Mining a shrinking vein: The Vincent Price Collection III

Vincent Price as Captain Robur, builder of the airship Albatross in William Whitney's Master of the World (1961)

The 3rd volume of Shout! Factory’s Vincent Price Collection, anchored by William Whitney’s severely under-budgeted Master of the World (1961), seems more threadbare than the previous volumes, although there are still points of interest. Roger Corman’s Tower of London (1962) seems ripe for reevaluation, and set allows viewers to compare Gordon Hessler’s original cut of Cry of the Banshee (1970) with the producer’s cut, released theatrically. The high point is Price’s one-man TV show An Evening of Edgar Allan Poe (1970).

Criterion Blu-ray review: Whit Stillman’s Barcelona (1994)

Fred (Chris Eigeman) attempts ineffectually to erase anti-American graffiti with a marker in Whit Stillman's Barcelona (1994)

Criterion has released a stand-alone Blu-ray edition of Whit Stillman’s Barcelona (1994), the final part of his triptych about young Americans striving to define themselves as they navigate an uncertain world. A romantic comedy with troubling undertones, it deals with the mixture of naivety and arrogance which creates a problematic relationship between the U.S. and other parts of the world.

The wuxia epics of King Hu

Hsu Feng as Yang Huizhen, the imposing heroine of King Hu's masterpiece A Touch of Zen (1971/75)

Masters of Cinema have recently released two of director King Hu’s influential martial arts epics featuring excellent restorations commissioned by the Taiwanese government. The Blu-rays provide informative supplements to give context to Dragon Gate Inn (1967) and A Touch of Zen (1971/75).

Blasts from the past

Three Films by Luis Buñuel: Criterion Blu-ray review

Cheap sci-fi and hardboiled noir in 3D

Miscellaneous viewing – Summer 2019

Guest post: David Lean’s The Sound Barrier (1952)

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