystery of Marie Roget 03/05/24

Hiding in a box marked Noir is one of Universal’s horror-adjacent ’40s mystery thrillers, in a terrific new transfer. The talky adaptation retains some of Edgar Allan Poe’s complicated detective ratiocinations, and spices things up with personalities like prickly Maria Ouspenskaya and star-to-be Maria Montez. Paul Dupin must juggle a mysterious disappearance, plus mutilation murders and a feline red herring in the form of a pet leopard. Also starring Patric Knowles, Nell O’Day and Lloyd Corrigan. Kino gives it dueling commentaries headed by Tom Weaver and Kim Newman. On Blu-rayfrom KL Studio Classics.

Allonsanfan 03/02/24

All failed revolutionaries take heart: the Taviani brothers’ downbeat yet creatively magical story of the wrong rebels in the wrong insurrection at the wrong time features a disillusioned fighter-of-the-good-fight determined to betray his comrades and abscond with their money. The three women that support and/or double-cross him are Laura Betti, Lea Massari and Mimsy Farmer. It may be the best movie about the urge to revolt, and how harshly history treats idealists. The Tavianis’ cinematic play with color and illusion is first-rate, as is their use of music, dance and Ennio Morricone’s rousing main theme. With one of the most rewarding audio commentaries ever, by Michael Brooke. On Blu-ray from Radiance.
03/02/24

McCabe & Mrs. Miller 4K 03/02/24

Warren Beatty and Julie Christie help Robert Altman fashion one of his best pictures, a story of the Building of the West that meanders off in its own revisionist direction. The West, sayeth Altman, is just the evils of the East transplanted into the wilderness, a massive property grab. The free-form direction and cluttered soundtrack is a new look for the genre — the Oregon town is a dreamy mix of snowflakes, opium and the music of Leonard Cohen. And it’s now been remastered in 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray from The Criterion Collection.
03/02/24