Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 24th, 2006
Synopsis
John Steinbeck, looking and sounding remarkably like James Ellroy, and coming across as surprisingly two-fisted given the overall tone of the movie, introduces a quintet of stories by O. Henry. “The Cop and the Anthem” features Charles Laughton as a dignified bum trying unsuccessfully to get himself arrested so he can spend the winter in a nice, warm prison (Marilyn Monroe is one of the top-billed, but she has only one brief scene here). “The Clarion Call” has Dale Robertson as a detective w...o realizes that a wanted murderer is, in fact, a childhood friend to whom he owes a huge debt. The friend is played by Richard Widmark, who shamelessly recycles his psycho act from Kiss of Death, right down to the hyena laugh. In “The Last Leaf,” Anne Baxter struggles to convince her pneumonic sister (Jean Peters) that life is worth living. “The Ransom of Red Chief” is the tale of two con-men (Fred Allen and Oscar Levant) who kidnap a young boy and very quickly wish they’d never clapped eyes on the holy terror. And “The Gift of the Magi,” the most famous story of the bunch, is the Christmas tale of a young couple (Jeanne Crain and Farley Granger) who give up their most treasured possessions in order to buy each other a special gift.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 23rd, 2006
Synopsis
This is another film one feels a little silly summarising, given that it must be an exercise in redundancy. At any rate, Macy’s department store gets a new Santa, and this one (a marvellous Edmund Gwenn) insists that he is the real thing. He sets about restoring the sense of wonder in hard-nosed Maureen O’Hara and her skeptical daughter (Natalie Wood), and John Payne winds up having to prove that our boy is who he says he is in a memorable court case.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 23rd, 2006
Synopsis
Michael Caine is a down-on-his-luck PI in LA. He’s hired to find the long-lost daughter of a man who is now wealthy, though being hunted by goons. Caine heads off to house of the presumed daughter’s adoptive parents. There are two women the right age here. Which one is he looking for? Could it be Natalie Wood?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 21st, 2006
Humphrey Bogart, screen legend. Before I got my hands on this collection, I�d never seen a Bogart picture in its entirety. And yet, I knew his name as well as anyone, and was aware of his status as one of classic Hollywood�s biggest stars.
Humphrey Bogart � The Signature Collection, Volume 1 presents four Bogart films: Casablanca � 2-disc Special Edition, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre � 2-disc Special Edition, High Sierra and They Drive By Night. I�d always meant to wat...h these films, but I just never got around to it, partly because I can barely keep up with all of the new ones released every year, and partly because of � I admit it � a slight prejudice toward �old� movies. I have no idea why I avoid the classics, especially since each time I do sit down to experience one I�m always pleasantly surprised.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 13th, 2006
Synopsis
Gregory Peck is a Nobel-laureate scientist sent to China to try to recover a new enzyme that allows one to grow any crop in any climate. The operation is being conducted jointly by the Americans, the British and the Russians (!). Peck has a transmitter implanted in his head that relays his physiological conditions and his every word back to base. What he doesn’t know is that the implant is also explosive, and trigger-happy general Arthur Hill might well blow Peck’s top, as it were.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 10th, 2006
Warren Beatty attempts directing for the second time in Reds, a film based on the life of John Reed during the Russian Revolution. I didn’t know what to expect from this film, as I had never heard of it prior to its release on HD DVD. I have never seen a movie based on this subject matter, so the movie covered all new grounds for me. Upon investigation I discovered the movie was nominated for twelve Academy Awards and won three, including Best Director for Warren Beatty. Boasting an impressive cast including W...rren Beatty, Diane Keaton, Jack Nicholson, Paul Sorvino, and Gene Hackman, this movie seemed to have a lot of potential.
John Reed was an American journalist and communist activist best known for writing Ten Days that Shook the World. He was married to writer Louise Bryant; they had a hot and cold relationship, which is one of the main themes portrayed in this movie. Of course the others being John Reed’s quest to document the Russian Revolution, and the years beyond it. We learn about things such as communism, the insecurities of the main characters, and observe their somewhat repetitive back and forth bickering. Interestingly, Beatty decided to tie in actual interviews with people who knew John Reed throughout the movie, which gave us real life perspectives about Reed as well as tying together different parts of the story. I enjoyed those parts, as they didn’t interrupt the flow of the movie and it added an insightful sense of realism to it.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 10th, 2006
Synopsis
George Segal is assigned by spymaster Alec Guinness to find the base of a group of neo-Nazis in Berlin. Head bad guy Max Von Sydow hopes to pry information out of Segal, specifically where the base of the good-guy spies (the precise organization is vague) is located. Segal’s only help is a schoolteacher (Senta Berger) with whom he begins an affair. George Sanders turns up in a couple of scenes for no particular reason.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 9th, 2006
Ultraman is a huge part of Japanese culture and pretty much has been since the original live action show in 1966. Perhaps Godzilla started the ball rolling, but Ultraman brought us these monsters on a regular basis. In Japan, Ultraman is like our Superman. He’s an iconic hero and a huge part of the pop culture. Since the 60’s he has appeared in many forms, most of them animated. But it is this 1966 series that made a ton of us kids fall in love with him and an entire genre. Yes, there were many from the era: Space ...iants featured a giant fighting robot who fought monsters sometimes converted into a spaceship (yes, before transformers were ever thought of); Johnny Socko had his giant robot; and the list goes on. But it was Ultraman that started it. Eiji Tsuburaya, who created the original Godzilla, formed a new company outside of Toho Pictures. Ultraman was pretty much the first thing out of the new shop.
Ultraman was a space being who was chasing an escaped monster. When his spacecraft collided with that of Science Patrol Officer Hayata, he inadvertently killed the young man. To make up for his mistake and also offer Earth a way to fight the endless row of monsters unleashed, he merged his life with Hayata. Now, whenever a monster threatens, Hayata uses his “beta capsule” and morphs into Ultraman. Complete with martial arts moves and an array of ray weapons, Ultraman fights these creatures in hand to hand combat. The downside is that Ultraman’s solar energy diminishes rapidly in Earth’s atmosphere. As he weakens, a light on his chest flashes. A narrator reminds us each time that if it stops, Ultraman will die.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 2nd, 2006
Harry Alan Towers, that prolific producer of cheap but handsome exploitation (and the man behind many Jess Franco films back in the day) backed this 1983 effort which attracted some interest (from somewhere, apparently) for featuring French game show hostess Sophie Favier showing off her prizes, as it were. She isn't the lead, though. That happens to be one Jennifer Inch (?!), who plays a young woman dressing as a young boy. She is adopted by a nobleman, who wonders why he's so excited around his young charge. The secret doesn't last long, however, and soon she's carousing with him and sundry partners, while filling him in on her upbringing (which involved much spanking). Once again, as with Black Venus, the film looks better than it has any right to, which helps compensate for the atrocious dubbing.Audio
Overall, this film's mono soundtrack sounds better than does that of its sister release. This isn't to say that there isn't any dialogue distortion, because there is, but it is certainly held to manageable levels. The music is clear. For what it is, and for its age, this track could sound a lot worse. The mix is a bit odd, though. Notice how, in one of the early scenes, a buzzing fly threatens to drown out the dialogue.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 1st, 2006
Well! The case informs us that "Former Miss Bahamas, Josephine Jacqueline Jones spraked an international firestorm with her debut starring role as Venus." I guess I must have slept through that firestorm. At any rate, this tale, "based on the scandalous story by Honor' de Balzac" (but then, Tower of the Screaming Virgins is "based on the novel by Alexandre Dumas"), is narrated in flashback by an elderly gentlemen who frequents a brothel, and sees the title character there. The film tells of her journeys through decadent 19th-Century society.This is a Harry Alan Towers production, so one expects it to be a low-budget but still handsome-enough (though sleazy) period piece. And that's what we have. The costumes and sets are nice, well above the usual softcore romp. The acting, though, is also what you'd expect, with the lines declaimed from memory rather than actually delivered. And the score is a Hooked On Classics effort that at first adds tone, but then comes off as pretty cheap itself.
Audio
![Reds (25th Anniversary Edition) [HD DVD] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/reds-25th-anniversary-edition-hd-large.jpg)
