FLIGHT TO MARS (1951) -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

 

 Originally posted on 7/12/21

 

One of the best of the wave of fanciful space exploration thrillers that helped usher in the science-fiction-heavy cinema of the 1950s, FLIGHT TO MARS (1951) has been given a lush restoration and released on Blu-ray by The Film Detective along with some interesting extras.

With surprisingly good production values for a Monogram Picture (the studio best known for its lurid 1940s Bela Lugosi chillers), it still retains an endearingly corny B-movie atmosphere.

In such a setting, a historic expedition to Mars can still be manned by a team composed of stuffy old scientists, a brainy woman for whom science is a poor substitute for domestic bliss, her pipe-smoking mentor who is oblivious to her love for him, and a cocky reporter (Cameron Mitchell, THE KLANSMAN, THE SILENT SCREAM, THE TOOLBOX MURDERS) along for the ride who ends up the third corner in their love triangle.

 

One can hardly fault the story for getting so much wrong about space exploration since so little was known about it in 1951. Still, it's amusing when the crew must have the concept of a shower of meteors burning up in the Earth's atmosphere as "shooting stars" explained to them, and certain members are so dourly pessimistic about the mission's success that one crewmember refers to the ship as his "coffin."

Fans of this sort of entertainment will enjoy the ride from Earth to Mars (in the same spaceship interior left over from ROCKETSHIP XM, according to IMDb), including a thrilling crash landing brought off with obvious yet impressive model work.

Once on Mars, the crew encounter a race of intelligent men and women who live in a vast underground complex composed largely of colorful matte paintings that recall the best illustrations from science-fiction pulp magazines of the era, whose wildly imaginative stories seem to have provided much inspiration for this one. 

 

 

With the seemingly kindly Martian leader Ikron (Morris Ankrum, ROCKETSHIP XM) promising to help the Earth people repair their ship for takeoff, Dr. Barker (Arthur Franz, THE CAINE MUTINY, MONSTER ON THE CAMPUS) and his crew soon discover Ikron's more dastardly intent--to take over their repaired spacecraft and use it to escape the dying planet and conquer Earth.  

It's here that the film's star, Marguerite Chapman (THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH, THE AMAZING TRANSPARENT MAN), finally appears as Alita, a Martian woman assigned to help Dr. Barker (and arouse the jealousy of the Earth woman in the bargain). After discovering Ikron's plan, she will side with the Earth people and aid in their attempted escape.

Again, production values during the Mars scenes are quite lovely in a pulp sci-fi kind of way, helped in large part by the use of Cinecolor. Costumes are attractive as well, with Marguerite Chapman an absolute knockout in her micro-mini uniform (Dr. Barker's lovelorn assistant Carol gets one too) and even Morris Ankrum looking spiffy in his stately Mars garb.

Societal norms of the time will either amuse or annoy various viewers (Carol regards Mars' domestic conveniences as "a heaven for women"), although the female characters are all noteworthy for their above-average intelligence.  

 

The film is aided immeasurably by the smoothly capable direction of Lesley Selander, one of the most prolific directors of all time who helmed most of the "Hopalong Cassidy" series as well as countless other westerns, while also venturing into other genres (THE VAMPIRE'S GHOST).

The Blu-ray from The Film Detective is restored via a 4K transfer sourced from the original 35mm Cinecolor separation negatives.  Bonus features consist of two new documentary shorts, "Walter Mirisch: From Bomba to Body Snatchers" and "Interstellar Travelogues: Cinema's First Space Race", an audio commentary by author/film historian Justin Humphreys, and a full-color insert booklet with essay, "Mars at the Movies" by award-winning author Don Stradley.  Subtitles are in English and Spanish.

Despite a rather abrupt ending, FLIGHT TO MARS pays off with a final sequence that is exciting and suspenseful. The whole thing's as corny as can be at times, but that just adds to what amounts to one of the most absorbing and enjoyable space exploration yarns of the 1950s.




FLIGHT TO MARS

The Film Detective
Genre: Science-Fiction, Fantasy
Original Release: 1951 (Color)
Not Rated
Running Time: 72 Minutes
Language: English
Subtitles: English & Spanish
SRP: $24.95 (Blu-ray) / $19.95 (DVD)
Discs: 1
Release Date: July 20, 2021 (Pre-order now)
UPC Code:  760137572985 (Blu-ray) / 760137572893 (DVD)
Catalog #:  FBR1011 (Blu-ray) / FD1011 (DVD)

OUTPOST EARTH -- Movie Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 4/2/17

 

Remember that cool low-budget monster flick where the giant stop-motion-animated crab terrorized a small town? No, I'm not talking about one of the great black-and-white 50s classics, but 2015's QUEEN CRAB, which came as a welcome CGI-free throwback to the old days when filmmakers with limited resources were trying to make Ray Harryhausen movies.

Now, the same team behind that bundle of old-school fun is at it again, this time going the pulp sci-fi route with their alien invasion thriller OUTPOST EARTH (2016).

Human civilization gets destroyed during the opening titles in a scaled-down riff on INDEPENDENCE DAY by way of EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS, leaving a devasted dystopian world whose few human survivors are being hunted down by hostile aliens and their mutant mongrel pets.

 

Erin Waterhouse plays Kay, a bow-hunting babe with supermodel looks who encounters brash, wisecracking anti-hero Blake (Titus Himmelberger) while wandering the wasteland "hunting wabbits" and avoiding other hungry humans out for food.

After Blake saves her from some "goons" (slang for aliens) Kay invites him back to her hideout which she shares with naive sister Penny (Kristen Gylling), dour den-mother Kagen (Yolie Canales, QUEEN CRAB), and brilliant theoretical physicist Uncle Zayden (Mason Carver), a white-bearded egghead who's always in his makeshift lab trying to figure out what makes the aliens tick.

It takes Blake a while to gain the trust of the others, especially the skeptical Kagen.  But when Penny gets captured by a group of bad humans (including QUEEN CRAB's Ken Van Sant as the loathsome eye-patched Manny) he comes through during a daring rescue and then later discovers the secret to operating one of the crashed alien spacecraft (part of which involves getting really drunk).

 

OUTPOST EARTH plays a bit like a small-scale DAY OF THE DEAD (Uncle Zayden reminds me of that film's giddy scientist, Dr. Logan) and 50s classic THE DAY THE WORLD ENDED, both featuring the remnants of humanity battling outside forces from their secluded hideout. There's also a hint of the flash-forward scenes in THE TERMINATOR albeit much less populated. 

Locations are well-chosen for their desolate, bombed-out look, bringing to mind the final segment of "Threads."  Performances and dialogue are good and the characters are likable, particularly the two leads whom we just know will eventually form a twosome and help repopulate the Earth. 

But that's for later--in the meantime, it's interesting how writer-director Brett Piper (QUEEN CRAB, TRICLOPS, A NYMPHOID BARBARIAN IN DINOSAUR HELL) takes what is basically a James Cameron-level scenario and drastically scales it down while still coming up with something that's fun to watch.

 

Much of the fun, in fact, comes from seeing how he solves various SPFX challenges without simply being able to throw money at them.  This includes not only humanoid aliens in nifty masks and full-body suits, but a delightful array of stop-motion creatures, some of which do battle in the time-honored monster movie tradition. 

These SPFX remind one of such films as EQUINOX, THE CRATER LAKE MONSTER, and THE EVIL DEAD, along with the stop-motion creatures on the 70s Saturday morning series "Jason of Star Command." 

One humanoid mutant, who may or may not have once been human (he's played by Steve Diasparra in full body-suit before morphing into a towering animated behemoth), even resembles something out of those old Jack Kirby monster comics as well as KING KONG animator Willis O'Brien's sketches for his proposed KING KONG VS. FRANKENSTEIN.

The film ends with a wild sequence involving Blake getting good and loaded (for the cause, of course), hopping into that crashed spacecraft with Kay, and making a daring attack run (aka "drunken joyride") on an alien outpost thought to be one of their main command centers.  The ending is left wide open for a sequel.

Despite the miniscule budget, OUTPOST EARTH is loaded with entertainment value--especially for us nostalgic Monster Kids--and intriguing elements of both serious and pulp sci-fi.  It's the kind of flick I used to run home from school to watch on the afternoon movie.

BAHIA BLANCA -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 6/26/20

 

After seeing prolific writer-director Jess Franco at his most outrageous, most violent, most sexually explicit, and most, well...baffling...it's nice sometimes to see him as a restrained, thoughtful, contemplative filmmaker switching into low gear to fashion something as quietly effective as BAHIA BLANCA (Severin Films, 1984).

Franco has chosen a scenic oceanfront village as his location, and revels in capturing its pictorial beauty in shot after dazzling shot. Against a backdrop of glittering ocean waves and blazing cloud-strewn sunsets, everything and everyone in the story takes on added importance and effect.

As for the story, it's surely some of Franco's best writing, filled with memorable dialogue, interesting characters, and a low-key plot that takes its time to unfold but keeps drawing us along toward its heartrending conclusion.

Antonio Mayans is Inspector Carlos Fernández, the local lawman who must delve into the mysterious murder of one Pocho Martin after he is found with a bullet to the head. 

The investigation leads to an island tavern run by beautiful Alida (Eva León), who sells both alcohol and love to the passing sailors, and cares for her mute, simple-minded sister Maria (Franco mainstay Lina Romay) while also carrying a torch for Carlos.

This complicates her relationship with the local underworld boss Raul Sebastian (Tony Skios), a cool, cruel type with a jealous streak that tolerates no other man in Alida's life.

More drama comes in the form of Raul's amorous son Andy (José Llamas), engaged to a sweet village girl but not above forcing himself on Maria despite Alida's threats of deadly force. Franco himself appears as a supposed mystic who warns those involved for whom he foretells grave peril.

Franco the filmmaker is more interested this time in telling an involving story than shocking or titillating us, keeping the sex scenes reined in (despite numerous and very pleasant topless shots of Eva León and Lina Romay) and never going for any kind of cheap shocks.

While it takes a bit of time to draw us in, the story eventually takes root in the viewer's imagination (this one, anyway) like an unusually well-written pulp novel featuring impetuous characters bound for tragedy in an exotic location.

The Blu-ray from Severin Films is scanned in 4K from the original negative for the first time ever. Spanish mono with English subtitles. Extras consist of "In the Land of Franco, Part 4" (Stephen Thrower & Antonio Mayans tour multiple Franco locations in Spain) and "Bay of Jess" (interview with Stephen Thrower, author of "Murderous Passions" and "Flowers of Perversion").

I'm not sure how many films like BAHIA BLANCA Franco made or how characteristic it is of his work--having seen only fifteen or twenty of his films, I'm still a relative novice--but this is doubtless a prime example of the genuine filmmaking talent which was his to command when he chose to do so. It's by no means an epic, but it really burrows in and stays with you.


Limited Edition Blu-ray--MID YEAR EXCLUSIVE (Limited to 1500 copies)

Please Note: Bahia Blanca is a MID YEAR EXCLUSIVE, meaning this will be sold ONLY during the 4-day Mid Year Sale and will not be available ever again (much like Severin's Combat Shock release). ALL OF THESE RELEASES ARE REGION FREE.

BLOODY MOON -- Blu-ray review by porfle

 Originally posted on 7/3/14

 

If nothing else, Jess Franco was a prolific director who dabbled mainly in the genres of horror and porn. Despite his popularity, the films I've seen from him so far (THE HOT NIGHTS OF LINDA, THE SINISTER EYES OF DR. ORLOFF, and especially the awful PAULA PAULA) have yet to convince me that his work is worth seeking out unless you're just looking for some "so bad it's okay" action.

My most recent Franco film, 1981's BLOODY MOON, while being a somewhat lively horror flick with lots of bad gore effects, also falls short of converting me into a Franco-phile. I do, however, admire his ability to take a low budget and limited resources and churn out theatrical product that also manages to endear itself to his numerous fans.

Maybe it's his crudely-executed enthusiasm for the filmmaking process that they find so fascinating. There isn't much else to recommend in this particular outing, which takes place in a Spanish boarding school for young women that's menaced by an unknown killer.

The film opens with the facially-disfigured Miguel (Alexander Waechter) raping and stabbing one of the students during a masquerade party while wearing a Mickey Mouse mask. Five years later, his sister Manuela (Nadja Gerganoff) succeeds in getting him released from the booby hatch in her custody, whereupon they return to the school which is owned by their tyrannical aunt, the Countess (María Rubio), who suspects them of wanting her out of the way so they can inherit her fortune.

We're shown a few cursory scenes of the female students during a language class but the place is actually more of a resort hotel with luxurious cabins and a swimming pool. So when they aren't reciting moron-level Spanish lessons, they're either disco dancing in the local club, swimming, or bumping uglies. Or getting murdered.

It all comes off like a poor man's Argento flick but with unlikable characters yakking some really bad (and badly dubbed) dialogue. There's a mentally-challenged mute handyman (Otto Retzer) who may be the killer, a handsome young chick-magnet gardener named Antonio (Peter Exacoustos) who may be the killer, a suave, sex-crazed school dean who may be the killer (Christoph Moosbrugger), and a final girl named Angela (Olivia Pascal) who may get killed and can't convince anyone that she just saw her best friend murdered by a pair of scissors through the chest in her own bedroom. Top this off with a bunch of unfunny comedy-relief dumb blondes running around, not to mention the incestuous Miguel and Manuela (who may be the killers), and you've got a sure recipe for apathy.

Franco, it must be said, didn't care much for the script but wasn't allowed to make changes. He was also promised a Pink Floyd score but got an ear-bending musical cacophony by some unknown Dutch guy instead. The film brims with bad acting and crude production values which we can almost sense Franco struggling to overcome with his own limited abilities. And while he manages a certain amount of suspense here and there, it mostly falls flat and is never actually "scary."

The main effect he achieves here is to work up sort of a jittery, frantic anxiety. Angela's nerve-wracking screams assault us as she flails around in bug-eyed terror when the mysterious killer goes after her. And it isn't just Angela--I don't think I've ever heard more unrestrained wall-to-wall screaming from the cast of a movie. The gore effects, simple as they are, contribute to what little unease the film is able to elicit, especially the centerpiece buzzsaw-beheading of what looks like a storefront mannequin. Animal lovers, on the other hand, will find the actual beheading of a live snake to be the most disturbing shot in the film.

The blu-ray disc from Severin Films is in 1080p full HD resolution widescreen with Dolby English mono sound. No subtitles. Extras consist of a trailer and an interesting interview with Franco about the making of the film.

While BLOODY MOON falls short of what I'd qualify as a "good" movie, there's enough entertainment value to save it from being a total bore, including lots of violence and a hefty amount of nudity. But scares, not so much.

Buy it at Amazon.com:

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This title will be released on July 8, 2014.

CONQUEST OF SPACE (1955) -- Movie Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 4/30/21

 

Currently watching: George Pal's CONQUEST OF SPACE (1955).

The man who brought us WAR OF THE WORLDS, THE TIME MACHINE, and WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE certainly knew how to produce a terrific-looking science fiction epic with excellent state-of-the-art special effects.

But those films had good screenplays that were based on classic novels, which is something that can't be said, by any stretch of the imagination, for Pal's monumental misfire CONQUEST OF SPACE.

I say "monumental" because this lavishly made space spectacle boasts special effects that are beautiful to look at, especially shots of a huge rotating-wheel space station orbiting a colorful Earth with sparkling stars set against the velvet blackness of space. 

 

 
The film is filled with such visual splendor as well as other fine production values, a large cast, and a general sense of wonder that only science fiction can provide. This is augmented by matte paintings by none other than the master of astronomical art himself, Chesley Bonestall, and direction by Byron Haskin (WAR OF THE WORLDS, TV's "The Outer Limits").

Unfortunately, the story and dialogue are every bit as ham-handed and dumb as the worst of the cheapo space exploration films that I find so perversely entertaining in a "so-bad-it's-good" sort of way--turkeys such as THE ANGRY RED PLANET, 12 TO THE MOON, FIRE MAIDENS FROM OUTER SPACE, JOURNEY TO THE 7TH PLANET, and even the venerable ROCKETSHIP XM.

Pal's space force consists of the usual military stereotypes from every run-of-the-mill WWII flick, with stiff-backed officers, soldiers who are either boyishly gung-ho or wracked with personal doubts and hang-ups, and of course the usual comedy relief bozo, this time in the form of Phil Foster. 

 

 
With a Brooklyn accent that could hammer nails, Foster mugs it up so heavily it makes even his later role as Laverne's father on "Laverne & Shirley" seem subtle by comparison. Equally overbearing is Mickey Shaughnessy as loudmouthed Sgt. Mahoney, who might've served as the model for the bulldog in "Tom & Jerry" cartoons.

The space-happy soldiers whoop it up while watching a Rosemary Clooney musical (thanks to some archive footage) and clown around with their space-age food tablets ("Hey, this one's coffee! Pass me some cream and sugar tablets!"). The obligatory rogue meteor lends a bit of disaster-movie excitement when it hits the space station early on.

All of this leads up to the big Mars expedition, which is sprung on them so suddenly by top brass that volunteers must be hurriedly rounded up even though they have no training for or even basic understanding of the mission. The ones who are eventually chosen greet the prospect with such reluctance that one wonders why they're working in outer space in the first place.

 

 
To make things worse, the commanding officer, General Merritt (Walter Brooke, BLOODLUST!), has suddenly developed the notion that God doesn't want their mission to succeed and that humans going to Mars is an abominable offense to the Almighty. Needless to say, this tends to become a detriment to the mission's success before it's over.

Brooke, who would later gain immortality by telling Dustin Hoffman a single word ("Plastics!") in THE GRADUATE, plays the role first as the standard no-nonsense officer before gradually lapsing into the stereotypical "religious nut" with the screenplay offering him no apparent reason for doing so save that it adds an extra element of peril to what would normally be a simple flight to Mars.

Eric Fleming, who would also go on to achieve icon status as trail boss Gil Favor on the long-running western TV series "Rawhide", gives a sturdy performance as Gen. Merritt's son Barney, who is mission captain even though he hates working in space and longs to return home to his wife. 

 

 
The rest of the cast includes some young actors who will become very familiar faces, including Ross Martin, William Redfield, Vito Scotti, and Benson Fong. Also on hand are William Hopper ("Perry Mason") and Joan Shawlee ("The Dick Van Dyke Show").

Despite all its positive elements, the main appeal of this colorful potboiler is its curious naivete regarding the actual future of space exploration, as well as the previously mentioned "bad movie" goodness that overwhelms its first-rate production values. CONQUEST OF SPACE can't be taken seriously, no matter how hard you try, but it can still be fun to watch.

RIO GRANDE -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 12/5/20

 

Legendary director John Ford had been trying for the longest time to get Republic Pictures head Herbert J. Yates to finance his dream project, THE QUIET MAN. 

Finally, Yates made a deal with Ford--direct a new cavalry western with John Wayne, which would be a surefire moneymaker for Republic, and he'd back Ford's nostalgic ode to his Irish heritage. And that's how RIO GRANDE (Olive Signature, 1950) came to be.

Future members of THE QUIET MAN's cast and crew were involved, including Wayne, his beautiful leading lady Maureen O'Hara (the chemistry was already strong in their first onscreen pairing), brawny Victor McLaglen, actor/singer Ken Curtis, Wayne's son Patrick, filmographer Archie Stout (who had worked with Duke since the early 30s), and film composer Victor Young. 

 

Unlike that film's dreamlike Technicolor visuals, RIO GRANDE is in Ford's own impeccable trademark black and white style, starkly enhancing the visual splendor of the film's desert locations with their vast plateaus almost as impressively as Ford's beloved Monument Valley. (Moab, Utah stands in for Arizona with the Colorado River playing the title role.)

Wayne stars as Lt. Col. Kirby Yorke, the tough but fair commander of a U.S. cavalry regiment encamped in an isolated spot that puts them in constant conflict with warlike Apache tribes nearby. This is yet another fully-realized performance by Wayne which thoroughly disproves the notion that he couldn't act, or that he was a one-note actor who only ever played himself.

One day Yorke's own son Jeff (Claude Jarman Jr. of THE YEARLING in a likable performance), whom he hasn't seen in fifteen years, appears as a new recruit. It seems that, having failed the mathematics requirements at Westpoint, he immediately enlisted in the cavalry after lying about his age. 

 

As if this didn't create enough tension, Yorke's estranged wife Kathleen (O'Hara)--with a little thing called the Civil War having come between them for all those years--shows up to have the boy discharged and take him home. But the dedicated young Jeff, to his father's obvious approval, will have none of it, as they both share the same sense of duty and honor.

Thus begins the film's main dramatic thrust as the long-separated couple rekindle their ever-smoldering romantic obsessions while wrestling over the fate of their son, even as the war between the cavalry and the Apaches reaches a boiling point.

Action fans can look forward to three major battle setpieces: one, the launching of a blistering nocturnal raid by the Apaches upon the encampment; two, when a wagon train of women and children being escorted away from the camp is suddenly set upon by Apache warriors, with only a small group of soldiers to defend them; and three, a climactic clash in which Yorke and his troops descend upon the Apaches' stronghold in order to rescue the civilians.

 

Those expecting constant thrills and a breakneck pace, however, may be disappointed. Quentin Tarantino once referred to Howard Hawks' RIO BRAVO as a "hangout film", since one of its main joys is in simply hanging out with its characters. Here, in addition to those irresistible stars, numerous scenes allow us to just pass the time with the supporting players or listen in as they serenade us with a selection of western songs.

These include the likes of Ben Johnson and Harry Carey, Jr. as a couple of very laidback but capable hillbilly recruits, Chill Wills as the easygoing regimental doctor, J. Carroll Naish as a world-weary general, and the choral group Sons of the Pioneers featuring silver-throated Ken Curtis (who would later achieve television immortality as Festus on "Gunsmoke"). The film's musical and comedy vignettes could almost be itemized on a bill of fare as an evening's program of entertainment.

 

The new Blu-ray release from Olive Signature is a high-definition digital restoration that brings out the pristine beauty of Ford's visuals. The disc's bonus menu offers interviews with Ben Johnson, Harry Carey, Jr., Claude Jarman, Jr., and Patrick Wayne, several featurettes, a trailer, a commentary track, and essays by film historians.

There are those who consider RIO GRANDE the lesser of Ford's three cavalry films, but for me it's just as rich and satisfying a viewing experience. Perhaps it's because the relatively slower pace and simpler story give it more room to breathe. You don't just rush through this movie; instead, you settle in and spend some quality time with it.



YEAR: 1950
GENRE: DRAMA
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH (with optional English subtitles)
LABEL: OLIVE FILMS
TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 105 min
RATING: N/A
VIDEO: 1.37:1 Aspect Ratio; B&W
AUDIO: MONO

OLIVE SIGNATURE FEATURES

    New High-Definition digital restoration
    Audio commentary by Nancy Schoenberger
    “Telling Real Histories” – Raoul Trujillo on representations of Indigenous Americans in film
    “Songs of the Rio Grande” – Marc Wanamaker on the Sons of the Pioneers
    “Strength and Courage” – Patrick Wayne on his father
    “Bigger Than Life” – with Claude Jarman, Jr.
    Visual essay by Tag Gallagher
    “The Making of Rio Grande” – with Leonard Maltin
    Essay by Paul Andrew Hutton
    Theatrical trailer

US+CANADA
STREET: 11/17/20
CAT: OS022
UPC: 887090602204
SRP: $39.95

THE QUIET MAN -- DVD Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 10/28/16

 

A dream, a theme park, a veritable phantasmagoria of idealized Irishness--John Ford's 1952 classic THE QUIET MAN (Olive Signature, Blu-ray and DVD) has quite likely turned more people temporarily Irish than any other film ever made.  It's the sweetly stereotypical Ireland that people like Ford himself imagined in his fondest fantasies whenever he yearned to return to the emerald isle of his parents' birth.

Here, of course, is the beautiful Irish countryside in all its verdant glory, made even more lush through the Technicolor process--none of Republic Pictures' trademark "Trucolor" for Ford--along with the usual cast of character types one might expect. 

There's the diminutive town tippler who's also its matchmaker, Michaleen Oge Flynn (Barry Fitzgerald); big, strapping farmer Will Danaher (Victor McLaglen) and his spinster sister, the impetuous redhead Mary Kate (Maureen O'Hara); imperious, wealthy widow Sarah Tillane (Mildred Natwick), on whom Danaher has his sights set; and the town's Catholic and Protestant spiritual leaders, Father Peter Lonergan (Ward Bond) and Reverend Cyril Playfair (Arthur Shields).

Ford renders his fantasy vision of rural Irish life with an artist's eye and a poet's heart, providing a backdrop of purity and contentment that the outside world can scarcely touch.  Custom is observed at all times--a scenic seaside horse race in which the riders vie for their ladies' bonnets, primly proper courtships whose etiquette seems unduly unyielding, and, at every opportunity, a pint or two in the local pub.

Into this seemingly timeless world comes childhood resident Sean Thornton (John Wayne), long Americanized but yearning to return to his pastoral roots to escape the haunting memory of killing a man in the boxing ring.  This gives him a reticence to fight that appears as cowardice when Danaher challenges him over Thornton's brazen courting of his sister Mary Kate.  Only later, after much tortured, hopeless struggle against Irish tradition, will Thornton relent.

Meanwhile, THE QUIET MAN seethes with fiery romance between Sean and Mary Kate, he brashly forward and unequivocal, she primly conservative on the outside while barely containing her inner passion.  A chaste, chaperoned outing with matchmaker Michaleen turns into a stolen tryst in a secluded hilltop cemetery as the lovers, buffeted by wind and rain, succumb to a desire as uncontrollable as the elements.

It's Ford at his most achingly romantic, his actors playing their roles with heartrending conviction.  This is also true of the couple's tempestuous marital relations--for marry they finally do, although a stubborn Danaher, tricked into allowing the marriage, refuses to give Mary Kate her dowry. 

Robbed of what is rightfully hers, she rejects Sean when he fails to understand its symbolic importance to her (independence, validation, self-worth) rendering their marriage a shambles from the start. 

Ford and co-writers Frank S. Nugent and Maurice Walsh fashioned the screenplay for THE QUIET MAN as though concocting a full-course meal.  No sooner do we think we're being served a lighthearted comedy of quaint customs and sexual mores than the course changes to deeply emotional yet sexually-charged romance.

With the ill-fated wedding scene, one thinks the film has crossed over into more complex social satire, and yet here it abruptly veers into the achingly tragic when Sean's agonizing guilt returns in full force. 

How the film not only rebounds from this low point but becomes more emotionally resonant and ultimately more joyous than ever is what makes it such an engaging and thoroughly satisfying experience. 

All the while, THE QUIET MAN is filled with little moments of grace and sweetness which lighten whatever darkness sometimes threatens to overcome it.  Barry Fitzgerald is a joy as Michaleen, the impish cupid who's also the town's bookmaker and most ardent drunkard.  The mutually-supportive relationship between Catholic (Bond) and Protestant (Shields) men of God is disarmingly sweet-spirited.  Danaher, for all his bluster, is a lovable ogre whose weaknesses are pride and a hopeless love for the widow Tillane which he lacks the charm to express.

 

But it's John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara, both incredibly effective and appealing actors at their best here, who give THE QUIET MAN its true heart and soul.  Seldom has there been a screen couple with such combustive chemistry.  Theirs is a wonderfully adult romance even in its most childlike and playful moments--we feel that once their unbridled passions are released, it will indeed be, as Michaleen surmises, "Homeric." 

The DVD from Olive Films' "Olive Signature" label is in 1.37:1 with mono sound and English subtitles.  Mastered from a 4K scan of the original camera negative.  There's a commentary by John Ford biographer Joseph McBride that's wall-to-wall and loaded with information.  Other extras include: a tribute to Maureen O'Hara featuring Juliet Mills, Hayley Mills, and Ally Sheedy; a visual essay by historian and Ford expert Tag Gallagher; a biography of Republic Pictures president Herbert J. Yates; a fond remembrance by Ford friend and biographer Peter Bogdanovich; and Leonard Maltin's 1992 featurette "The Making of 'The Quiet Man'."  The keepcase contains an illustrated 8-page booklet.

THE QUIET MAN reaches its climax with a near-breakup of a marriage and the manly settling of a heated dispute through Queensberry-ruled fisticuffs (which becomes a joyful cause célèbre for the entire village and its surroundings), and ends with a curtain call that not only allows the actors to take a bow but their characters to break the fourth wall and warmly acknowledge our presence. (This part is just so cheerful and uplifting that it always chokes me up.)

And, at Ford's behest, Maureen O'Hara playfully whispers something into John Wayne's ear that elicits a genuinely shocked reaction before their characters skip happily into the privacy of their idyllic cottage like a couple of naughty kids.  We'll never know what she says to him, and that's okay. 

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WHEN THE WIND BLOWS -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 4/24/20

 

Did you ever wonder what it would look like if THREADS had a cartoon-animated subplot? Or if the creators of "Wallace & Gromit" had placed their beloved characters in the middle of a nuclear holocaust?

Children's author Raymond Briggs conceived such an idea in a graphic novel which a group of filmmakers including director Jimmy T. Murakami (HEAVY METAL, BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS) brought to the screen, thus giving us the entrancingly compelling cinematic oddity entitled WHEN THE WIND BLOWS (Severin Kids, 1986).

Unlike the frantically alarmist apocalypse thrillers to which we're accustomed, this tale of an elderly couple whose peaceful retirement is shattered by nuclear war is quietly, disarmingly genteel.

We first see them enjoying a typical day in their secluded cottage, chatting absently about tea and gardening and such, while news of impending war sparks Jim's interest and motivates him into a mildly industrious fervor of preparation that brings back nostalgic feelings of the Blitz.

Meanwhile, Hilda (whom Jim endearingly calls "Ducks") refuses to entertain the notion that anything could disturb their blissful daily routines, their ability to pop down to a shop for fresh food or other supplies, or their access to telly or radio plays. 

These are the sort of likable, roundly-drawn cartoon characters (they look a bit like cuddly plush dolls) we know from a thousand children's books and movies, characters whose only concerns should be gentle, placid ones such as, say, a naughty bunny rabbit helping himself to their carrot garden.

Here, however, their idyllic lives are disrupted when the harsh, cruel reality of the really-real world ruptures the curtain of their cartoon dimension and leaves it all a charred, smoking ruin with a dark cloud of radioactive fallout drifting through it.

Jim and Hilda are similar to the older couple in THREADS with their lean-to shelter in the livingroom providing sparse protection against the blast and their halfhearted efforts to stock food, water, and other necessities quickly proving inadequate. 

What makes them different is that they continue to behave just like endearing cartoon figures out of a children's story, with Jim remaining a font of quiet optimism--after all, they lived through something similar back when they fought the Jerries--and Hilda blessedly oblivious to the fact that she can't just tidy things up and wait for the milkman to come.

The restraint shown by the filmmakers in not giving in to the usual dramatic overkill makes the encroaching horrors Jim and Hilda inevitably face seem even more wrenching, with their continued devotion to each other through it all especially heartrending as their ordinary storybook lives crumble to dust.

Artwork and animation are expertly done, using a combination of various methods such as cel animation, a bit of CGI, what appears to be some miniature work on the interiors, and the occasional well-integrated live action footage. 

The musical score includes songs by David Bowie, Roger Waters, and others. Jim and Hilda are wonderfully voiced by venerable actors Sir John Mills and Dame Peggy Ashcroft.

The Blu-ray from Severin Films' "Severin Kids" label contains their usual ample menu, including a documentary about the director ("Jimmy Murakami: Non Alien"), a making-of featurette ("The Wind and the Bomb"), an audio commentary with first assistant editor Joe Fordham and film historian Nick Redman, an interview with children's author Raymond Briggs, an original public information film ("Protect and Serve"), isolated music and effects audio track, and trailers.

In its own remarkable way, WHEN THE WIND BLOWS is one of the darkest and most disheartening of the post-nuclear nightmare tales. It's like watching Wallace and Gromit slowly withering away from radiation poisoning, and, worst of all, Wallace finally realizing at the point of dying that there may never, ever be any more cheese.


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Special Features:

    Jimmy Murakami: Non Alien – Feature Length Documentary About the Film’s Director
    The Wind and The Bomb: The Making of WHEN THE WIND BLOWS
    Audio Commentary with First Assistant Editor Joe Fordham and Film Historian Nick Redman
    An Interview with Raymond Briggs
    Protect and Survive: Public Information Film Designed to be Broadcast When a Nuclear Attack Was Imminent
    Isolated Music and Effects Audio Track
    Trailers

RETURN OF KUNG FU TRAILERS OF FURY -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 3/12/17

 

"My first two kung fu movies consisted of a double feature of super-cheap, super-obscure flicks at my local cinema one night back in the early 70s.  The titles have long receded into the sodden recesses of my memory but I wouldn't be surprised if their trailers appear somewhere on this disc."

My review of the previous kung fu trailer collection from Severin Films, KUNG FU TRAILERS OF FURY, began with this poignant moment of wistful nostalgia, and the same goes double for this new follow-up disc.

RETURN OF KUNG FU TRAILERS OF FURY, or "The Night the Kung Fu Trailers of Fury Came Home--Again", is more and more, and yet still more (35, to be exact)  gloriously goofy previews of all those cheapo kung fu flicks that were being churned out by the rickshaw-load in Hong Kong back in the 70s. 

 

Rest assured, this bursting-at-the-seams batch of fists 'n' feet potboilers contains no CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON-level epics.  It's all gloriously grade Z, as though Ed Wood himself had opened up a school for action directors in Hong Kong.

Often these condensed versions are better than the actual feature films, because they cut out all the boring exposition and lame character interplay and get right down to the pure, unadulterated chop-socky action. 

And that's what this non-stop parade of trailers is--just one furious clash after another, accompanied by some deathless dialogue and hilarious text exclamations such as "Intriguing story!" and "Good Actors From Many Nations Makes This Film Outstanding!"

 

The collection features about an equal ratio of contemporary urban dramas and historical tales with lots of flowing white hair and bushy eyebrows. Regardless of the technical quality of each individual film, the stuntwork and choreography are rarely short of amazing.

First up is THUNDERBOLT, and right off the bat there's some of that incredibly fake-looking wirework that we all love. YELLOW-FACED TIGER is yet another "new Bruce Lee" flick, this time offering Don Wong as the hero and none other than a young Chuck Norris as a formidable bad guy with an equally formidable moustache.

THE STORY OF CHINESE GODS, described as "China's first full-length color animation feature!" boasts a 3-eyed Bruce Lee character and some not-so-hot animated action.

 

Other titles include BRUCE AND THE IRON FINGER, SHAOLIN INVINCIBLE STICKS, INVISIBLE TERRORIST, REVENGE OF THE SHAOLIN KID, HELL’S WINDSTAFF, THUNDERING MANTIS, THE LEGENDARY STRIKE, KUNG FU KILLERS, CRAZY HORSE & INTELLIGENT MONKEY, THE AVENGING BOXER, and SNUFF-BOTTLE CONNECTION.  They add up to a full 134 minutes.

My favorite moment comes during the preview for a wacky comedy called KUNG FU MASTER NAMED DRUNKEN CAT, which, in addition to its distinct Benny Hill influence, makes this bold promise to potential viewers: "It's John Cheung vs. The Midget! Funny!"

It's interesting to see these trailers in Blu-ray since they're so wonderfully battered and scratched-up in the great grindhouse style.  Are we supposed to be happy that all the scratches and imperfections that make these old trailers so distinctive are now in high-def? 

Having grown up watching old movie prints in theaters and on late-night TV, I love that old beat-up look. These trailers have it in abundance, and it suits me just fine to see it so well-preserved here.  

The Blu-ray from Severin Films is widescreen with Dolby 2.0 sound and English subtitles.  The wall-to-wall commentary track is highly informative thanks to a panel of kung fu cinema experts including writer Ric Meyers ("Films of Fury"), Frank Djeng (NY Asian Film Festival), Ric Stelow (Drunken Master Video), and martial arts instructor Greg Schiller. 

If you got a kick out of Severin's first volume of kung fu trailers, then RETURN OF KUNG FU TRAILERS OF FURY should strike your fancy as well.  It's solid entertainment for lovers of no-frills kung fu cinema. 

Buy it from Severin Films