Criterion’s latest Eclipse set showcases a neglected master of pre-New Wave French film, Julien Duvivier; the four films here are stylistically adventurous and have great emotional depth.
Julien Duvivier in the Thirties: Eclipse 44
Tag: Actors
Criterion Blu-ray review: Ettore Scola’s A Special Day (1977)
Ettore Scola’s A Special Day (1977) is a subtle, emotionally resonant chamber film featuring Sofia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni in two of their finest roles as people struggling against socially-imposed roles in fascist Italy.
Five Shades of B
Since the end of the studio system, the term B-movie has come to refer more to content than budget; recent viewing covers a wide range of styles within this nebulous category.
Criterion Blu-ray review: The Honeymoon Killers (1969)
The Criterion Collection has released an impressive hi-def upgrade of Leonard Kastle’s gritty, blackly comic true-crime feature The Honeymoon Killers (1979).
Twilight Time: Fantasies of romance
In two recent Blu-ray releases Twilight Time showcase different romantic fantasies; in The World of Henry Orient the world is seen through the eyes of a pair of adolescent girls infatuated with a concert pianist, while in Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, Stanley Kramer attempts to make an interracial relationship acceptable by using the familiar forms of a sit-com defuse the social implications which at the time would be seen as threatening by many in the audience.
Recent viewing: miscellaneous disks
A round-up of recently viewed disks from rediscovered classics to throwaway mainstream action; from horror and comedy to documentary.
My adventure with Jack Nance on the fringes of Hollywood
In 1985, I had a bizarre experience in Las Vegas when Jack Nance and I met with a representative of rich Oklahoma ranchers who were looking to invest some oil profits in a movie.
Recent disks from Arrow Video
Arrow Video has become my favourite source for high quality releases of both serious films and exploitation titles. Their special editions rank with the best offered by prestige companies like Criterion and Masters of Cinema.
The “good German” in war movies
A decade after the end of World War Two, with Germany now an important ally against the Soviet bloc, popular culture was making an effort to rehabilitate the former enemy by showing “good Germans” in the movies. Twilight Time have recently released a couple of examples on Blu-ray: Edward Dmytryk’s The Young Lions (1958) and Anatole Litvak’s The Night of the Generals (1967).
Criterion Blu-ray review: The Killers (1946/1964)
Criterion’s Blu-ray of The Killers, with two excellent new hi-def transfers of the 1946 Robert Siodmak and 1964 Don Siegel versions of Ernest Hemingway’s short story, as well as Andrei Tarkovsky’s 1956 student film, is a fascinating study in the process and possibilities of adapting literature to film.
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