Two-fisted Hong Kong racketeer Clark Gable goes out on a limb to recover Susan Hayward’s husband, held prisoner in Red China. In a literal pirate vessel armed with a stolen cannon, Gable literally goes to war, risking his smuggling empire by half-kidnapping Michael Rennie’s Hong Kong cop. This lush CinemaScope action-travelogue-romance now comes off as comfort food movie viewing: familiar stars doing what they do best. It’s a German import from a Hollywood Studio whose library titles may no longer be licensed to hard media home video.
Soldier of Fortune
Region-Free Blu-ray
Explosive Media GmbH
1955 / Color / 2:55 widescreen / 96 min. / Street Date September 26, 2019 / Treffpunkt Hongkong / Available at Amazon.de
15.99 Euros Starring: Clark Gable, Susan Hayward, Michael Rennie, Gene Barry, Alexander D’Arcy, Tom Tully, Anna Sten, Russell Collins, Richard Loo, Frank Tang, Jack Kruschen, Leo Gordon, Mel Welles, Robert Quarry.
Cinematography: Leo Tover
Film Editor: Dorothy Spencer
Original Music:...
Soldier of Fortune
Region-Free Blu-ray
Explosive Media GmbH
1955 / Color / 2:55 widescreen / 96 min. / Street Date September 26, 2019 / Treffpunkt Hongkong / Available at Amazon.de
15.99 Euros Starring: Clark Gable, Susan Hayward, Michael Rennie, Gene Barry, Alexander D’Arcy, Tom Tully, Anna Sten, Russell Collins, Richard Loo, Frank Tang, Jack Kruschen, Leo Gordon, Mel Welles, Robert Quarry.
Cinematography: Leo Tover
Film Editor: Dorothy Spencer
Original Music:...
- 9/17/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Elvis fans laud this high-end drama, an attempt by the superstar to lock into a mainstream acting career. Presley has fine dramatic support, especially from his three leading ladies, but the requirement that an Elvis movie be all things to all people — especially marketers — really takes its toll. It’s a soap where almost nothing is believable, except to true believers for whom Presley can do no wrong.
Wild in the Country
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1961 / Color / 2:35 widescreen 1:37 academy / 114 min. / Street Date August 20, 2019 / Available from Twilight Time Movies / 29.95
Starring: Elvis Presley, Hope Lange, Tuesday Weld, Millie Perkins, Rafer Johnson, John Ireland, Gary Lockwood, William Mims, Raymond Greenleaf, Christina Crawford, Pat Buttram, Doreen Lang, Alan Napier, Jason Robards Sr..
Cinematography: William C. Mellor
Editor : Dorothy Spencer
Original Music: Kenyon Hopkins
Written by Clifford Odets from a novel by J. R. Salamanca
Produced by Jerry Wald
Directed by Philip Dunne...
Wild in the Country
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1961 / Color / 2:35 widescreen 1:37 academy / 114 min. / Street Date August 20, 2019 / Available from Twilight Time Movies / 29.95
Starring: Elvis Presley, Hope Lange, Tuesday Weld, Millie Perkins, Rafer Johnson, John Ireland, Gary Lockwood, William Mims, Raymond Greenleaf, Christina Crawford, Pat Buttram, Doreen Lang, Alan Napier, Jason Robards Sr..
Cinematography: William C. Mellor
Editor : Dorothy Spencer
Original Music: Kenyon Hopkins
Written by Clifford Odets from a novel by J. R. Salamanca
Produced by Jerry Wald
Directed by Philip Dunne...
- 8/20/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
1974 was ground zero for a 7.0 magnitude shaker on the clumsy, kitschy disaster-movie Richter Scale with Universal’s ambitious, tossed-together epic of Los Angeles torn asunder by ‘The Big One.’ The all-star cast headed by Charlton Heston and Ava Gardner slug and mug their way through a gloppy soap opera of a script, admirably retaining their collective dignity. The special effects range from terrific to embarrassing, but the tacky gimmick of “Sensurround” saved Universal’s bacon: to this day I still hear people remembering it fondly. The collector’s edition brings us both the theatrical cut and the brain-numbing extended version cobbled together for TV.
Earthquake
Blu-ray
Shout! Factory
1974 / Color / 2:35 widescreen (theatrical), & 1.33 flat full frame (extended TV cut) / 123 + 142 min. / Collector’s Edition Street Date , 2019 / 29.99
Starring: Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, George Kennedy, Lorne Greene, Geneviéve Bujold, Richard Roundtree, Marjoe Gortner, Barry Sullivan, Lloyd Nolan, Victoria Principal.
Cinematography: Philip Lathrop
Film Editor:...
Earthquake
Blu-ray
Shout! Factory
1974 / Color / 2:35 widescreen (theatrical), & 1.33 flat full frame (extended TV cut) / 123 + 142 min. / Collector’s Edition Street Date , 2019 / 29.99
Starring: Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, George Kennedy, Lorne Greene, Geneviéve Bujold, Richard Roundtree, Marjoe Gortner, Barry Sullivan, Lloyd Nolan, Victoria Principal.
Cinematography: Philip Lathrop
Film Editor:...
- 6/4/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Hollywood takes a hard look at the mundane horrors of mental asylums, and Olivia de Havilland scores another career high with her portrayal of a housewife experiencing a nervous breakdown. Some people found the show scary and a few felt it was tasteless, but Ms. de Havilland’s performance is riveting, 71 years later. Anatole Litvak’s intense direction makes good use of expressionistic visual devices, without veering into dippy Salvador Dalí psycho-surrealism.
The Snake Pit
Region B Blu-ray
Powerhouse Indicator
1948 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 108 min. / Street Date April 22, 2019 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £15.99
Starring: Olivia de Havilland, Mark Stevens, Leo Genn, Celeste Holm, Glenn Langan, Helen Craig, Leif Erickson, Beulah Bondi, Lee Patrick, Natalie Schafer, Ruth Donnelly, Katherine Locke, Minna Gombell, Ann Doran, Jacqueline deWit, Betsy Blair, Queenie Smith, Virginia Brissac, Marie Blake, Isabel Jewell, Celia Lovsky, Mae Marsh, Doro Merande, Mary Newton, Inez Palange, Mary Treen, Minerva Urecal.
Cinematography:...
The Snake Pit
Region B Blu-ray
Powerhouse Indicator
1948 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 108 min. / Street Date April 22, 2019 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £15.99
Starring: Olivia de Havilland, Mark Stevens, Leo Genn, Celeste Holm, Glenn Langan, Helen Craig, Leif Erickson, Beulah Bondi, Lee Patrick, Natalie Schafer, Ruth Donnelly, Katherine Locke, Minna Gombell, Ann Doran, Jacqueline deWit, Betsy Blair, Queenie Smith, Virginia Brissac, Marie Blake, Isabel Jewell, Celia Lovsky, Mae Marsh, Doro Merande, Mary Newton, Inez Palange, Mary Treen, Minerva Urecal.
Cinematography:...
- 6/1/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Fox touted Black Widow as the first murder mystery in CinemaScope. Ace writer / tyro director Nunnally Johnson tries an ‘All About Eve’ dissection of Broadway swells but in a mystery context, with beaucoup flashbacks. The result is something akin to Rope, with scenes all taking place in apartments with views of Central Park. Nobody complained about the big marquee names Ginger Rogers, Van Heflin, Gene Tierney and George Raft, but I re-watch to marvel over the dreamy, interesting Virginia Leith. Raymond Durgnat encouraged us to indulge our screen fantasies!
Black Widow
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1954 / Color / 2:55 widescreen / 95 min. / Street Date October 16, 2018 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95
Starring Ginger Rogers, Van Heflin, Gene Tierney, George Raft, Peggy Ann Garner, Reginald Gardiner, Virginia Leith, Otto Kruger, Cathleen Nesbitt, Skip Homeier
Cinematography Charles G. Clarke
Art Direction Maurice Ransford, Lyle R. Wheeler
Film Editor Dorothy Spencer
Original Music Leigh Harline
Written...
Black Widow
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1954 / Color / 2:55 widescreen / 95 min. / Street Date October 16, 2018 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95
Starring Ginger Rogers, Van Heflin, Gene Tierney, George Raft, Peggy Ann Garner, Reginald Gardiner, Virginia Leith, Otto Kruger, Cathleen Nesbitt, Skip Homeier
Cinematography Charles G. Clarke
Art Direction Maurice Ransford, Lyle R. Wheeler
Film Editor Dorothy Spencer
Original Music Leigh Harline
Written...
- 11/3/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
This may be the year for new cinephile converts to the cult of appreciation for the great Ernst Lubitsch. One of his last pictures but his first in color is this Production Code-defying tale of a serial philanderer and his relationship with the woman of his dreams, his wife. It’s stylized as a series of birthdays, and our hero is judged not by St. Peter but at the gates of Hades, by the fallen angel himself.
Heaven Can Wait
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 291
1943 / Color / 1:37 flat full frame / 112 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date August 21, 2018 / 39.95
Starring Gene Tierney, Don Ameche, Charles Coburn, Marjorie Main, Laird Cregar, Spring Byington, Allyn Joslyn, Eugene Pallette, Signe Hasso, Louis Calhern
Cinematography Edward Cronjager
Art Direction James Basevi, Leland Fuller
Film Editor Dorothy Spencer
Original Music Alfred Newman
Written by Samson Raphaelson from a play by Leslie Bush-Fekete
Produced and Directed by Ernst Lubitsch
Wait one second,...
Heaven Can Wait
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 291
1943 / Color / 1:37 flat full frame / 112 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date August 21, 2018 / 39.95
Starring Gene Tierney, Don Ameche, Charles Coburn, Marjorie Main, Laird Cregar, Spring Byington, Allyn Joslyn, Eugene Pallette, Signe Hasso, Louis Calhern
Cinematography Edward Cronjager
Art Direction James Basevi, Leland Fuller
Film Editor Dorothy Spencer
Original Music Alfred Newman
Written by Samson Raphaelson from a play by Leslie Bush-Fekete
Produced and Directed by Ernst Lubitsch
Wait one second,...
- 8/7/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
English-born film editor Anne V. Coates, who won an Academy Award for cutting David Lean’s classic “Lawrence of Arabia,” has died. She was 92.
She earned that 1963 Oscar: In addition to its impressive balance of imposing desert landscapes and vivid human drama (culled from some 31 miles of footage), the nearly four-hour epic contains one of the most famous “match” cuts in movie history, from a shot of Peter O’Toole blowing out a match to a majestic desert sunrise.
Coates went on to receive four more Academy Award nominations, for editing Peter Glenville’s “Becket” (1964), David Lynch’s “The Elephant Man” (1980), Wolfgang Petersen’s “In the Line of Fire” (1993) and Steven Soderbergh’s “Out of Sight” (1988).
Her other credits include “Young Cassidy” (1965), “The Bofors Gun” (1968), “The Public Eye” (1972), “Murder on the Orient Express” (1974), “What About Bob?” (1991), “Chaplin” (1992), “Congo” (1995), “Striptease” (1996) and Soderbergh’s “Erin Brockovich” (2000).
Her more recent credits include “The Golden Compass...
She earned that 1963 Oscar: In addition to its impressive balance of imposing desert landscapes and vivid human drama (culled from some 31 miles of footage), the nearly four-hour epic contains one of the most famous “match” cuts in movie history, from a shot of Peter O’Toole blowing out a match to a majestic desert sunrise.
Coates went on to receive four more Academy Award nominations, for editing Peter Glenville’s “Becket” (1964), David Lynch’s “The Elephant Man” (1980), Wolfgang Petersen’s “In the Line of Fire” (1993) and Steven Soderbergh’s “Out of Sight” (1988).
Her other credits include “Young Cassidy” (1965), “The Bofors Gun” (1968), “The Public Eye” (1972), “Murder on the Orient Express” (1974), “What About Bob?” (1991), “Chaplin” (1992), “Congo” (1995), “Striptease” (1996) and Soderbergh’s “Erin Brockovich” (2000).
Her more recent credits include “The Golden Compass...
- 5/9/2018
- by Carmel Dagan
- Variety Film + TV
Before Vincent Price haunted houses, he chalked up plenty of experience as a Broadway star and a versatile character actor. This superb Joseph L. Mankiewicz gothic romance assigns him major leading man duty as a ‘dark and troubled’ soul — the kind that intimidates cowering leading ladies. With typical good humor, Price called it the first of his ‘dead wife’ movies!
Dragonwyck
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1946 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 103 min. / Street Date , 2018 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95
Starring: Gene Tierney, Walter Huston, Vincent Price, Glenn Langan, Anne Revere, Spring Byington, Connie Marshall, Harry Morgan, Vivienne Osborne, Jessica Tandy, Trudy Marshall, Reinhold Schünzel, Grady Sutton.
Cinematography: Arthur C. Miller
Film Editor: Dorothy Spencer
Original Music: Alfred Newman
From the novel by Anya Seton
Produced by Ernst Lubitsch, Darryl F. Zanuck
Written for the screen and Directed by Joseph H. Mankiewicz
You’d have to say that Vincent Price’s film...
Dragonwyck
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1946 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 103 min. / Street Date , 2018 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95
Starring: Gene Tierney, Walter Huston, Vincent Price, Glenn Langan, Anne Revere, Spring Byington, Connie Marshall, Harry Morgan, Vivienne Osborne, Jessica Tandy, Trudy Marshall, Reinhold Schünzel, Grady Sutton.
Cinematography: Arthur C. Miller
Film Editor: Dorothy Spencer
Original Music: Alfred Newman
From the novel by Anya Seton
Produced by Ernst Lubitsch, Darryl F. Zanuck
Written for the screen and Directed by Joseph H. Mankiewicz
You’d have to say that Vincent Price’s film...
- 3/13/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Nunnally Johnson hands us a well-written spy & hostage drama set in Cold War Berlin, with plenty of intrigue and good humor to boot. Gregory Peck is the troubled negotiator and Broderick Crawford a Yankee galoot sticking his nose where it isn’t wanted. This one has been out of reach for quite a while — and it works up some fun suspense.
Night People
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1954 / Color / 2:55 widescreen / 93 min. / Street Date July 25, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Gregory Peck, Broderick Crawford, Anita Björk, Rita Gam, Walter Abel, Buddy Ebsen, Max Showalter, Jill Esmond, Peter van Eyck, Marianne Koch, Hugh McDermott, Paul Carpenter, Lionel Murton, Ottow Reichow.
Cinematography: Charles G. Clarke
Film Editor: Dorothy Spencer
Original Music: Cyril Mockridge
Story by Jed Harris, Tom Reed
Associate Producer Gerd Oswald
Written, Directed and Produced by Nunnally Johnson
An intelligent cold war thriller about distrust and passive aggression across the East-West divide in Berlin,...
Night People
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1954 / Color / 2:55 widescreen / 93 min. / Street Date July 25, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Gregory Peck, Broderick Crawford, Anita Björk, Rita Gam, Walter Abel, Buddy Ebsen, Max Showalter, Jill Esmond, Peter van Eyck, Marianne Koch, Hugh McDermott, Paul Carpenter, Lionel Murton, Ottow Reichow.
Cinematography: Charles G. Clarke
Film Editor: Dorothy Spencer
Original Music: Cyril Mockridge
Story by Jed Harris, Tom Reed
Associate Producer Gerd Oswald
Written, Directed and Produced by Nunnally Johnson
An intelligent cold war thriller about distrust and passive aggression across the East-West divide in Berlin,...
- 7/31/2017
- 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
High camp or just plain trash? A cultural-cinematic swamp in perfectly rotten taste, this adaptation of Jacqueline Susann's supermarket 'dirty book' seeks out tawdry sleaze like no American movie had before. Junk beyond belief, and great entertainment if you're in a sick frame of mind. Valley of the Dolls Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 835 1967 / Color / 2:40 widescreen / 123 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date September 27, 2016 / 39.95 Starring Barbara Parkins, Patty Duke, Paul Burke, Sharon Tate, Susan Hayward, Tony Scotti, Martin Milner, Charles Drake, Alexander Davion, Lee Grant, Naomi Stevens, Robert H. Harris, Jacqueline Susann, Robert Viharo, Joey Bishop, George Jessel, Dionne Warwick, Sherry Alberoni, Margaret Whiting, Richard Angarola, Richard Dreyfuss, Marvin Hamlisch, Judith Lowry. Cinematography William H. Daniels Film Editor Dorothy Spencer Conductor / Music Adaptor John Williams Written by Helen Deutsch, Dorothy Kingsley Jacqueline Susann Produced by Mark Robson, David Weisbart Directed by Mark Robson
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
I...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
I...
- 9/27/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
This is as sexy as Hollywood pix got in 1960. John O'Hara's novel about class snobbery and the drive for success posits Paul Newman as a moody go-getter. In glossy soap opera fashion, his silver spoon-fed bride Joanne Woodward morphs into an unfaithful monster. Some adulterous relationships are excused and others not in this glossy, morally rigged melodrama. In other words, it's prime entertainment material. From the Terrace Blu-ray Twilight Time Limited Edition 1960 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 144 min. / Ship Date January 19, 2016 / available through Twilight Time Movies / 29.95 Starring Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Myrna Loy, Ina Balin, Leon Ames, Elizabeth Allen, Barbara Eden, George Grizzard, Patrick O'Neal, Felix Aylmer. Cinematography Leo Tover Art Direction Maurice Ransford, Howard Richmond, Lyle R. Wheeler Film Editor Dorothy Spencer Original Music Elmer Bernstein Written by Ernest Lehman from the novel by John O'Hara Produced and directed by Mark Robson
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
1960 saw the release of...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
1960 saw the release of...
- 1/19/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Edward Dmytryk's big-scale cattle empire saga sees paterfamilias Spencer Tracy drive away his sons and bull his way into a modern civil dispute that can't be resolved with force. Robert Wagner is the loyal son and Richard Widmark the resentful son impatient for Dad to cash in his chips. Fox's early CinemaScope and stereophonic sound western is a transposition of a film noir mystery thriller. Broken Lance Blu-ray Twilight Time Limited Edition 1954 / Color / 2:55 widescreen / 96 min. / Ship Date November 10, 2015 / available through Twilight Time Movies / 29.95 Starring Spencer Tracy, Robert Wagner, Jean Peters, Richard Widmark, Katy Jurado, Hugh O'Brian, Eduard Franz, Earl Holliman, E.G. Marshall, Carl Benton Reid, Philip Ober. Cinematography Joseph MacDonald Film Editor Dorothy Spencer Original Music Leigh Harline Written by Richard Murphy, Philip Yordan Produced by Sol C. Siegel Directed by Edward Dmytryk Reviewed by Glenn EricksonSome of the early 'big' westerns that aspire to epic status are...
- 11/14/2015
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
We've already got a fine domestic disc with both versions of John Ford's fine Henry Fonda western. This Region B UK release duplicates that arrangement with different extras, and throws in a fine HD transfer of an earlier Allan Dwan version of the same story -- with strong similarities -- called Frontier Marshal. It stars Randolph Scott, Nancy Kelly, Cesar Romero and Binnie Barnes and it's very good. My Darling Clementine + Frontier Marshal Region B Blu-ray Arrow Academy (UK) 1946 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 97 + 103 min. (two versions) / Street Date August 17, 2015, 2014 / Amazon UK / £19.99 Starring Henry Fonda, Linda Darnell, Victor Mature, Cathy Downs, Walter Brennan, Tim Holt, Ward Bond, Alan Mowbray, John Ireland, Roy Roberts, Jane Darwell, Grant Withers, J. Farrell MacDonald, Russell Simpson. Cinematography Joe MacDonald Art Direction James Basevi, Lyle Wheeler Film Editor Dorothy Spencer Original Music Cyril Mockridge Written by Samuel G. Engel, Sam Hellman, Winston Miller Produced by Samuel G. Engel,...
- 10/27/2015
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
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