Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 21st, 2006
What we have here are three films from Hollywood’s days before the Production Code kicked in, which show just how much the envelope was being pushed when it came to sexual subject matters. The recurring theme here is sex as a commodity, whether the situations beinig dealt with involve outright prostitution or not.
Outright prostitution is very much the issue in Waterloo Bridge (1931), director James Whale’s effort just prior to making Frankenstein. Mae Clarke (who would play Elizabeth in Frankenstein) is an out-of-work chorus girl during WWI, not a prostitute trolling for men on the titular bridge. During an air raid she runs into a young private from a good family (Kent Douglass). He falls in love with her, and she with him, and so she tries to push him away. This is a romance that is anything but glamorous, despite some scenes in the upper class household (with a young Bette Davis as Douglass’ sister), and the resolution is brutally downbeat.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 18th, 2006
A Fish Called Wanda returns to DVD, this time in a stunning 2-disc collector’s edition that finally gives adequate treatment to one of the funniest surprises of the eighties. John Cleese stars as an English barrister, whose life is so dull and – well, British – that a seductress/jewel thief named Wanda comes along and steals his heart in record time. But Wanda carries a lot of baggage with her, the heaviest piece being a Nietzche-quoting moron, who just so happens to be her psychotic boyfriend. Add an anima...-loving hitman with one of the world’s worst stuttering problems, and Wanda quickly turns into an outrageous farce – but one that works with the efficiency of a well-oiled machine.
This kind of film, without doubt, is Cleese’s strong suit. An alumnus of Monty Python, Cleese actually tones down the farcical elements, and I think his film benefits from the downgrade. While Cleese is a very funny actor, most of the good stuff goes to Kline, who can’t stand to be called stupid, though he is mostly incapable of proving such accusations wrong. But he is a formidable opponent once he gets his hands on you, a fact Cleese draws many laughs from in his scenes with the nemesis. If it’s been a while since you’ve seen A Fish Called Wanda, and you’re worried it’s lost something, don’t be. The film stands up well, though some of its humor has since been copied in more unflattering films. No doubt this reality will hurt some of the laughs, but there is still plenty of Kline, Cleese, and Michael Palin, to go around for everyone, so you shouldn’t be disappointed.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 15th, 2006
Why is it that kids watch so much bad programming? When I was a child I watched a lot of Full House, even though I knew at the time that it was a poorly-crafted program. I really don't remember ever laughing during an episode, and I knew how cheesy the whole thing was, yet if I was at home changing channels, and the show came on, I would inexplicably stop and watch. At first, I think it was confusing for me that Dave Coulier was on the show, as up until that point I was used to seeing him as the host of Nickel...deon's Out of Control. I think that was the first time that it really sunk in for me that the people on TV were actors, and not real people.
Season Five catches the show's eight-season run during its "prime". The season starts off with Uncle Jessie and his wife Becky finding out that they are going to have twins. This is an event that really marks the beginning of the end of this show for me. The episodes leading up to this point put the focus on Bob Saget and his daughters, while this season starts the transition to spending much more time with the supporting characters. Subsequent seasons saw the characters growing in increasingly different directions, and the whole mess just became more and more disjointed. While this opened up new storytelling options for the writers, it also changed the show's core dynamic. The same could be said for the final couple of seasons of this show's thematic forerunner, Growing Pains. Once Mike Seaver became a responsible adult, the show had strayed too far from what made it appealing to audiences in the first place.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 13th, 2006
I can't believe this show ran for seven seasons. Sure, I enjoyed it as a child, but I was a child, and didn't know any better. Seeing it today, it is shocking how bad it really is. The acting is pathetic and the storylines are lame and predictable. Every episode for seven straight seasons had the same basic skeleton. The boys are having a good time, the corrupt county commissioner does something for personal gain, the half-retarded Sheriff blames it on the innocent Duke boys, car chase, short shorts, car flies throug... the air, sheriff's face in a mud puddle, phony laughing for no reason, credits. By the time The Dukes of Hazzard finally aired its final season in the mid-80's, it had actually sank to the point of bringing on guest stars with as much believability as the time that the Harlem Globetrotters visited Gilligan's Island.
This was truly a show aimed at America's lowest common denominator. I can respect the fact that it had eye candy and it was anti-establishment. The thing is, the show just beat the viewer over the head with it. The Sheriff is not just stupid, he is clearly such a colossal moron that I am truly amazed that he can dress himself in the mornings. The government was always wrong, and the innocent citizens were always right. Trust me, if you have seen one episode of this show, you have seen them all. There is no reason to purchase an entire season's worth, and there is absolutely no sane reason to collect the whole series. Do yourself a favor and pick up a complete season of The Andy Griffith Show instead.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 8th, 2006
This is an interesting package, in that the title feature could just as easily pass as an extended extra to accompany all the shorts here. At any rate, said feature is a 104-minute documentary/autobiography. Don Glut has been successively fan, amateur filmmaker, writer and pro, and most of the film consists of him sitting in front of the camera, recounting his amateur days. Interspersed are brief interview with his mother, friends, and other notable fans/historians such as Bob Burns and Bill Warren, as well as clips from the films. Glut still has a great many of the props he used as a kid, which is astonishing. The style of the doc is very simple, and this probably won’t have too much appeal beyond, well, the same kind of people as this feature is about. But for anyone who ever read an issue of Famous Monsters of Filmland, this will bring a nostalgic tear to your eye. It also makes an excellent companion piece to Monster Kid Memories Home Movies.
Audio
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 8th, 2006
Synopsis
Hooray for Donald Bellisario and his decision to create prime time television shows with various branches of the armed forces! But in this case, NCIS takes advantage of the craze of all the CSI related shows that have sprouted up over the last several years. But with various jump cuts and clips of music that are interspersed with it, it’s still hard to make the distinction.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 5th, 2006
Synopsis
Christmas, 1914. In the trenches, we see the Scots, French and Germans beginning to celebrate in their own way. Singing in one trench inspires more in the opposing one, and before long, an unauthorized truce has broken out, and the enemy combatants are marking Christmas together. The film concentrates on a handful of characters who play a pivotal role in the truce in this particular section of the trenches, in particular the local commanding officers.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 5th, 2006
I don�t recall when I first saw Rocky, and I haven�t kept track of how many times I�ve seen it since. The answers are probably �15 years ago� and �more than 10 times�, but accuracy isn�t important. What is important for you to know, is that Sylvester Stallone�s masterpiece is one of my favourite films of all time.
In other words, I love this movie, so don�t expect any criticism until at least the �video� section of this review. I don�t deny that there may be aspects of Rocky that merit denigration, I just refuse to let anything distract me from what I consider to be the ultimate inspirational story.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 4th, 2006
Four discs of Irving Klaw's 8mm films from the fifties: 270 minutes of material, which is astounding, given that all this was supposed to have been destroyed. The discs are distinguished by theme: "The Bettie Page Films," "The Wrestling Films,""The Fetish Films," and "The Dance Films." The titles are self-explanatory, and a synopsis is, of course, utterly beside the point. These are short films featuring women parading around in heels and hose, fetish gear, and wrestling while got up in sam. These are not great art, by any stretch of the imagination. But they DID stretch the popular imagination. The rating I've assigned reflects the cultural impact of Kaw's work, which continues to be felt to this day. This is an important collection.Audio
Cult epics has jazzed up the presentation by adding soundtracks of 1950's style music to the shorts: lounge, jazz swing and big band are the offerings, and they add a great deal of fun to the proceedings. The 2.0 mix treats the music well, and the bass lines are very solid. This is, of course, the only sound, and it is a very nice touch.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 1st, 2006
Ah, good old 1990 � such an important year in our history. The Soviet Union was in a state of social and political upheaval, David Robinson had just taken the professional basketball world by storm, and I was hatching plans for my first double-digits birthday.
Oh yeah, and Beverly Hills, 90210 hit the airwaves for its inaugural season. Obviously, at the time I was a bit young to have been interested in this teen soap opera, so watching this first season DVD set has not be full of reminiscence for me.Instead, it�s been like discovering for the first time what 1990 could have been like, had I been a beautiful, spoiled-rich teen living in Beverly Hills, as opposed to a chubby, pre-pubescent boy residing in the Arctic � er, Canada.
![TCM Archives - Forbidden Hollywood Collection, Vol. 1 (Waterloo Bridge [1931] / Baby Face / Red-Headed Woman) dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/tcm-archives-forbidden-hollywood-large.jpg)
