Cinephiles will have plenty to celebrate this April with the next slate of additions to the Criterion Channel. The boutique distributor, which recently announced its June 2024 Blu-ray releases, has unveiled its new streaming lineup highlighted by an eclectic mix of classic films and modern arthouse hits.
Students of Hollywood history will be treated to the “Peak Noir: 1950” collection, which features 17 noir films from the landmark film year from directors including Billy Wilder, Alfred Hitchcock, and John Huston.
New Hollywood maverick William Friedkin will also be celebrated when five of his most beloved movies, including “Sorcerer” and “The Exorcist,” come to the channel in April.
Criterion will offer the streaming premiere of Wim Wenders’ 3D art documentary “Anselm,” which will be accompanied by the “Wim Wenders’ Adventures in Moviegoing” collection, which sees the director curating a selection of films from around the world that have influenced his careers.
Contemporary cinema is also well represented,...
Students of Hollywood history will be treated to the “Peak Noir: 1950” collection, which features 17 noir films from the landmark film year from directors including Billy Wilder, Alfred Hitchcock, and John Huston.
New Hollywood maverick William Friedkin will also be celebrated when five of his most beloved movies, including “Sorcerer” and “The Exorcist,” come to the channel in April.
Criterion will offer the streaming premiere of Wim Wenders’ 3D art documentary “Anselm,” which will be accompanied by the “Wim Wenders’ Adventures in Moviegoing” collection, which sees the director curating a selection of films from around the world that have influenced his careers.
Contemporary cinema is also well represented,...
- 3/18/2024
- by Christian Zilko
- Indiewire
April’s an uncommonly strong auteurist month for the Criterion Channel, who will highlight a number of directors––many of whom aren’t often grouped together. Just after we screened House of Tolerance at the Roxy Cinema, Criterion are showing it and Nocturama for a two-film Bertrand Bonello retrospective, starting just four days before The Beast opens. Larger and rarer (but just as French) is the complete Jean Eustache series Janus toured last year. Meanwhile, five William Friedkin films and work from Makoto Shinkai, Lizzie Borden, and Rosine Mbakam are given a highlight.
One of my very favorite films, Comrades: Almost a Love Story plays in a series I’ve been trying to program for years: “Hong Kong in New York,” boasting the magnificent Full Moon in New York, Farewell China, and An Autumn’s Tale. Wim Wenders gets his “Adventures in Moviegoing”; After Hours, Personal Shopper, and Werckmeister Harmonies fill...
One of my very favorite films, Comrades: Almost a Love Story plays in a series I’ve been trying to program for years: “Hong Kong in New York,” boasting the magnificent Full Moon in New York, Farewell China, and An Autumn’s Tale. Wim Wenders gets his “Adventures in Moviegoing”; After Hours, Personal Shopper, and Werckmeister Harmonies fill...
- 3/18/2024
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
I honestly never expected Steven Spielberg in a Criterion Channel series––certainly not one that pairs him with Kogonada, anime, and Johnny Mnemonic––but so’s the power of artificial intelligence. Perhaps his greatest film (at this point I don’t need to tell you the title) plays with After Yang, Ghost in the Shell, and pre-Matrix Keanu in July’s aptly titled “AI” boasting also Spike Jonze’s Her, Carpenter’s Dark Star, and Computer Chess. Much more analog is a British Noir collection obviously carrying the likes of Odd Man Out, Night and the City, and The Small Back Room, further filled by Joseph Losey’s Time Without Pity and Basil Dearden’s It Always Rains on Sunday. (No two ways about it: these movies have great titles.) An Elvis retrospective brings six features, and the consensus best (Don Siegel’s Flaming Star) comes September 1.
While Isabella Rossellini...
While Isabella Rossellini...
- 6/22/2023
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Michael Caine recently told The Spectator (via IndieWire) that it’s “bullshit” his 1964 war epic “Zulu” was cited on a recent United Kingdom counter-terrorism report. The controversial Prevent strategy flagged a handful of popular films, British sitcoms, works of literature and more as possible sources of inspiration for terrorist groups and far-right extremists. “Zulu” was cited alongside “The Bridge on the River Kwai,” “Brave New World,” “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” and the BBC’s original “House of Cards,” among other titles.
“That is the biggest load of bullshit I have ever heard,” Caine said bluntly when told the news about “Zulu” being classified as a “key text” for “white nationalists and supremacists.”
“Zulu,” directed by Cy Endfield, opened in 1964 and served as Caine’s first major breakthrough film role following a string of uncredited movie appearances. The movie is set during the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879 and follows a group of...
“That is the biggest load of bullshit I have ever heard,” Caine said bluntly when told the news about “Zulu” being classified as a “key text” for “white nationalists and supremacists.”
“Zulu,” directed by Cy Endfield, opened in 1964 and served as Caine’s first major breakthrough film role following a string of uncredited movie appearances. The movie is set during the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879 and follows a group of...
- 3/9/2023
- by Zack Sharf
- Variety Film + TV
The first movie to directly confront McCarthyism! Or so said the editorials touting this ‘Long-Awaited Screen Event’ in which ‘Bette Davis Hits the Screen in a Cyclone of Dramatic Fury!’ The storm of the title was based on a real activist in Oklahoma who lost her job for promoting equal rights. Bette’s polite librarian is victimized by small-minded civic types; a subplot depicts the traumatic reaction of one of her patrons, a child expected to despise her as a traitor to the country. Daniel Taradash’s movie is an excellent starting point to discuss the thorny dramatic subgenre of liberal social issue movies.
Storm Center
Blu-ray
Viavision [Imprint] 155
1956 / B&w / 1:78 widescreen / 86 min. / Street Date September 30, 2022 / Available from / au 39.95
Starring:
Bette Davis, Brian Keith, Kim Hunter, Paul Kelly, Joe Mantell, Kevin Coughlin, Sallie Brophie, Howard Wierum, Curtis Cooksey, Michael Raffetto, Joseph Kearns, Edward Platt, Kathryn Grant, Howard Wendell, Malcolm Atterbury,...
Storm Center
Blu-ray
Viavision [Imprint] 155
1956 / B&w / 1:78 widescreen / 86 min. / Street Date September 30, 2022 / Available from / au 39.95
Starring:
Bette Davis, Brian Keith, Kim Hunter, Paul Kelly, Joe Mantell, Kevin Coughlin, Sallie Brophie, Howard Wierum, Curtis Cooksey, Michael Raffetto, Joseph Kearns, Edward Platt, Kathryn Grant, Howard Wendell, Malcolm Atterbury,...
- 11/12/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
In order to make it big in Hollywood, sometimes talent alone isn't enough. Michael Caine, one of the industry's most celebrated movie stars, understands this. Caine has had a remarkably robust acting career that has spanned decades of his life. Perhaps most recognizable to modern audiences for his role as Batman's faithful butler Alfred Pennyworth in Christopher Nolan's "Dark Knight" trilogy, Caine has also starred in major films like Brian De Palma's eerie 1980 masterpiece "Dressed to Kill" and Alfonso Cuarôn's 2006 dystopian thriller "Children of Men." More recently, he's made appearances in Nolan's 2020 film "Tenet," and the just-released historical drama "Medieval."
When looking over his filmography, there is no doubt that Caine is a talented and prolific actor, but if it hadn't been for two very specific career moves, it's possible we may never have gotten to see his rise to fame.
Goodbye, Maurice. Hello, Michael Caine.
When looking over his filmography, there is no doubt that Caine is a talented and prolific actor, but if it hadn't been for two very specific career moves, it's possible we may never have gotten to see his rise to fame.
Goodbye, Maurice. Hello, Michael Caine.
- 9/15/2022
- by Miyako Pleines
- Slash Film
Sidney Poitier — film noir icon? That may not be one of the phrases that popped up most frequently in the recent obituaries and appreciations for the late actor, but Poitier did take his turn at noir. The movie with which he made his screen debut, “No Way Out,” will be featured at the upcoming resumption of the annual Noir City Hollywood Festival, which is devoting separate days to the treatment of race and women in the crime dramas of the ’40s and ’50s, along with a continued focus on presenting restorations in 35mm glory.
Noir City Hollywood has been a staple at the American Cinematheque’s Egyptian Theatre each spring since the late ’90s, but with that theater closed for extensive Netflix-funded renovations, this year it will take place at the Hollywood Legion Theatre a few blocks up Highland Blvd. Hosted as always by Film Noir Foundation president (and...
Noir City Hollywood has been a staple at the American Cinematheque’s Egyptian Theatre each spring since the late ’90s, but with that theater closed for extensive Netflix-funded renovations, this year it will take place at the Hollywood Legion Theatre a few blocks up Highland Blvd. Hosted as always by Film Noir Foundation president (and...
- 2/23/2022
- by Chris Willman
- Variety Film + TV
We loved James Bond but diehard ’60s spy fans hold a special admiration for Len Deighton’s ‘thinking man’s secret agent’ Harry Palmer. Viavision pulls off a slick trick by assembling the three top Michael Caine Harry Palmer pictures, each from a different studio, in a single deluxe gift box. Harry fights the Brain Drain, encounters criss-crossing conspiracies at the Berlin Wall, and witnesses a privatized invasion of the U.S.S.R., in The Ipcress File, Funeral in Berlin and Billion Dollar Brain, three great pictures by three very different directors. The presentations come with a glut of special edition extras.
The Harry Palmer Collection
All-Region Blu-ray
Viavision [Imprint] 75, 76, 77
1965-67 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / Street Date October 20, 2021 / Available from Amazon / 109.99
Starring: Michael Caine
From the novels by Len Deighton
Produced by Harry Saltzman
Directed by Sidney J. Furie, Guy Hamilton, Ken Russell
It didn’t seem possible that there...
The Harry Palmer Collection
All-Region Blu-ray
Viavision [Imprint] 75, 76, 77
1965-67 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / Street Date October 20, 2021 / Available from Amazon / 109.99
Starring: Michael Caine
From the novels by Len Deighton
Produced by Harry Saltzman
Directed by Sidney J. Furie, Guy Hamilton, Ken Russell
It didn’t seem possible that there...
- 11/13/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Move over, Angry Young Men: Alfie Elkins leverages class resentment and killer good looks to become a ladies’ man extraordinaire… in his own eyes. Michael Caine was born to play Bill Naughton’s smooth-talking, responsibility-dodging cad’s cad. Alfie mistreats a glorious lineup of actresses — Julia Foster, Jane Asher, Vivien Merchant — and Shelley Winters is hilarious as the widow who has his number. Will Alfie maybe develop a conscience? The two-disc special edition shares a double bill with My Generation, a highly entertaining Swinging London documentary hosted by Michael Caine. Being kind doesn’t make one a fool, Alfie.
Alfie + My Generation
Blu-ray (Region-Free)
Viavision [Imprint] 41
1965 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 112 min. / Street Date June 2, 2021 / Available from Viavision / au 64.98
Starring: Michael Caine, Shelley Winters, Julia Foster, Jane Asher, Vivien Merchant, Millicent Martin, Denholm Elliott, Alfie Bass, Graham Stark, Eleanor Bron, Shirley Anne Field, Murray Melvin, Sydney Tafler.
Cinematography: Otto Heller
Art Direction:...
Alfie + My Generation
Blu-ray (Region-Free)
Viavision [Imprint] 41
1965 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 112 min. / Street Date June 2, 2021 / Available from Viavision / au 64.98
Starring: Michael Caine, Shelley Winters, Julia Foster, Jane Asher, Vivien Merchant, Millicent Martin, Denholm Elliott, Alfie Bass, Graham Stark, Eleanor Bron, Shirley Anne Field, Murray Melvin, Sydney Tafler.
Cinematography: Otto Heller
Art Direction:...
- 6/19/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Cy Endfield, who directed 1964’s Zulu, wrote the book and screenplay for this 1979 prequel helmed by Douglas Hickox. It’s a similarly sprawling epic featuring even more Hollywood heavyweights including Burt Lancaster, Peter O’Toole, John Mills, and Bob Hoskins in a small role. Despite all the firepower—on the battlefield and in the cast list—the film failed to make the same impact as Endfield’s original.
The post Zulu Dawn appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
The post Zulu Dawn appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
- 9/21/2020
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
When they dig it up, what will they find? Fans will want to see this forgotten Deutsch-noir masterpiece. Helmut Käutner’s tale of trouble on an American air base in West Germany is a swirl of romantic, political and criminal complications — all down & dirty. A tiny burg that serves as a brothel for U.S. airmen attracts displaced women and dispirited men willing to do what’s necessary to survive. We’ve seem nothing quite like this riveting drama — its sixty-year absence carries a taint of political ‘inconvenience.’ If you like challenging fare like Ace in the Hole and Try and Get Me! you’re going to love it. Both censored and uncensored versions have been restored in excellent quality.
Black Gravel
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1961 / B&w / 1:66 widescreen / 114, 113 min. / Street Date September 1, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Helmut Wildt, Ingmar Zeisberg, Hans Cossy, Wolfgang Büttner, Anita Höfer, Heinrich Trimbur,...
Black Gravel
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1961 / B&w / 1:66 widescreen / 114, 113 min. / Street Date September 1, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Helmut Wildt, Ingmar Zeisberg, Hans Cossy, Wolfgang Büttner, Anita Höfer, Heinrich Trimbur,...
- 9/5/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Mubi's retrospective Outlaw Auteur: Joseph Losey is showing March 30 - May 26, 2020 in the United Kingdom.Above: EvaThe blacklist could be a death certificate or a plane ticket. Informers and suspects alike didn’t work after the United States government went around asking who was a communist and who wasn’t. The list of people who stood up to it is small, the number of people who survived the j’accuse smaller. Director Joseph Losey left the States when he learned his name had been given to House Un-American Activities Committee, to go finish Stranger on the Prowl (1952), when the original director Bernard Vorhaus was fired. Losey came home a year later to find himself radioactive. He left again, and he never came home. Not really. He was an obviously skilled director in America but he was just hitting his stride. The crime films he directed in the States and...
- 4/13/2020
- MUBI
Gangland London, 1960: Expatriate director Joseph Losey gives the Brit crime film a boost with a brutal gangster tale starring the ultra-tough Stanley Baker — and seemingly every up & coming male actor on the casting books. A committed thief returns to his craft the moment he’s freed from prison, but the emphasis is on the nasty betrayals and squeeze-plays of the criminal underworld, that conspire to foil Baker’s plans.
The Criminal
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1960 / B&w / 1:66 widescreen / 98 min. / Street Date February 18, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Stanley Baker, Sam Wanamaker, Grégoire Aslan, Margit Saad, Jill Bennett, Rupert Davies, Laurence Naismith, John Van Eyssen, Noel Willman, Kenneth Warren, Patrick Magee, Kenneth Cope, Patrick Wymark, Paul Stassino, Tom Bell, Neil McCarthy, Nigel Green, Tom Gerard, Edward Judd.
Cinematography: Robert Krasker
Film Editor: Reginald Mills
Original Music: John Dankworth
Written by Alun Owen and Jimmy Sangster
Produced by Jack Greenwood...
The Criminal
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1960 / B&w / 1:66 widescreen / 98 min. / Street Date February 18, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Stanley Baker, Sam Wanamaker, Grégoire Aslan, Margit Saad, Jill Bennett, Rupert Davies, Laurence Naismith, John Van Eyssen, Noel Willman, Kenneth Warren, Patrick Magee, Kenneth Cope, Patrick Wymark, Paul Stassino, Tom Bell, Neil McCarthy, Nigel Green, Tom Gerard, Edward Judd.
Cinematography: Robert Krasker
Film Editor: Reginald Mills
Original Music: John Dankworth
Written by Alun Owen and Jimmy Sangster
Produced by Jack Greenwood...
- 2/8/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Everyday Noir in Prague: a one-of-a-kind Czech/Brit coproduction teams fine British actors with the home-grown star Rudolf HruSínský, and the result is neither murder nor mayhem, but a real everyday tragedy that might happen anywhere. The bright B&w images chart an unhappy illicit romance, and a petty crime with awful consequences.
90° in the Shade
All-region Blu-ray
Powerhouse Indicator
1965 / B&w / 2:39 widescreen / 91 min. / + second version Tricet jedna ve stínu 83 min. / Street Date September 23, 2019 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £15.99
Starring: Anne Heywood, James Booth, Rudolf HruSínský, Ann Todd, Sir Donald Wolfit, Jirina Jirásková, Jorga Kotrbová, Vladimír Mensík.
Cinematography: Becrich Batka
Film Editors: Jan Chaloupek, Russell Lloyd
Original Music: Ludek Hulan
Written by David Mercer story by Jirí Mucha, Jirí Weiss
Produced by Raymond Stross
Directed by Jirí Weiss
(note: a Czech friend who long ago helped me with research for Ikarie Xb-1 advised me not to even Try spelling Czech with full diacritical remarks.
90° in the Shade
All-region Blu-ray
Powerhouse Indicator
1965 / B&w / 2:39 widescreen / 91 min. / + second version Tricet jedna ve stínu 83 min. / Street Date September 23, 2019 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £15.99
Starring: Anne Heywood, James Booth, Rudolf HruSínský, Ann Todd, Sir Donald Wolfit, Jirina Jirásková, Jorga Kotrbová, Vladimír Mensík.
Cinematography: Becrich Batka
Film Editors: Jan Chaloupek, Russell Lloyd
Original Music: Ludek Hulan
Written by David Mercer story by Jirí Mucha, Jirí Weiss
Produced by Raymond Stross
Directed by Jirí Weiss
(note: a Czech friend who long ago helped me with research for Ikarie Xb-1 advised me not to even Try spelling Czech with full diacritical remarks.
- 9/14/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Is this any way to treat a lady? Lovely Nina Foch just wanted a job, but she instead becomes the fall-gal in a psychologically perverse plan to deny her very identity. Cult director Joseph H. Lewis makes deft use of cinematic suspense techniques to compel our involvement in a bizarre conspiracy: not just convincing a woman that she’s insane, but that she’s literally not herself.
My Name is Julia Ross
Blu-ray
Arrow Academy
1945 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 65 min. / Street Date February 19, 2019 / Available from Arrow Films (UK) / 39.95
Starring: Nina Foch, Dame May Whitty, George Macready, Roland Varno, Leonard Mudie, Anita Bolster, Doris Lloyd, Queenie Leonard.
Cinematography: Burnett Guffey
Film Editor: Henry Batista
Visual Effects: Lawrence Butler, Donald Glouner
Musical director: Mischa Bakaleinikoff
Written by Muriel Roy Bolton, from the novel by Anthony Gilbert (Lucy Malleson)
Produced by Wallace MacDonald
Directed by Joseph H. Lewis
2019 is shaping up just fine for Blu-ray releases of small-scale,...
My Name is Julia Ross
Blu-ray
Arrow Academy
1945 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 65 min. / Street Date February 19, 2019 / Available from Arrow Films (UK) / 39.95
Starring: Nina Foch, Dame May Whitty, George Macready, Roland Varno, Leonard Mudie, Anita Bolster, Doris Lloyd, Queenie Leonard.
Cinematography: Burnett Guffey
Film Editor: Henry Batista
Visual Effects: Lawrence Butler, Donald Glouner
Musical director: Mischa Bakaleinikoff
Written by Muriel Roy Bolton, from the novel by Anthony Gilbert (Lucy Malleson)
Produced by Wallace MacDonald
Directed by Joseph H. Lewis
2019 is shaping up just fine for Blu-ray releases of small-scale,...
- 2/9/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
An excellent example of a thriller that improves with age, Cornel Wilde’s survival tale is a lean ‘n’ mean exercise in first-person terror. Sent barefoot and naked on a hopeless ‘run of the arrow,’ our hero earns our admiration from his first desperate steps. Actor Wilde may never have directed anything else quite as good, but this winner cements his name in the achievement books.
The Naked Prey
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 415
1965 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 95 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date October 2, 2018 / 39.95
Starring: Cornel Wilde, Gert Van den Bergh, Ken Gampu, Patrick Mynhardt.
Cinematography: H.A.R. Thompson
Film Editor: Roger Cherrill
Original Music: Edwin Astley, Andrew Tracey, Cornell Wilde
Written by Clint Johnson, Don Peters
Produced by Sven Persson, Cornel Wilde
Directed by Cornel Wilde
In Panavision and blazing Technicolor, this grueling survival ordeal held us spellbound in 1965 — kids forgot to eat their popcorn. Those not...
The Naked Prey
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 415
1965 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 95 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date October 2, 2018 / 39.95
Starring: Cornel Wilde, Gert Van den Bergh, Ken Gampu, Patrick Mynhardt.
Cinematography: H.A.R. Thompson
Film Editor: Roger Cherrill
Original Music: Edwin Astley, Andrew Tracey, Cornell Wilde
Written by Clint Johnson, Don Peters
Produced by Sven Persson, Cornel Wilde
Directed by Cornel Wilde
In Panavision and blazing Technicolor, this grueling survival ordeal held us spellbound in 1965 — kids forgot to eat their popcorn. Those not...
- 10/6/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Among the many pleasures nestled in Joseph Losey’s late triumph Roads to the South (Yves Montand saying the name “Walter Benjamin” is the purest delight) is a scene where father and son communists, Montand and Laurent Malet, play Russian roulette. Montand is a screenwriter whom Malet believes has lost his revolutionary nerve and sold out. Their mother, who linked the firebrands, has died, and they seem to have nothing left binding them. How could a young agitator respect this lapsed whore of a Marxist, selling movies and living vicariously through real activists as he grows old and dies in his cozy estate? How can one be a Marxist and still respect the cinema? Pasolini spent his too-short life investigating this question with every movie he made, never arriving at an answer beyond the mere fact of having done so, thus demonstrating its possibility. Have we need of further proof?...
- 2/21/2018
- MUBI
Indicator follows up The Wonderful Worlds of Ray Harryhausen, Volume One: 1955-1960 with, wait for it, Volume 2: 1961-1964, featuring three of Harryhausen’s most ambitious productions. Good news for fans, the UK company delivers another robust box set with beautiful transfers and an abundance of extras including newly produced interviews, a small treasure trove of promotional ephemera and a limited edition 80-page book with essays from Kim Newman and Tim Lucas. The set is region free, playable on Blu-ray devices worldwide.
The Wonderful Worlds of Ray Harryhausen, Volume 2: 1961-1964
Blu-ray – Region Free
Indicator/Powerhouse
Street Date November 13, 2017
Starring Herbert Lom, Joan Greenwood, Niall MacGinnis, Nigel Green, Lionel Jeffries, Edward Judd
Cinematography by Wilkie Cooper
Produced by Charles Schneer, Ray Harryhausen
Directed by Cy Endfield, Don Chaffey, Nathan Juran
Raging thunderstorms and a tempestuous score from Bernard Herrmann kick off 1961’s Mysterious Island as a water-logged crew of Union...
The Wonderful Worlds of Ray Harryhausen, Volume 2: 1961-1964
Blu-ray – Region Free
Indicator/Powerhouse
Street Date November 13, 2017
Starring Herbert Lom, Joan Greenwood, Niall MacGinnis, Nigel Green, Lionel Jeffries, Edward Judd
Cinematography by Wilkie Cooper
Produced by Charles Schneer, Ray Harryhausen
Directed by Cy Endfield, Don Chaffey, Nathan Juran
Raging thunderstorms and a tempestuous score from Bernard Herrmann kick off 1961’s Mysterious Island as a water-logged crew of Union...
- 11/25/2017
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
In a war film, what’s the difference between nasty exploitation and just plain honest reportage? André De Toth made tough-minded action films with the best of them, and this nail-biting commando mission with Michael Caine and Nigel Davenport is simply superb, one of those great action pictures that’s not widely screened. To its credit it’s not ‘feel good’ enough to be suitable for Memorial Day TV marathons.
Play Dirty
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1968 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 118 min. / Street Date October 17, 2017 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95
Starring: Michael Caine, Nigel Davenport, Nigel Green, Harry Andrews.
Cinematography: Edward Scaife
Film Editor: Jack Slade
Art Direction: Tom Morahan, Maurice Pelling
Original Music: Michel Legrand
Written by Lotte Colin, Melvyn Bragg, from a story by George Marton
Produced by Harry Saltzman
Directed by André De Toth
Some movies that were ignored when new now seem far more important, perhaps due to the tenor of times.
Play Dirty
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1968 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 118 min. / Street Date October 17, 2017 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95
Starring: Michael Caine, Nigel Davenport, Nigel Green, Harry Andrews.
Cinematography: Edward Scaife
Film Editor: Jack Slade
Art Direction: Tom Morahan, Maurice Pelling
Original Music: Michel Legrand
Written by Lotte Colin, Melvyn Bragg, from a story by George Marton
Produced by Harry Saltzman
Directed by André De Toth
Some movies that were ignored when new now seem far more important, perhaps due to the tenor of times.
- 10/24/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
You can tell it’s film noir — even the cabin cruiser has Venetian blinds. Ernest Hemingway’s favorite film adaptation of his work is this uncompromised story of a good man taking a criminal course on the high seas. John Garfield is again ‘one man alone’ against the system, and the moral quicksand all but swallows up Patricia Neal, Phyllis Thaxter and Wallace Ford.
The Breaking Point
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 889
1950 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 97 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date August 8, 2017 / 39.95
Starring: John Garfield, Patricia Neal, Phyllis Thaxter, Juano Hernandez, Wallace Ford, Edmon Ryan, Ralph Dumke, Guy Thomajan, William Campbell, Sherry Jackson, Donna Jo Boyce, Victor Sen Yung, Peter Brocco, John Doucette.
Cinematography: Ted D. McCord
Film Editor: Alan Crosland Jr.
Original Music: Howard Jackson, Max Steiner
Written by Ranald MacDougall from a novel by Ernest Hemingway
Produced by Jerry Wald
Directed by Michael Curtiz
After...
The Breaking Point
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 889
1950 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 97 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date August 8, 2017 / 39.95
Starring: John Garfield, Patricia Neal, Phyllis Thaxter, Juano Hernandez, Wallace Ford, Edmon Ryan, Ralph Dumke, Guy Thomajan, William Campbell, Sherry Jackson, Donna Jo Boyce, Victor Sen Yung, Peter Brocco, John Doucette.
Cinematography: Ted D. McCord
Film Editor: Alan Crosland Jr.
Original Music: Howard Jackson, Max Steiner
Written by Ranald MacDougall from a novel by Ernest Hemingway
Produced by Jerry Wald
Directed by Michael Curtiz
After...
- 7/22/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
This French disc release of the Jacques Tourneur classic gets everything right — including both versions in picture perfect transfers. Devil debunker Dana Andrews locks horns with Niall MacGinnis, a necromancer “who has decoded the Old Book” and can summon a fire & brimstone monster from Hell, no election fraud necessary. Even fans that hate ghost stories love this one — it’s a truly creepy, intelligent highlight of the horror genre.
Night of the Demon
Region A + B Blu-ray + Pal DVD
Wild Side (Fr)
1957 / B&W / 1:66 widescreen / 95 & 82 min. / Street Date November 27, 2013 / Curse of the Demon, Rendez-vous avec la peur / Available from Amazon UK or Foreign Exchange Blu-ray
Starring: Dana Andrews, Peggy Cummins, Niall MacGinnis, Maurice Denham,
Athene Seyler
Cinematography: Ted Scaife
Production Designer: Ken Adam
Special Effects: George Blackwell, S.D. Onions, Wally Veevers
Film Editor Michael Gordon
Original Music: Clifton Parker
Written by Charles Bennett and Hal E. Chester
from the...
Night of the Demon
Region A + B Blu-ray + Pal DVD
Wild Side (Fr)
1957 / B&W / 1:66 widescreen / 95 & 82 min. / Street Date November 27, 2013 / Curse of the Demon, Rendez-vous avec la peur / Available from Amazon UK or Foreign Exchange Blu-ray
Starring: Dana Andrews, Peggy Cummins, Niall MacGinnis, Maurice Denham,
Athene Seyler
Cinematography: Ted Scaife
Production Designer: Ken Adam
Special Effects: George Blackwell, S.D. Onions, Wally Veevers
Film Editor Michael Gordon
Original Music: Clifton Parker
Written by Charles Bennett and Hal E. Chester
from the...
- 5/20/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
When Alfred Hitchcock films are praised, this 1944 picture tends to get overlooked. Yet it hooks and holds audiences as strongly as any of the Master’s classics. When a handful of English and Americans are lost at sea, survival depends on their ability to cooperate. Can they trust the experienced sea captain — a German — who joins them? And when things become grim, will their behavior be any better than his?
Lifeboat
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1944 / B&W / 1:37 flat full frame / 96 min. /Street Date March 21, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Tallulah Bankhead, William Bendix, Walter Slezak, Mary Anderson, John Hodiak, Henry Hull, Heather Angel, Hume Cronyn, Canada Lee
Cinematography: Glen MacWilliams
Art Direction: James Basevi, Maurice Ransford
Film Editor: Dorothy Spencer
Original Music: Hugo W. Friedhofer
Written by: Jo Swerling, story by John Steinbeck
Produced by Kenneth Macgowan
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Hitchcock goes to war, this time for 20th...
Lifeboat
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1944 / B&W / 1:37 flat full frame / 96 min. /Street Date March 21, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Tallulah Bankhead, William Bendix, Walter Slezak, Mary Anderson, John Hodiak, Henry Hull, Heather Angel, Hume Cronyn, Canada Lee
Cinematography: Glen MacWilliams
Art Direction: James Basevi, Maurice Ransford
Film Editor: Dorothy Spencer
Original Music: Hugo W. Friedhofer
Written by: Jo Swerling, story by John Steinbeck
Produced by Kenneth Macgowan
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Hitchcock goes to war, this time for 20th...
- 4/8/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
It’s a powerful plea against the death penalty, but also an Oscar bid for a fiery actress. And don’t forget the cool jazz music score. On top of this Robert Wise adds a formerly- taboo sequence, a realistic depiction of an execution in the gas chamber. Of such things were gritty, hard-hitting reputations made.
I Want to Live!
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1958 / B&W / 1:85 widescreen / 121 min. / Street Date November 15, 2016 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95
Starring Susan Hayward, Simon Oakland, Theodore Bikel, Virginia Vincent, Wesley Lau, Philip Coolidge.
Cinematography Lionel Lindon
Original Music Johnny Mandel
Written by Nelson Gidding, Don M. Mankiewicz
Produced by Walter Wanger (for Joseph Mankiewicz)
Directed by Robert Wise
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Robert Wise’s I Want to Live! from 1958 is a Can of Worms movie… start discussing its subject matter, and opinions immediately become a stumbling block. So I’ll...
I Want to Live!
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1958 / B&W / 1:85 widescreen / 121 min. / Street Date November 15, 2016 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95
Starring Susan Hayward, Simon Oakland, Theodore Bikel, Virginia Vincent, Wesley Lau, Philip Coolidge.
Cinematography Lionel Lindon
Original Music Johnny Mandel
Written by Nelson Gidding, Don M. Mankiewicz
Produced by Walter Wanger (for Joseph Mankiewicz)
Directed by Robert Wise
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Robert Wise’s I Want to Live! from 1958 is a Can of Worms movie… start discussing its subject matter, and opinions immediately become a stumbling block. So I’ll...
- 12/13/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Horton Foote, Lillian Hellman and Arthur Penn's All-Star vision of an Ugly America found few friends in 1965; now its overstated scenes of social injustice and violence are daily events. Marlon Brando leads a terrific cast -- Robert Redford, Jane Fonda, Angie Dickinson, Robert Duvall! -- to endure the worst Saturday ever to hit one cursed Texas township. The Chase (1966) Blu-ray Twilight Time 1966 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 134 min. / Street Date October 11, 2016 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95 Starring Marlon Brando, Jane Fonda, Robert Redford, E.G. Marshall, Angie Dickinson, Janice Rule, Miriam Hopkins, Martha Hyer, Richard Bradford, Robert Duvall, James Fox, Diana Hyland, Henry Hull, Jocelyn Brando, Clifton James, Steve Ihnat Cinematography Joseph Lashelle Production Designer Richard Day Art Direction Robert Luthardt Film Editor Gene Milford Original Music John Barry Written by Lillian Hellman from the novel by Horton Foote Produced by Sam Spiegel Directed by Arthur Penn
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson...
- 10/29/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
We change things up by focusing on a boutique label, Twilight Time, that has found success through a unique business model. Mark and Aaron happen to be big fans, and feel that we have directly contributed towards some of their profits. We talk about the company, their business model, why they have succeeded, and we address some common critiques. We also review a few discs each, and finally count down our favorite Twilight Time titles.
About Nick Redman:
London-born Nick Redman, one of Hollywood’s leading producers of movie music, is also an award-winning documentary filmmaker. An Academy Award nominee as producer of the 1996 Warner Brothers documentary, The Wild Bunch: An Album in Montage, he went on to write, produce, and direct A Turning of the Earth: John Ford, John Wayne and The Searchers (1998), which became a prize-winner at multiple film festivals.
As a consultant to the Fox Music...
About Nick Redman:
London-born Nick Redman, one of Hollywood’s leading producers of movie music, is also an award-winning documentary filmmaker. An Academy Award nominee as producer of the 1996 Warner Brothers documentary, The Wild Bunch: An Album in Montage, he went on to write, produce, and direct A Turning of the Earth: John Ford, John Wayne and The Searchers (1998), which became a prize-winner at multiple film festivals.
As a consultant to the Fox Music...
- 9/13/2016
- by Aaron West
- CriterionCast
Leave it to director William Wellman to direct the most compelling social justice movie of the 1940s. Taken from a bestselling novel, it's a wrenching examination of the workings of a natural American phenomenon, the Lynch Mob. The Ox-Bow Incident Blu-ray Kl Studio Classics 1942 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 75 min. / Street Date July 12, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Henry Fonda, Dana Andrews, Mary Beth Hughes, Anthony Quinn, William Eythe, Harry Morgan, Jane Darwell, Matt Briggs, Harry Davenport, Frank Conroy, Marc Lawrence Cinematography Arthur Miller Art Direction James Basevi, Richard Day Film Editor Allen McNeil Original Music Cyril J. Mockridge Written and Produced by Lamar Trotti from a novel by Walter Van Tilburg Clark Directed by William A. Wellman
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
In the first scene of this grim feature, Henry Fonda stumbles out of a saloon street and throws up in the street. Apparently that was the reaction shared...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
In the first scene of this grim feature, Henry Fonda stumbles out of a saloon street and throws up in the street. Apparently that was the reaction shared...
- 8/22/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
This noir hits with the force of a blast furnace -- Cy Endfield's wrenching tale of social neglect and injustice will tie your stomach in knots. Sound like fun? An unemployed man turns to crime and reaps a whirlwind of disproportionate retribution. It's surely the most powerful of all filmic accusations thrown at the American status quo. Try and Get Me! Blu-ray Olive Films 1950 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 92 min. / Street Date April 19, 2016 / The Sound of Fury / available through the Olive Films website / 29.95 Starring Frank Lovejoy, Kathleen Ryan, Richard Carlson, Lloyd Bridges, Katherine Locke, Adele Jergens, Art Smith, Renzo Cesana, Irene Vernon, Cliff Clark, Donald Smelick, Joe E. Ross. Cinematography Guy Roe Production Design Perry Ferguson Film Editor George Amy Original Music Hugo Friedhofer Written by Jo Pagano from his novel The Condemned Produced by Robert Stillman Directed by Cyril Endfield
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Socially conscious 'issue' movies are not all made equal.
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Socially conscious 'issue' movies are not all made equal.
- 4/15/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
By Todd Garbarini
On March 4, The Billy Wilder Theater at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles will be hosting a 50th anniversary screening of Cy Endfield’s fine 1965 film Sands of the Kalahari, which stars Stuart Whitman, Stanley Baker, Susannah York, Harry Andrews, Theodore Bikel, and Nigel Davenport. The 119-minute film is in color and will be screened on 35mm at 7:30 pm. This is a rare screening and a wonderful opportunity to see it on the big screen.
Scheduled to appear at the screening is actor Stuart Whitman. According to actor, film authority, and longtime friend of the legendary Stuart Whitman, Douglas Dunning confirms that, following the screening, Mr. Whitman will be discussing his career and his experience making this film.
From the press release:
From the Collection of the Library of Congress
Sands of the Kalahari (UK, 1965)
A plane crash in the South African desert exposes its survivors...
On March 4, The Billy Wilder Theater at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles will be hosting a 50th anniversary screening of Cy Endfield’s fine 1965 film Sands of the Kalahari, which stars Stuart Whitman, Stanley Baker, Susannah York, Harry Andrews, Theodore Bikel, and Nigel Davenport. The 119-minute film is in color and will be screened on 35mm at 7:30 pm. This is a rare screening and a wonderful opportunity to see it on the big screen.
Scheduled to appear at the screening is actor Stuart Whitman. According to actor, film authority, and longtime friend of the legendary Stuart Whitman, Douglas Dunning confirms that, following the screening, Mr. Whitman will be discussing his career and his experience making this film.
From the press release:
From the Collection of the Library of Congress
Sands of the Kalahari (UK, 1965)
A plane crash in the South African desert exposes its survivors...
- 2/23/2016
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Fans of special effects icon Ray Harryhausen should rejoice at the remastering of 1961’s Mysterious Island, a sequel of sorts to Jules Verne’s more celebrated 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, which had been memorably adapted by Richard Fleischer in 1954. Director Cy Endfield takes the reigns on this big budget spectacle which tends to suffer from a bout of sequel-itis as regards the bombastic fervor of gigantic, menacing creatures taking precedence over characterization or narrative energy. Still, the production quality does display the same sense of movie magic specific to a certain period of cinema where Harryhausen’s signature Dynamation would influence generations of future filmmakers.
During the 1865 siege of Richmond, Virginia, a handful of soldiers, both Union and Confederate, escape the stockade via a hot air balloon, ending up somewhere on a strange island in the Pacific Ocean. Captain Cyrus Harding (Michael Craig) more or less resumes control of the men,...
During the 1865 siege of Richmond, Virginia, a handful of soldiers, both Union and Confederate, escape the stockade via a hot air balloon, ending up somewhere on a strange island in the Pacific Ocean. Captain Cyrus Harding (Michael Craig) more or less resumes control of the men,...
- 1/12/2016
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Robert Wise's taut noir suspenser about the Mafia takeover of a small city is like an underworld Invasion of the Body Snatchers. John Forsythe's newsman slowly realizes that gambling corruption has infiltrated the business district, city hall, and even his close associates; he's expected to become a crook too, or else. Great docudrama style aided by a special deep-focus lens; Estes Kefauver makes a personal appearance touting the crime-busting Washington committee that inspired the picture. The Captive City Blu-ray Kl Studio Classics 1952 / B&W / 1:33 flat full frame / 91 min. Street Date January 5, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring John Forsythe, Joan Camden, Marjorie Crossland, Victor Sutherland, Ray Teal, Martin Milner, Geraldine Hall, Hal K. Dawson, Paul Brinegar, Estes Kefauver, Victor Romito. Cinematography Lee Garmes Film Editor Robert Swink Original Music Jerome Moross Written by Alvin M. Josephy Jr., Karl Kamb Produced by Theron Warth Directed by Robert Wise
Reviewed...
Reviewed...
- 1/4/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Fans that missed Twilight Time's initial Blu-ray release of Ray Harryhausen's Jules Verne spectacle get a second chance with this Encore Edition reissue. It includes an improved transfer and new extras, including an excellent audio commentary with Steven C. Smith, C. Courtney Joyner and Randall William Cook. The show still sends us, and Bernard Herrmann's powerful music score shakes the rafters. Mysterious Island Blu-ray Twilight Time 1961 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 101 min. / Encoire Limited Edition / available at the Screen Archives Entertainment website; Street Date December 8, 2015 / 29.95 Starring Michael Craig, Michael Callan, Beth Rogan, Gary Merrill, Herbert Lom, Joan Greenwood, Percy Herbert. Cinematography Wilkie Cooper Special visual effects Ray Harryhausen Art Direction Bill Andrews Film Editor Frederick Wilson Original Music Bernard Herrmann Written by John Prebble, Daniel B. Ullman and Crane Wilbur from the novel by Jules Verne Produced by Charles H. Schneer Directed by Cy Endfield
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson...
- 1/4/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Since any New York cinephile has a nearly suffocating wealth of theatrical options, we figured it’d be best to compile some of the more worthwhile repertory showings into one handy list. Displayed below are a few of the city’s most reliable theaters and links to screenings of their weekend offerings — films you’re not likely to see in a theater again anytime soon, and many of which are, also, on 35mm. If you have a chance to attend any of these, we’re of the mind that it’s time extremely well-spent.
Museum of the Moving Image
Thanks to “Lonely Places: Film Noir and the American Landscape,” you can see Tomorrow Is Another Day and Frank Borzage‘s Moonrise this Saturday.
Sunset Boulevard, The Godfather, and The Godfather Part II screen this weekend.
Film Forum
Several titles will play in a retrospective celebrating production designer William Cameron Menzies,...
Museum of the Moving Image
Thanks to “Lonely Places: Film Noir and the American Landscape,” you can see Tomorrow Is Another Day and Frank Borzage‘s Moonrise this Saturday.
Sunset Boulevard, The Godfather, and The Godfather Part II screen this weekend.
Film Forum
Several titles will play in a retrospective celebrating production designer William Cameron Menzies,...
- 12/4/2015
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Since any New York City cinephile has a nearly suffocating wealth of theatrical options, we figured it’d be best to compile some of the more worthwhile repertory showings into one handy list. Displayed below are a few of the city’s most reliable theaters and links to screenings of their weekend offerings — films you’re not likely to see in a theater again anytime soon, and many of which are, also, on 35mm. If you have a chance to attend any of these, we’re of the mind that it’s time extremely well-spent.
Film Society of Lincoln Center
The release of Carol (our coverage can be found here) brings “Todd Haynes: The Other Side of Dreams,” which will pair the director’s work with his personal favorites. Safe and Imitation of Life show on Friday; on Saturday, see “Todd Haynes: Rarities” — which brings Dottie Gets Spanked,...
Film Society of Lincoln Center
The release of Carol (our coverage can be found here) brings “Todd Haynes: The Other Side of Dreams,” which will pair the director’s work with his personal favorites. Safe and Imitation of Life show on Friday; on Saturday, see “Todd Haynes: Rarities” — which brings Dottie Gets Spanked,...
- 11/20/2015
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
When I was a kid, I used to love a scary movie. I remember catching the original The Haunting (1963) one night on Channel 9’s Million Dollar Movie when I was home alone. Before it was over, I had every light in the house on. When my mother got home she was screaming she’d been able to see the house glowing from two blocks away. The only thing screaming louder than her was the electricity meter.
That was something of an accomplishment, scaring me like that. Oh, it’s not that I was hard to scare (I still don’t like going down into a dark cellar). But, in those days, the movies didn’t have much to scare you with. Back as far as the 50s, you might find your odd dismemberment and impaling, even an occasional decapitation, but, generally, the rule of the day was restraint. Even those rare dismemberments,...
That was something of an accomplishment, scaring me like that. Oh, it’s not that I was hard to scare (I still don’t like going down into a dark cellar). But, in those days, the movies didn’t have much to scare you with. Back as far as the 50s, you might find your odd dismemberment and impaling, even an occasional decapitation, but, generally, the rule of the day was restraint. Even those rare dismemberments,...
- 10/6/2015
- by Bill Mesce
- SoundOnSight
Los Angeles' Bendix Building. Photo by Jordan Cronk.The bats have left the bell towerThe victims have been bled Red velvet lines the black boxBela Lugosi's dead —BauhausBela-Bonkers Brit Bloke Brazenly Boosts Bendix-Building Black Bandana!In the annals of Los Angeles crime, it was hardly an episode to titillate James Ellroy. Was it even really a crime? I was on the short stairwell that connects the 11th—the top—floor of the Bendix Building, a Garment District block on the corner of Maple St and 12th St, when I spotted the square of white-patterned black cotton. Into my pocket it rapidly went, compensation for the fact that my quest for rooftop access had been stymied. An orange plastic sign across the door up ahead, warning (bluffing?) of alarms that would ring out if opened, dissuaded further progress. I wasn't too disheartened—my unplanned visit to the Bendix Building had yielded sufficient delights.
- 6/22/2015
- by Neil Young
- MUBI
“Yet if you should forget me for a whileAnd afterwards remember, do not grieveFor if the darkness and corruption leaveA vestige of the thoughts that once we hadBetter by far you should forget and smileThan that you should remember and be sad.”—Christina Rossetti, Remember (1862)An opening title card from director Thom Andesen’s new feature film, The Thoughts That Once We Had, directly identifies the cinematic writings of philosopher Gilles Deleuze as the project's primary subject and inspiration. Deleuze’s two volumes on film, Cinema 1: The Movement-Image (1983) and Cinema 2: The Time-Image (1985), are today synonymous with a certain modernist school of thought that, while integrated in academia to such a degree as to be all but understood, remains quite radical. Unquestionably dense and provocatively pedantic, the French empiricist’s filmic texts integrate an array of theories and conceptualizations into a fairly delineated taxonomy, and are therefore fairly conducive...
- 5/8/2015
- by Jordan Cronk
- MUBI
Best British movies of all time? (Image: a young Michael Caine in 'Get Carter') Ten years ago, Get Carter, starring Michael Caine as a dangerous-looking London gangster (see photo above), was selected as the United Kingdom's very best movie of all time according to 25 British film critics polled by Total Film magazine. To say that Mike Hodges' 1971 thriller was a surprising choice would be an understatement. I mean, not a David Lean epic or an early Alfred Hitchcock thriller? What a difference ten years make. On Total Film's 2014 list, published last May, Get Carter was no. 44 among the magazine's Top 50 best British movies of all time. How could that be? Well, first of all, people would be very naive if they took such lists seriously, whether we're talking Total Film, the British Film Institute, or, to keep things British, Sight & Sound magazine. Second, whereas Total Film's 2004 list was the result of a 25-critic consensus,...
- 10/12/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
The late career of Joseph L. Mankiewicz—who is getting a sidebar retrospective, The Essential Iconoclast, at the New York Film Festival—is fascinating. While many of his contemporaries floundered as the rules of filmmaking changed, formally and in every other aspect, he found ways, for a while at least, to carry on telling the kind of stories he liked, with the kind of people he liked, in the way he liked. Sleuth (1972) could probably have been made earlier—the amorality and venality of the characters might well have passed the censor, since vice can be said to be punished. The filmmaking is a little less sure-footed than we expect from Mankiewicz, though: he should have been the perfect director for a two-hander full of arch talk in elegant surroundings, but his attempts to keep the visuals lively sometimes seem forced.
There Was a Crooked Man (1970), is more problematic, illustrating...
There Was a Crooked Man (1970), is more problematic, illustrating...
- 10/2/2014
- by David Cairns
- MUBI
No home theater can contain Zulu, director Cy Endfield's panoramic adventure tale pitting a small band of British soldiers against a swarm of Zulu warriors at Rorke's Drift in 1879. Endfield's South African canvas is vast... and to see a mile-wide line of 4,000 threatening Zulus emerge over the horizon in Super Technirama 70 inspires the kind of goosebumps that no blu-ray could hope to inspire. Unseen in the theater for decades outside of the stray revival screening, a restored Zulu is now making a limited run in select Los Angeles theaters in celebration of its 50th anniversary. Kenneth Turan makes the case for this terrific movie in this week's Los Angeles Times. And here is our own John Landis on the glories of Zulu. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Fx-a-KuNv8
The post The Return of Zulu to the Big Screen appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
The post The Return of Zulu to the Big Screen appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
- 8/20/2014
- by TFH Team
- Trailers from Hell
To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the British film classic "Zulu", the Walter Reade Theatre at Lincoln Center in New York City will present a rare U.S. big screen showing in digital format. The film, directed by Cy Endfield and starring Stanley Baker, Jack Hawkins and Michael Caine, was the cover story of Cinema Retro issue #28. Join us at this "can't miss" event! For tickets click here ...
- 8/17/2014
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Cinema Retro's Matt Field and Dave Worrall on the red carpet.
By Matthew Field
Prince Harry headlined an exclusive red carpet event at the Odeon Leicester Square in London, to mark the 50th anniversary of Zulu – the 1964 epic about the historic 1879 battle at Rorke’s Drift.
Arriving at the cinema, the Prince told Suzannah Endfield Olivier, the daughter of the film's director Cy Endfield, that Zulu was one of his favourite films. 'I watch this film every single year before Christmas time,' he said. 'Maybe once. Maybe twice.'
Matt and Dave with Cinema Retro contributor Paul Adsacks.
Inside and ahead of the film, guests were treated to a screening of rare behind the scenes footage shot on location in South Africa in 1964. Cinema Retro’s Dr. Sheldon Hall, gave the 2,000 strong audience a running commentary to the black and white footage. Film critic Mark Kermode and Historian Dan Snow...
By Matthew Field
Prince Harry headlined an exclusive red carpet event at the Odeon Leicester Square in London, to mark the 50th anniversary of Zulu – the 1964 epic about the historic 1879 battle at Rorke’s Drift.
Arriving at the cinema, the Prince told Suzannah Endfield Olivier, the daughter of the film's director Cy Endfield, that Zulu was one of his favourite films. 'I watch this film every single year before Christmas time,' he said. 'Maybe once. Maybe twice.'
Matt and Dave with Cinema Retro contributor Paul Adsacks.
Inside and ahead of the film, guests were treated to a screening of rare behind the scenes footage shot on location in South Africa in 1964. Cinema Retro’s Dr. Sheldon Hall, gave the 2,000 strong audience a running commentary to the black and white footage. Film critic Mark Kermode and Historian Dan Snow...
- 6/11/2014
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
To mark the release of Zulu on 5th May, we’ve been given 3 copies to give away on Blu-ray.
22nd January 1964 – On the 85th anniversary of the Battle of Rorke’s Drift during the Anglo-Zulu war in South Africa, the theatrical release of a new historical war drama made an indelible mark on British cinematic history.
Cy Endfield’s (The Mysterious Island, Zulu Dawn) dramatic military re-enactment; Zulu, depicted the ultimate David and Goliath tale of a relatively small garrison of 139 British and colonial soldiers stalwartly defending their mission station against an army of 4,500 Zulu warriors. Eleven of the surviving men were subsequently awarded a Victoria Cross for outstanding bravery on the battle field.
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of this classic screen giant, along with the 135th anniversary of the troop’s victory, the next generation can now enjoy a brand new collectible anniversary edition of this BAFTA® nominated movie juggernaut,...
22nd January 1964 – On the 85th anniversary of the Battle of Rorke’s Drift during the Anglo-Zulu war in South Africa, the theatrical release of a new historical war drama made an indelible mark on British cinematic history.
Cy Endfield’s (The Mysterious Island, Zulu Dawn) dramatic military re-enactment; Zulu, depicted the ultimate David and Goliath tale of a relatively small garrison of 139 British and colonial soldiers stalwartly defending their mission station against an army of 4,500 Zulu warriors. Eleven of the surviving men were subsequently awarded a Victoria Cross for outstanding bravery on the battle field.
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of this classic screen giant, along with the 135th anniversary of the troop’s victory, the next generation can now enjoy a brand new collectible anniversary edition of this BAFTA® nominated movie juggernaut,...
- 4/28/2014
- by Competitions
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
I’m still recovering from the fifth annual TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood. I don’t experience it as most people do, since I work throughout the weekend, but I have as good a time as the attendees, who come from far and wide and spend the entire time beaming. Because there are so many events going on at all hours, hosted by Robert Osborne, Ben Mankiewicz, and an array of filmmakers, historians, and special guests, I can only provide a (brief) diary of my own experience. On Friday I treated myself to one extracurricular screening: a digital restoration of Cy Endfield’s Zulu, shot in the widescreen Technirama process. It looked great on the giant Egyptian Theatre screen: in...
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[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]...
- 4/16/2014
- by Leonard Maltin
- Leonard Maltin's Movie Crazy
By Lee Pfeiffer
Since its initial release fifty years ago, director Cy Endfield's British war epic Zulu has grown in stature. The film was understandably a hit in England but was deemed a boxoffice disappointment in the United States perhaps due to the fact that, like Khartoum (1966), the story relates to a historic battle that is well known by Brits by is virtually unknown to American audiences. What no one can dispute is that the film represents masterful movie making. Again, like Khartoum, it is a thinking man's war epic. The film relates the story of the Battle of Rorke's Drift, a tiny British outpost in southern Africa directly in the heart of the Zulu kingdom. A haunting pre-titles sequence shows the bloody aftermath of the Battle of Isandlwana, in which a British expeditionary force was massacred by Zulus in a sophisticated attack that stunned the government in London.
Since its initial release fifty years ago, director Cy Endfield's British war epic Zulu has grown in stature. The film was understandably a hit in England but was deemed a boxoffice disappointment in the United States perhaps due to the fact that, like Khartoum (1966), the story relates to a historic battle that is well known by Brits by is virtually unknown to American audiences. What no one can dispute is that the film represents masterful movie making. Again, like Khartoum, it is a thinking man's war epic. The film relates the story of the Battle of Rorke's Drift, a tiny British outpost in southern Africa directly in the heart of the Zulu kingdom. A haunting pre-titles sequence shows the bloody aftermath of the Battle of Isandlwana, in which a British expeditionary force was massacred by Zulus in a sophisticated attack that stunned the government in London.
- 4/13/2014
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Blu-ray Release Date: Jan. 22, 2014
Price: Blu-ray $Tba
Studio: Twilight Time
The battle is on in Zulu.
The 1964 epic adventure war film Zulu makes its Blu-ray debut on the 50th anniversary of the film’s London premiere, and the 135th anniversary of the Battle of Rorke’s Drift at the film’s center.
Directed by blacklisted American screenwriter Cy Endfield in gorgeous Technicolor (and with the Super Technirama 70 widescreen process), the movie depicts the historic 12-hour clash between some 150 British colonial soldiers and more than 4,000 Zulu warriors during the Anglo-Zulu War in 1879.
Starring Stanley Baker, Michael Caine (Dressed to Kill), Jack Hawkins (Lawrence of Arabia), Nigel Green, and James Booth, the film offers exotic adventure, breathtaking battle sequences and a potent anti-war sentiment.
The bonus features for the Blu-ray have not been announced yet, but we’re hoping that one of them is an isolated audio track of composer John Barry memorable score.
Price: Blu-ray $Tba
Studio: Twilight Time
The battle is on in Zulu.
The 1964 epic adventure war film Zulu makes its Blu-ray debut on the 50th anniversary of the film’s London premiere, and the 135th anniversary of the Battle of Rorke’s Drift at the film’s center.
Directed by blacklisted American screenwriter Cy Endfield in gorgeous Technicolor (and with the Super Technirama 70 widescreen process), the movie depicts the historic 12-hour clash between some 150 British colonial soldiers and more than 4,000 Zulu warriors during the Anglo-Zulu War in 1879.
Starring Stanley Baker, Michael Caine (Dressed to Kill), Jack Hawkins (Lawrence of Arabia), Nigel Green, and James Booth, the film offers exotic adventure, breathtaking battle sequences and a potent anti-war sentiment.
The bonus features for the Blu-ray have not been announced yet, but we’re hoping that one of them is an isolated audio track of composer John Barry memorable score.
- 11/12/2013
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
Tonight, Turner Classic Movies (North America) presents a rare showing of the 1957 British B&W gem Hell Drivers. The film centers on the conflicts that occur when an honest driver for a lorry company (Stanley Baker) confronts corruption in the organization and takes on the criminal ring leader (Patrick McGoohan). The film, directed by Cy Endfield, was regarded as a "B" movie in its day, but has developed a cult following that appreciates its intelligent script and fine cast. Shot mostly at Pinewood Studios, featured actors include Sean Connery, Herbert Lom, David McCallum and his real-life wife Jill Ireland, Sidney James, Gordon Jackson and Alfie Bass. A trivia note is that McGoohan, Connery and McCallum would all shoot to stardom in the next decade playing legendary cinematic spies.
- 9/28/2013
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Ray Harryhausen dies at 92: Jason and the Argonauts, One Million Years B.C. special-effects ‘titan’ Long before the computer-generated imagery of Jurassic Park, Avatar, The Avengers, and Iron Man 3, there were special-effects wizard Ray Harryhausen’s painstakingly created stop-motion models, which graced dozens of movies from the late ’40s to the early ’80s. Earlier today, Ray Harryhausen died at age 92 in London, where he had been living since the early ’60s. Among his movie credits are Jason and the Argonauts, One Million Years BC, and the original Clash of the Titans. Born in Los Angeles on June 29, 1920, Harryhausen became interested in cinema’s visual effects after watching Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack’s 1933 blockbuster King Kong, featuring stop-motion effects by Willis H. O’Brien. "I came out of the theater awestruck," Harryhausen would reminisce to the Chicago Tribune in 1999. "It was such a totally different, unusual film.
- 5/8/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
The 66th Cannes film festival is almost upon us, with Steven Spielberg heading up the jury and Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby opening the festivities come May 15 - a rare move from the festival of festivals given that the film will already have opened in the Us on May 10. Though we knew a couple of other films that were showing, it's only today that the full list has been announced over on the official Cannes website.French director Jérôme Salle's will see his first English-language film, Zulu, close the festival, the Orlando Bloom and Forest Whitaker action thriller making use of the same name Cy Endfield did back in 1963. The only difference is that this time there'll be fewer spears and more modern day South African police investigations.Nicolas Winding Refn's follow-up to the critically adored crime drama Drive comes in the form of crime drama Only God Forgives,...
- 4/18/2013
- EmpireOnline
French director's first English-language film, a crime thriller starring Forest Whitaker and Orlando Bloom, to close Cannes
The Cannes film festival has announced its closing film will be Zulu – the first English-language film from French director Jérôme Salle.
Starring Forest Whitaker and Orlando Bloom, Zulu is a crime thriller set in South Africa during the apartheid era – although it has the same title as the celebrated 1963 Cy Endfield Anglo-Zulu war film, which starred Michael Caine and Stanley Baker. Whitaker and Bloom play two policemen investigating a crime in a film described as part noir, part social study. Adapted from Caryl Férey's novel (also titled Zulu) by Julien Rappeneau, the film is shot entirely on location in South Africa.
The 2013 Cannes film festival runs from 15 to 26 May. Steven Spielberg is president of the jury and Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire and Carey Mulligan, will be the opening film.
The Cannes film festival has announced its closing film will be Zulu – the first English-language film from French director Jérôme Salle.
Starring Forest Whitaker and Orlando Bloom, Zulu is a crime thriller set in South Africa during the apartheid era – although it has the same title as the celebrated 1963 Cy Endfield Anglo-Zulu war film, which starred Michael Caine and Stanley Baker. Whitaker and Bloom play two policemen investigating a crime in a film described as part noir, part social study. Adapted from Caryl Férey's novel (also titled Zulu) by Julien Rappeneau, the film is shot entirely on location in South Africa.
The 2013 Cannes film festival runs from 15 to 26 May. Steven Spielberg is president of the jury and Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire and Carey Mulligan, will be the opening film.
- 4/15/2013
- by Ben Child
- The Guardian - Film News
The 66th Cannes Film Festival (running May 15 through 26) will close with Jerome Salle's thriller "Zulu," starring Forest Whitaker and Orlando Bloom. The contemporary film is shot entirely on location in South Africa, and is adapted from the novel of the same name by Caryl Ferey. It has nothing to do with the famed 1964 Cy Endfield war classic "Zulu" starring Stanley Baker, Jack Hawkins and Michael Caine. Here's a more in-depth plot synopsis:The action takes place in Cape Town, in a South Africa still overshadowed by apartheid, where destitute townships rubs shoulders with affluent neighbourhoods. Two cops on the beat, Bloom and Whitaker are caught up in a suspenseful search which combines elements of political film noir and social study.The fest will open with Baz Luhrmann's "The Great Gatsby," with the entire lineup to be announced on April 18.
- 4/12/2013
- by Beth Hanna
- Thompson on Hollywood
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