ARRIVAL -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

 Originally posted on 2/19/17

 

There are at least two kinds of sci-fi movies that I love.  One is the slam-bang space opera with explosions in space, spaceships having dogfights in space, and/or space monsters destroying the world before returning to outer space.  These are awesome and I wouldn't dream of looking down my nose at them because they're just so much dumb fun.

The other kind of sci-fi movie I love is the kind that's good because it's just so much smart fun.  Movies such as 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN, DEEP IMPACT, and CONTACT.  I love them because they present scintillating scenarios and ideas which are often both illuminating and, in the best cases, mind-expanding.  And they explore these things in relation to how they would affect humanity in the really-real world. 

With ARRIVAL (2016), you get all that in addition to the kind of intensely emotional situations that can only exist in science fiction.

Upon the arrival of 12 massive egg-shaped spaceships which park themselves over various locations around the world, linguistics expert Louise Banks (Amy Adams, THE MASTER, SUNSHINE CLEANING, STILL STANDING) is pressed into service by the government to help establish contact with the aliens, an experience that will dovetail in ways she can't yet imagine with the tragic death of her daughter Hannah, whom we see in fleeting flashbacks. 

Director Denis Villeneuve turns this into a gorgeously-photographed dreamlike journey for her and us in which we're never really able to recover from the disorienting unreality of the situation. 

The hard-edged military protocol of the base camp adjoining one of the ships (embodied by Forest Whitaker's no-nonsense "Colonel Weber") and all the scientific mumbo-jumbo that's thrown around only serve to make Louise's entry into the mysterious craft and her attempts to communicate with its ultra-strange occupants seems even more breathlessly surreal.

Memories of her daughter keep haunting her throughout the experience, visions which are seemingly unstuck in time as Louise is drawn into the aliens' non-linear concept of past, present, and future.  Scenes of her inside the cavernous spaceship, interacting with her otherworldly counterparts on an increasingly emotional level, are among the most compelling and thought-provoking of any I've seen in any sci-fi film.

In addition to this ARRIVAL deals in a fascinating way with the catastrophic effects such an event would have on humanity on a global scale.  Much of this is conveyed by news reports of violent societal upheaval (without, for once, a bunch of CNN personalities playing themselves badly) and the growing paranoia of various government leaders who are inching toward war against the outworlders. 

The juxtaposition between the genuine desire for peaceful understanding and empathy shown by Louise and her science-expert cohort Ian (Jeremy Renner, "Hawkeye" in the AVENGERS movies) and the increasingly hostile attitude displayed by Earth's military leaders is jarring.

It also leads to some of the film's most suspenseful and disturbing moments, especially when a mutinous faction within Colonel Weber's own ranks devises a plot to sabotage the ship.

But despite the dramatic urgency of this global countdown to interplanetary war, much of the story is devoted to diligent cerebral research and detective work along with Louise's own intense emotional journey through the whole experience and how profoundly it changes her life. 

Amy Adams is a joy to watch as she fully inhabits the role of the pensive yet passionate Louise, with Jeremy Renner providing capable support as Ian.  Forest Whitaker (THE MARSH, PAWN, CATCH .44, HURRICANE SEASON), of course, is pretty much a national treasure by now and can do no wrong.

SPFX are as fine as modern CGI can devise, but it's the full-scale ship interior that's most impressive.  I won't go into the appearance of the aliens or the nature of their written language, which both Louise and Ian struggle mightily to make sense of, but both are sufficiently bizarre.  All other aspects of the production are first-rate. 

The Blu-ray from Paramount Home Media Distribution is widescreen with Dolby 5.1 stereo in English, French, and Spanish and subtitles in English.  Also included is a download code for a digital HD copy.  Bonus features consist of lengthy featurettes (over 80 minutes total) including "Xenolinguistics: Understanding 'Arrival'", "Acoustic Signature: The Sound Design", "Eternal Recurrence: The Score", "Nonlinear Thinking: The Editing Process", and "Principles of Time, Memory, and Language."

ARRIVAL is slow and thoughtful, but continuously fascinating--it never lags or loses interest for those serious sci-fi lovers who are truly along for the ride.  And the ending delivers the kind of thought-provoking yet deeply emotional payoff that should leave them contemplating certain mysteries of life, love, and the universe for some time to come.  



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ARRIVAL -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

STAR TREK: BEYOND -- Blu-ray/DVD Review by Porfle

 Originally posted on 11/22/2016

 

Often I'll like a movie better upon repeat viewing, but rarely have I gone from "disappointed" to "delighted" as drastically as I did during my second look at STAR TREK: BEYOND (2016). 

The trouble is, the darn thing is just so dense, so packed full of action, dialogue, special effects, etc. which are all edited together like a Tsui Hark movie but without the light-fingered finesse.  To be honest, I missed so much of the story details and subtleties the first time around that much of what I saw seemed like a jumbled mess. (Plus, Zachary Quinto's Spock wig looks pretty bad this time.)

Not so upon second viewing, one free of the need to decipher the plot points that go sprinting past in competition with the constant barrage of sound and fury and motorcycles and demolition derbies with starships instead of jalopies.  (The wig still looks bad.)

 

 All of which, by the way, is fantastic and at times a bit staggering.  There's one sequence about twenty minutes into the film, in fact, that's so blazingly, heart-poundingly catastrophic for the Enterprise and its crew that it's pretty hard for the rest of the movie to top it--which it never quite does.  But it tries, bless its little dilithium crystal heart.

With this, the third installment in the Abrams-verse reboot (with its all-new altered timeline that keeps us from knowing what will happen next) Chris Pine's Captain James T. Kirk and crew have been out there on that five-year mission for almost three years and this Kirk, who didn't grow up with a father's guidance and is still maturing and feeling his way through life right before our eyes, finds the whole deep space experience repetitive and boring (or as he puts it in meta terms, "episodic.") 

But an alien woman's distress cry for help to rescue her stranded crew on a planet deep inside an uncharted nebula sends the Enterprise on a mission that will give Kirk more excitement and danger than even he could bargain for.  Not surprisingly, this involves yet another alien bad guy out for revenge, this time against the entire Federation for reasons we'll discover after lots of fighting and shooting and starships going boom.

 

Idris Elba guest stars as bad guy Krall, who resembles the reptilian villain from the sci-fi spoof GALAXY QUEST (which this movie resembles in other ways as well).  Krall wants a device in Kirk's possession and will do anything to get it because it's vital in his plan to destroy an entire Federation space outpost known as "Yorktown" which is home to millions of intergalactic citizens.

My favorite new character is the endearingly plucky Jaylah, played by Sofia Boutella who will be the title character in the upcoming MUMMY reboot. Here, Sophia looks great as an albino with long white hair and elegant ebony facial markings.  As another stranded prisoner of Krall's hostile planet, Jaylah forms a special bond with Simon Pegg's "Scotty" and supplies the Enterprise bridge crew with something vital: a derelict ship (her "house" as she calls it) that might, with Scotty's expert help, be coaxed into flight once again.

Each of the main characters is allowed ample screen time.  John Cho's Sulu, of course, gets to be the new "gay" character in the series, even though Sulu has always previously been hetero.  (Even George Takei is adamant on this point.)  It's not such a big deal, though--we see him greet his little daughter Demora in Yorktown and put an arm around his male partner (director Justin Lin), and that's it.

Spock and Uhura (Zoe Saldana) have their first lovers' spat, with an amicable yet painful breakup.  Anton Yelchin, tragically gone from us now, offers his charming interpretation of Ensign Chekov one last time.  And upon the main three--Kirk, Spock, and "Bones" McCoy (Karl Urban)--the script dotes with disarming fondness.

For action fans, STAR TREK: BEYOND kicks plenty of intergalactic ass both on the planet, where Kirk, Spock, Bones, Sulu, Chekov, and Uhura must rescue their captured shipmates from Krall and his army, to the Yorktown space-city itself once Krall launches his all-out attack involving thousands of prickly little drone ships that swarm like bees and utterly obliterate whatever they descend upon.  All of this goes by fast and furious, so this is where that second viewing comes in handy.

Speaking of which, director Lin of the "Fast & Furious" films does his best to emulate J.J. Abrams while not quite capturing a certain candy-counter, toy-store, Christmas morning kind of essence his predecessor seemed capable of injecting into these films. In my review of the first STAR TREK reboot I described it as a "grandly entertaining cherry-red fire engine of a space flick", something Lin doesn't quite pull off.

Still, he does a capable job and manages to keep the series on a high level.  What seems most problematic for many Trek fans, in fact, is that there's so much action effectively dominating the proceedings that no time is left either for meaningful character interaction or contemplation of the deep, intellectual themes Gene Roddenberry was known for in his original vision of the "Star Trek" universe. (At least in hindsight.)

As for the former, I think these films contain a wealth of terrific character interaction, highly meaningful little moments that occur at scattered points throughout each installment in the series, some lighthearted and frivolous (old philosophical adversaries Spock and Bones get several choice exchanges), some deeply moving (such as Kirk's ruminations on his late father and how different are their career paths and goals as Starfleet captains). 

The latter, I admit, is pretty accurate--these films aren't always that thematically profound.  But neither was every episode of the original series.  And this is a brash young version of the Enterprise crew, impatient to go out there into that last frontier and raise some hell.  They don't want to stop and take the time to be all that thoughtful and contemplative, nor do they have as much life experience to be all that thoughtful and contemplative about.

There are different kinds of Star Trek and they don't all have to be alike.  This is Action "Star Trek."  For a change of pace, it suits this long-time Trekker just fine.

The 2-disc Blu-ray/DVD combo from Paramount Home Media Distribution contains a Blu-ray disc with the movie and special features, a DVD with the movie, and a code for downloading a digital HD copy of the film.  The Blu-ray disc contains a gag reel, deleted scenes, and the following featurettes: "Beyond the Darkness: Story Origins"; "Enterprise Takedown: Destroying an Icon"; "Trekking Into the Desert: On Location in Dubai"; "To Live Long and Prosper: 50 Years of Star Trek"; and tributes to the late Leonard Nimoy and Anton Yelchin. 

STAR TREK: BEYOND is brand-spanking new and scintillatingly different, yet filled with welcome echoes of the past (there's a particularly poignant Spock moment, and an ending which recalls STAR TREK IV: THE VOYAGE HOME in a big way).  With this latest entry in the rebooted series, what's old is new again, and I love warping off into the final frontier with this young crew that's so bursting with promise for the future.

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STAR TREK: BEYOND -- Blu-ray/DVD Review by Porfle

WHITE COMANCHE -- movie review by porfle

Originally posted on 11/2/09
 

In 1966, William Shatner starred as Captain James T. Kirk in episode #5 of "Star Trek:The Original Series", entitled "The Enemy Within", in which a transporter malfunction split him into two people--the good Kirk and the evil Kirk. Two years later, this wealth of Shatners continued when he traveled to Spain during a series hiatus and portrayed twin half-breed brothers in a low-budget, badly-directed and photographed Western called WHITE COMANCHE (1968). Once again, it was a face-off between good and evil Shatners, and a chance for him to lavish us with a double-dose of that eccentric acting style we all know and love.

How bad is this movie? The opening seconds give a good indication since it looks like we're about to see one of those home-movie-quality documentaries about Bigfoot that used to play in smalltown drive-ins. But instead of a big, hairy monster, we see Shatner as Johnny Moon, dressed in denim cowboy duds and riding a horse through the wilderness, while one of the worst movie scores ever written begins to massacre our brain cells. Suddenly he is set upon by a group of men who put a noose around his neck because they think he's his twin brother Notah Moon, who goes around with his band of renegade Comanches and kills the "pale eyes" for fun. Johnny gets away and rides to Notah's camp to await his return, because he's had it up to here with getting blamed for his brother's murderous shenanigans and is itching for a showdown.

Meanwhile, Notah and his motley crew of cut-ups have just attacked a stagecoach and shot all the drivers and passengers except for a beautiful young saloon babe named Kelly (the way-hot Argentinian actress Rosanna Yani), whom Notah gleefully rapes after slapping her around for awhile. It's weird seeing Bad Shatner here, looking like someone dressed in a half-assed Indian costume for Halloween, yelping "Hi-yi-yi!" and wearing that same goofy expression Captain Kirk used to have whenever he was a little too happy for some reason. He would again appear in a similar outfit later that year in the "Star Trek" episode "The Paradise Syndrome", in which the amnesia-stricken Kirk lives among a tribe of space Indians who believe him to be a god named "Kirok."


Anyway, Notah and his men eventually wander back to camp, which looks more like a dumpy commune full of hostile hippies than an Indian encampment. His wife, White Fawn (Perla Cristal, another Argentinian), who appears as though she might be more at home hanging around a bowling alley in the Bronx, has his peyote ready for him. With it, Notah sees glorious visions of his people conquering the pale eyes, and his stirring exhortations of this impending victory, usually delivered while standing on a big rock, keep his followers all jazzed up and ready for action.

But Johnny steps on Notah's buzz by not only criticizing his copious drug use ("Eat the peyote, drug of the Devil...dream your dreams of hate"), but also by challenging him to a showdown in the nearby town of Rio Hondo in four days. After they diss each other for awhile, both enunciating in that rich, familiar Shatner cadence flavored with pseudo-Indian inflections--

"Notah is well-named...his liver is white, like his Yankee father...his heart burns blacker than the skin of his Comanche mother. He's white-bellied, like his name...'The Snake.'"

"Notah's brother talks like the white man he thinks he is. He's afraid...to be Comanche."

--Notah accepts the challenge. In four days, it'll be Shatner vs. Shatner on the streets of Rio Hondo.

On his way to town, Johnny comes upon a group of men getting ready to hang a guy, which seems to be the main source of entertainment in these parts. He outdraws a couple of goons and rescues the corpulent fellow, who explains that the men work for his boss' competitor, and the two big-shot land barons are getting ever closer to all-out war. Later in town, one of the land barons offers Johnny a job, but their negotiations are interrupted when the saloon babe, Kelly, grabs a gun and starts shooting at Johnny because she thinks he's Notah. Then he gets into a big barroom brawl with one of the guys who was about to hang the fat guy earlier, and they demolish every stick of breakaway furniture in the whole place.

Shatner seems to be doing his own stunts here, flying through bannisters and crashing through tables, which is interesting. He's also fighting in that odd, stylized way that Kirk used to do on Star Trek, which looks rather strange at times. After he whups the tar out of his opponent, Johnny finally convinces Kelly that he isn't Notah, because his eyes are a different color (Johnny's are brown, Notah's are black--like his eee-vil soul). Needless to say, they begin to fall in love.

Trying to keep the two warring factions from each other's throats while keeping a suspicious eye on Johnny is Sheriff Logan, played by top-billed Joseph Cotten. A veteran of such classics as CITIZEN KANE, THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS, and GASLIGHT, as well as scores of lesser films and TV appearances, Cotten gives the closest thing to a good performance in WHITE COMANCHE, although that's not saying much considering the competition. I don't know how in blue blazes he ended up in this--maybe he just felt like a vacation in Spain, or maybe the producer was holding his family hostage. At any rate, I doubt if he considered this one of the high points of his career.


As Johnny waits for Notah's imminent arrival, the tension between the two land barons and their men finally explodes into a big, sloppily-staged gun battle in the middle of town, with lot of guys getting shot between the eyes (it seems like anyone who gets shot in this movie gets shot right between the eyes) and falling over balconies and off of roofs and stuff. I never could figure out why getting shot always caused guys to fly forward off of balconies and roofs--it must be some weird Western law of physics that they don't teach us about in school for some reason.

When the dust settles, a whole bunch of guys are dead and the local undertaker will soon be able to afford that summer home in Miami Beach. Johnny is aces with Sheriff Logan now for helping out, and Kelly is ready to settle down with him and start pumping out a bunch of little Johnnies. But all isn't peachy-keen just yet, because here comes Notah, all hopped up on peyote and ready to take Johnny on in a fight to the death. ("You are as the wild duck that sits on the pond," Johnny tells Notah as he draws a bead on him from a bell tower.) Johnny shucks off his white-guy duds and straps on an official Indian headband so that we can't tell the two brothers apart during the exciting battle, stretching our already-frazzled nerves to the breaking point. (Or something like that.) Shouting "Hi-yi-yi!", the two warring Shatners ride toward each other on horseback, guns blazing, and...

...you'll just have to see for yourself how it turns out, which I'm sure you'll be aching to do as soon as possible after reading this. Whether you're a bad movie fan, a member of The First Church Of Shatnerology, or simply a masochist, WHITE COMANCHE is one Western you'll be wanting to get your grubby little hands on. This mind-warping tale of dueling Shatners is the perfect movie to stick into the old DVD player next time you want to get the guys together for a little do-it-yourself MST3K action.

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WHITE COMANCHE -- movie review by porfle

THE VAMPIRE BAT (1933) -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

 Originally posted on 4/1/2017

 

Who'd have thought, back when we were watching dark, battered prints of this on public domain DVDs, that one day we'd get to see it on Blu-ray in (almost) tip-top shape and in all its original glory? 

Thanks to a new HD restoration by The Film Detective (in conjunction with UCLA Film & Television Archive) that day is today, and the golden-age horror classic THE VAMPIRE BAT (1933) hasn't looked this good in ages.

Sure, there are still imperfections--this thing is ancient, after all, and has been in the public domain for a very long time--but heck, I love for a film to have SOME imperfections, if only for nostalgic value.

For the most part, however, this cinematic treasure is bright, sharp, and clear, and oh, does that glorious black-and-white photography ever look gorgeous.  Especially when the equally gorgeous leading lady Fay Wray is gracing the screen.

Sharing the cast list with Fay is the exquisitely evil Lionel Atwill as Dr. Otto von Niemann, a scientist--a very mad one, as it turns out--conducting some rather unsavory experiments in the laboratory of his castle in a small German village. 

Fay is his unsuspecting lab assistant Ruth, whose boyfriend, police inspector Karl Brettschneider (Melvyn Douglas) is stymied by a rash of murders in which the victims are found dead in their beds, drained of blood, with two puncture wounds on their throats.

In a reversal of the Van Helsing character in DRACULA two years earlier, Karl is the only man in town who DOESN'T believe the deaths are the work of a vampire.  Everyone else suspects Herman, a half-wit who loves bats (of which the village seems to have an inordinate amount fluttering about and hanging from trees).  

Herman is played wonderfully by the great Dwight Frye, in a performance both disturbing and sympathetic.  Dwight deftly blends elements from some of his other characters such as FRANKENSTEIN's hunchbacked assistant Fritz and the cackling madman Renfield from DRACULA.

Here, however, he's simply a pathetic outsider whom the townspeople regard as a pariah and eventually hunt down as members of the usual torch-bearing mob (with the torches beautifully hand-tinted in color as in the original release prints).

Meanwhile, the vampire murders continue to terrorize the countryside as Atwill's supremely sinister Dr. Niemann carries on his unholy experiments.  As in DR. X. and MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM before it, THE VAMPIRE BAT features yet another climactic encounter between Atwill and seminal scream queen Fay, while Niemann's assistant Emil (played by Robert Frazer of 1932's WHITE ZOMBIE), under Niemann's hypnotic spell, is ordered to kill Karl in his sleep. 

Scripted by Edward T. Lowe (HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN, HOUSE OF DRACULA), this independent production has hints of the Universal Pictures style along with some of their familiar players such as Dwight Frye, Lionel Belmore, and Melvyn Douglas (of James Whale's THE OLD DARK HOUSE).

Director Frank R. Strayer (THE MONSTER WALKS, CONDEMNED TO LIVE) has a restrained yet fluid style during the more frenetic scenes, and a pleasingly stagelike handling of the longer dialogue exchanges. 

While nowhere near as stylish as Whale, Strayer does share that director's fondness for comedy relief in the form of Maude Eburne as Ruth's hypochondriac Aunt Gussie. If you enjoy the comedy stylings of Whale favorite Una O'Connor--I do, many don't--chances are you'll find Eburne a welcome relief from the grim proceedings surrounding her character.

Strayer uses lots of wide shots but then rewards us with some frame-able closeups of the lovely Fay and the not-so-lovely Atwill and Frye.  Production design is well-done and highly atmospheric. Some of the laboratory scenes are rather morbid in this pre-Code era.  There's no musical score save for brief snippets of library music during the opening and closing, but this only adds to the somber mood.

The Blu-ray for this special restored edition is in the original 1.33:1 aspect ratio with Dolby Digital sound. It is, in the words of the press release, "restored from a 35mm composite acetate fine grain master and a 35mm nitrate print."  Extras consist of a charming featurette by Film Detective featuring Melvyn Douglas' son, and a wall-to-wall audio commentary by film historian Sam Sherman which is scholarly and informative. 

It's nice to see this neglected gem reintroduced to the public in this form after languishing in the public domain for so long.  For lovers of vintage black-and-white films, golden age horror, Fay Wray, and classic film in general, watching this version of THE VAMPIRE BAT is like viewing fine art or savoring a vintage wine.  That is, if you drink...wine.

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Release date: April 25, 2017

THE VAMPIRE BAT (1933) -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

LOONEY TUNES SUPER STARS: TWEETY & SYLVESTER -- DVD review by porfle

Originally posted on 1/19/2011
 

When the Warner Brothers animation department was at its peak in the 40s and 50s, they consistently churned out some of the best and funniest cartoons ever made.  One of their most memorable comedy teams was the cute little bird Tweety and the always-hungry cat Sylvester, whose catchphrases ("I taught I taw a putty tat!" and "Sufferin' succotash!") are part of cartoon history.  With Warner Home Entertainment's LOONEY TUNES SUPER STARS: TWEETY & SYLVESTER, fifteen of their classic shorts have been collected on DVD--some uproariously funny, others not quite hitting the bullseye.

The team, who had already appeared individually in several Warner Brothers shorts, scored an Academy Award for Best Short Subject (Cartoons) with their first pairing, 1947's "Tweetie Pie" (sic).  This initial outing, in which homeless Tweety is taken in by a household whose cat sees the tiny bird as a mouth-watering meal, seems to be an answer to MGM's Tom and Jerry.  The cat who would later be known as "Sylvester" is referred to here as "Thomas" just like the MGM character, and is similarly harangued by a generic housewife seen only from the waist down. 

With Tweety's cage suspended from the ceiling, he sits in his swing warbling a strange little tune ("I love little putty, his throat is so warm...And if I don't hurt him, he'll do me no harm").  Meanwhile, Sylvester devises a series of ingenious methods of attaining his prey, giving the writers a chance to come up with some pretty funny material while establishing the basic formula for the series.  Sylvester causes more and more chaos and destruction with each attempt, either by his own ineptitude or the playful deviousness of the little bird.
 

Next comes "Bad Ol' Putty Tat" (1949), the classic situation in which a cartoon cat lays siege to a bird perched high up in a birdhouse, and "All Abir-r-r-d!" (1950), with similar antics taking place in the baggage compartment of a passenger train.   These initial offerings are mid-level Warner Brothers stuff, well-drawn and animated but not all that outstanding. 

With "Canary Row" (1950), the characters have come into their own and the gags are snappy and clever.  "Friz" Freleng's direction also gets progressively sharper and more inventive.  As always, musical maestro Carl Stallings' score plays a major part in making the action a lot funnier as Sylvester tries to sneak into a hotel to get Tweetie.  Thanks to voiceover legend Mel Blanc, we hear the cat speak for the first time as he impersonates a bellboy: "Your bagth...madame?"

Blanc's speeded-up voice is charmingly funny as Tweety sings his theme song over the titles:

"I'm a sweet little bird in a gilded cage
Tweety's my name but I don't know my age
I don't have to worry and that is that
I'm safe in here from that old putty tat."

Tweety's kindly old protector, Granny (first voiced by Bea Benederet, later by June Foray), makes her first appearance as well, thus rounding out the cast and giving the series a more distinctive character.  Thankfully for us cat lovers, it's not as painful seeing Granny whack Sylvester with her umbrella as some faceless harridan beating him with a broom.


1951's "Putty Tat Trouble" opens with Tweety shoveling snow out of his nest ("This is what I get for dweaming of a white Chwistmas!") and catching the attention of two housecats, Sylvester and a roughhousing rival, who go at it tooth and nail over the tiny bird.  This is the first real laugh riot of the collection and had me guffawing out loud several times.  (Look for the cardboard box with the words "Friz--America's Favorite Gelatin Dessert", a self-reference by director "Friz" Freleng.) 

The all-out hilarity continues in "Room and Bird" (1951), with both Granny and Sylvester's owner sneaking their pets into a "No Pets Allowed" hotel where they're joined in mischief by a belligerent bulldog, causing the house detective a huge headache.   "Tweety's S.O.S." (1951), in which Sylvester spots Tweety through the porthole of his cabin on board a docked ship, gives the cat another rare early line of dialogue: "Hell-o, breakfast!"  Later, when Granny catches him and he puts on an innocent act, Tweety exclaims "Ooh, what a hypocwite!"

"Tweet Tweet Tweety" (1951) takes place in a national forest with Sylvester trying to cut down the tree in which Tweety's nest is perched.  We hear his catchphrase "Sufferin' succotash!" for the first time here as he grows increasingly more talkative.  "Gift Wrapped" (1952) is an amusing Christmas-themed story.

In "Ain't She Tweet" (1952), a pet store delivers Tweety to Granny, who also keeps a hundred or so vicious bulldogs fenced in her yard.  The sight of Sylvester repeatedly falling into this roiling mass of teeth and claws in his attempts to get into the house are somewhat nightmarish. 

"Snow Business" (1953) is the first time we see "Tweety & Sylvester" billed together as a team.  They start out as friends this time, until they get snowed in up in Granny's mountain cabin with nothing to eat but bird seed.  While a starving Sylvester tries to trick Tweety into a boiling stew pot, he must also avoid a hungry mouse who's after him.  For some reason, the cat never thinks of eating the mouse.

"Satan's Waitin'" (1954) suffers from an unwieldy premise--Sylvester gets killed while chasing Tweety, goes to Hell, then finds that his punishment will be delayed while his other eight lives are snuffed out one by one.  An unfunny bulldog-Satan eggs them on in a series of tepid gags, each climaxing with another death.  Geez, getting hit with a broom is bad enough--I don't really want to see Sylvester being cast into a fiery lake of devilish bulldogs for all eternity.

1961's "The Last Hungry Cat" shows the more modern influence of later WB cartoons with angular backgrounds rendered in an appealingly creative way.  High concept strikes again in this spoof of "The Alfred Hitchcock Show" in which Sylvester thinks he has "murdered" Tweety and is sought by the police.  The guilt-ridden cat suffers a torturous, sleepless night, constantly needled by the Hitchcock-like narrator, until he discovers Tweety is still alive and reverts back to form.  While this short is nice to look at, it just isn't funny.
 

The trend of over-thinking these stories continues with "Birds Anonymous" (1957).  Sylvester is initiated into an "AA"-type group for bird-crazed cats, who are presented as helpless addicts.  ("I was a three-bird-a-day cat," one of them testifies.) 

Increasingly preoccupied with being clever, the writers of these later cartoons sometimes forget to pack in the funny, fast-paced gags that made this series so popular in the first place.  Here, Sylvester endures yet another mental ordeal, with a grotesque bloodshot-eyes closeup that's almost a duplicate of the one from "The Last Hungry Cat."  Why the heck has Sylvester suddenly turned into Ray Milland?

The final short in the collection, "Tweety and the Beanstalk" (1957), is a fun take-off on the old fairytale (June Foray can be heard as the unseen woman who throws Jack's magic beans out the window).  The idea of Sylvester running around the giant's castle trying to nab a Tweety who's the same size as him, while eluding a monstrous bulldog, sounds tiresome at first but actually manages to generate some old-style sight gags with an outrageous ending.

The DVD is in standard format (no choice of matted widescreen this time) with Dolby Digital English and Spanish mono sound, and subtitles in English and French.  The titles on this disc have appeared previously in other Warner Brothers DVD collections.

While uneven in quality, the fifteen shorts in LOONEY TUNES SUPER STARS: TWEETY & SYLVESTER are examples of some of the finest theatrical cartoons ever produced by one of the top animation studios of its time, in an era when such fare was designed to be enjoyed and appreciated by audiences of all ages. 


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LOONEY TUNES SUPER STARS: TWEETY & SYLVESTER -- DVD review by porfle

“THE BRAIN FROM PLANET AROUS” (1957) on Special-Edition Blu-ray + DVD, June 21st

 

The Brain From Planet Arous (1957) on Special-Edition Blu-ray + DVD, June 21st

 
Incredible Space-Brain Invades a Human Body With Its Destructive Evil Power!


Independent, Sci-fi Classic Returns With Exclusive Special Features, Including Commentary From Star Joyce Meadows

 

LOS ANGELES — May 23, 2022 — For Immediate Release: Cinedigm announced today that The Film Detective, the classic film restoration and streaming company, will release the 1950s, sci-fi classic, The Brain From Planet Arous (1957), on special-edition Blu-ray and DVD, June 21.

 

A great example of cut-rate, sci-fi from the 1950s, this independently produced feature stars B-movie favorite John Agar (The Mole People, Revenge of the Creature) and Joyce Meadows (The Christine Jorgensen Story, The Girl in Lovers Lane) and was directed by Nathan Juran, a master of the genre who helmed such classics as The Deadly Mantis (1957), Attack of the 50-Foot Woman (1958) and The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958).

 

Get ready for planet Earth to be overtaken by a criminal brain from outer space! When Gor, an evil brain from planet Arous, inhabits the body of scientist Steve March (Agar), his intention is nothing less than world domination. Lucky for Earth, another intergalactic brain, Val, offers to assist March's wife, Sally (Meadows), in stopping the madness. How does Val intend to help? By inhabiting Sally's dog!

 

The special edition Blu-ray and DVD release will feature a stunning 4K transfer, including two versions of the film, presented in its original 1.85 theatrically released format and in 1.33:1 full frame format. Included in the bonus features will be exclusive commentary with original The Brain from Planet Arous star, Joyce Meadows!

 

“The Film Detective's magnificent restoration of The Brain from Planet Arous reminds me of when I saw the movie on the big screen back in 1957,” said the film’s star, Joyce Meadows. “An amazing achievement, and I'm so pleased this picture is getting the respect it deserves.”

 

BONUS FEATURES: Full-color booklet with original essay by author/historian Tom Weaver; full commentary track by historians Tom Weaver, David Schecter, Larry Blamire and The Brain From Planet Arous star Joyce Meadows; The Man Before the Brain: Director Nathan Juran and The Man Behind the Brain: The World of Nathan Juran, both original Ballyhoo Motion Pictures productions; restored film presented in its original 1.85 theatrically released format and in 1.33:1 full-frame format; and a special, all new, introduction by star Joyce Meadows.

 

The Brain From Planet Arous will be available on Blu-ray ($29.95) and DVD ($19.95) June 21 or fans can secure a copy by pre-ordering now at: https://www.thefilmdetective.com/arous

 

About The Film Detective:

The Film Detective (TFD) is a leading distributor of restored classic programming, including feature films, television, foreign imports, and documentaries and is a division of Cinedigm. Launched in 2014, TFD has distributed its extensive library of 3,000+ hours of film on DVD and Blu-ray and through leading broadcast and streaming platforms such as Turner Classic Movies, NBC, EPIX, Pluto TV, Amazon, MeTV, PBS and more. With a strong focus on increasing the digital reach of its content, TFD has released its classic movie app on web, Android, iOS, Roku, Amazon Fire TV and Apple TV. TFD is also available live with a 24/7 linear channel available on Sling TV, STIRR, Plex, Local Now, Rakuten TV and DistroTV. For more information, visit www.thefilmdetective.com

 

About Cinedigm:

For more than 20 years, Cinedigm has led the digital transformation of the entertainment industry. Today, Cinedigm entertains hundreds of millions of consumers around the globe by providing premium content, streaming channels and technology services to the world's largest media, technology and retail companies.

 

The Brain From Planet Arous

The Film Detective

Genre: Sci-fi

Original Release: 1957 (B+W)

Not Rated

Running Time: 71 Minutes

Language: English

Subtitles: English/Spanish

SRP: $29.95 (Blu-ray) / $19.95 (DVD)

Discs: 1

Release Date: June 21, 2022 (Pre-order Now)

UPC Code: 760137100454 (Blu-ray) / 760137100447 (DVD)

Catalog #: FB1020 (Blu-ray) / FD1020 (DVD)

“THE BRAIN FROM PLANET AROUS” (1957) on Special-Edition Blu-ray + DVD, June 21st

GRINDHOUSE TRAILER CLASSICS -- DVD review by porfle

  Originally posted on 9/5/2014

 

The most recent movie trailer compilations I've seen have been theme-oriented--namely, the self-explanatory OZPLOITATION TRAILER EXPLOSION and VIDEO NASTIES: A DEFINITIVE GUIDE--which is as good a way to watch a bunch of trailers as any.

But as demonstrated by Intervision's new DVD release, GRINDHOUSE TRAILER CLASSICS, you don't really need any kind of an excuse at all to watch a bunch of trailers, just as long as they're shamelessly exploiting the most down-and-dirty sex, violence, horror, and gore flicks that ever snaked their way through a hot projector.

If you can make it past the startling cover pic of a severed female zombie head with blank, demonic eyes chowing down on a dismembered hand--or are, in fact, lured in by it--you know this is your kind of entertainment. What you're in for during the next 129 minutes is fifty-five stomach-churning, mind-warping trailers for the kind of titanic trash that kept grindhouses and drive-ins in business back in the 60s and 70s.

Here, you get all the good scenes smashed together (it seems like every trailer was a "red band" trailer in those days) and liberally garnished with some of the most purple prose ever to gush from the mouth of an overheated voiceover guy. In fact, you're in for a letdown if you actually see some of these flicks after checking out the trailers.

After the classic "Prevues of Coming Attractions" bumper to get our nostalgic juices flowing comes the first selection, the infamous double bill of I DRINK YOUR BLOOD/ I EAT YOUR SKIN. Another double feature, BLOOD SPATTERED BRIDE and I DISMEMBER MAMA, is heralded by faux news footage of police dragging a man out of the theater after the films have driven him berserk.

Next comes Tarantino favorite SWITCHBLADE SISTERS followed by Barbara Steele in the women-in-prison classic CAGED HEAT. (Paul Frees fans will recognize his dulcet tones in the voiceovers.) The lurid EYEBALL ("You may not live to see the end of it!") is followed by the even more twisted Ed Gein-inspired DERANGED with Roberts Blossom.

More kill-crazy caged women and soapy shower scenes follow in THE BIG DOLL HOUSE with beauties Pam Grier and Roberta Collins and the less-than-beauteous Sid Haig. Then comes statuesque blonde Dixie Peabody on "a roaring rampage of revenge" in the biker classic BURY ME AN ANGEL, which my older sister took me to see at the drive-in when I was a kid. (Thanks, sis!)

LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT, which I really don't like, gives way to another Tarantino fave, THE STREET FIGHTER with Sonny Chiba, and the grandmammy of all Nazisploitation flicks, ILSA: SHE WOLF OF THE S.S. starring the gorgeous Dyanne Thorne (who will later turn up in ILSA: HAREM KEEPER OF THE OIL SHIEKS with Ushi Digard and Joyce Mandell).

Also on the maniacal menu: Bernie Casey as DR. BLACK AND MR. HYDE, DON'T OPEN THE WINDOW, rappin' Rudy Ray Moore as THE HUMAN TORNADO ("I got a dong as big as King Kong!"), the skin and sadism of CAGED VIRGINS, "angels of vengeance on a massacre marathon" EBONY, IVORY, AND JADE, and the mind-boggling boobs of Chesty Morgan in the Doris Wishman sleaze-tacular DEADLY WEAPONS.

And that's not even the first hour. More titles include TORSO, THEY CALL HER ONE-EYE, DEATH SHIP with George Kennedy, Richard Crenna, and Kate Reid, MASTER OF THE FLYING GUILLOTINE, HOUSE OF WHIPCORD, THE THING WITH TWO HEADS with Rosey Grier and Ray Milland ("A white bigot's head on a black soul brother's body!"), and David Cronenberg's early horror shocker THEY CAME FROM WITHIN (aka "Shivers").

There's a lot more, but you get the idea. The DVD from Intervision is in anamorphc widescreen with Dolby Digital sound and English subtitles. A gallery of grindhouse poster art is accompanied by the gorgeous Emily Booth hosting a featurette entitled "Bump 'N' Grind."

But it's those gloriously sleazy, lurid, and credulity-straining GRINDHOUSE TRAILER CLASSICS that make this a must-see for anyone who enjoys a good wallow in cinema's most celebrated sewage.

Buy it at Amazon.com

GRINDHOUSE TRAILER CLASSICS -- DVD review by porfle

DOOM PATROL: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON -- Blu-ray/Digital Review by Porfle

(Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this blog post. The opinions I share are my own.)

Originally posted on 9.30.2019

 

It's binge-watching time again with another entertaining superhero-centric season set, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment's 3-disc Blu-ray DOOM PATROL: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON. 

I never read the classic DC comic book (which inspired Marvel's "The X-Men") as a kid, but these 15 episodes proved, for the most part anyway, to be some of the most fun, engaging, and utterly surreal superhero stuff I've seen on any screen.

The pilot/origin story tells how the seemingly benign but unfathomably eccentric wheelchair-bound scientist Dr. Niles Caulder (Timothy Dalton) rescues various people from horrific physical injuries, mental and/or biological catastrophes (such as suddenly turning into a monster, etc.), rehabilitates them in some way, and assembles them into a motley gang of super-powered misfits who are expected to save the earth from all manner of extreme evil and paranormal calamity.



Thus, much of the action is as mental as it is physical, leading to some real "Twilight Zone"/"X-Files" type plots with the same dark, mind-expanding "sense of wonder" as a good Clive Barker novel but with a rich vein of often lowbrow humor running through all the deeply weird, sometimes downright bizarre character drama.

It's good to see Brendan Fraser (BLAST FROM THE PAST, THE MUMMY) with such a meaty role again even if he does resemble a robot version of Ron Perlman as former race car star Cliff Steele, whose horrific auto accident turns him--with Dr. Caulder's help--into the group's version of the Tin Man. Cliff's tragic loss of his wife and daughter add to the complexity of his character even though he provides most of the show's comic relief.

Joivan Wade plays Cyborg, the closest thing to a real "superhero" on the team (I couldn't figure out where I'd seen the character before until it finally hit me that he'd been one of the Teen Titans) but subject to his own problems due to technical malfunctions in his semi-robotic body in addition to doubts as to the motives of his own father (Phil Morris), a brilliant scientist who saved his life by making him less than human.

April Bowlby plays the former movie star who, through a weird on-set mishap, frequently turns into a pulsating blob against her will. Matt Bomer is Larry "Negative Man" Trainor, an aspiring Mercury astronaut who, during a high altitude test flight, picked up a strange alien hitchhiker now residing in his body and giving him unpredictable powers.

But most unpredictable of all is the volatile Crazy Jane (Diane Guerrero), an incredibly disturbed young woman with 64 different personalities, each with its own unbridled superpower. 

The result is a fascinating and mostly likable bunch of anti-heroes (with special emphasis on the "anti") who spend much of their time getting into each other heads (in one episode Cliff literally gets into Crazy Jane's head and almost doesn't make it back out) or trying to fathom the deep, dense mysteries of Dr. Caulder himself.

What looks at first as though it's going to be mostly comedic eventually becomes deeply moody and introspective, subjecting the characters to episodes of heavy soul-searching that often result in their acting out in reckless superhero style. 

Still, some of the episodes are heavy on the action, such as when an evil government organization bent on wiping out anything or anyone who's too "abnormal" captures our heroes in their underground bunker, which becomes the site of a battle royale.  During it all the team members are still learning how to use and control their own powers, often resulting in chaos.

Direction and photography are endlessly kinetic and eye-pleasing (especially in this pristine Blu-ray edition) and performances are uniformly fine, with Fraser, Dalton, and the versatile Guerrero as the standouts. Alan Tudyk (A KNIGHT'S TALE) tries his best as the team's arch-enemy, Mr. Nobody, but despite the show's intention to make him a strongly engaging (and funny) villain I never really found the character all that effective.

This is especially true in the season finale, a poorly-conceived episode that I prefer to consider apocryphal in relation to the mostly excellent fourteen episodes which precede it. When the team's final adventure of the season ultimately features a giant kaiju cockroach and a giant kaiju rat locked in a passionate French kiss in the middle of town with various members of the Doom Patrol crawling around in their stomachs, I found myself hoping that the writers would calm down, go back to the drawing board, and get a fresh start for season two. 

Be that as it may, the majority of episodes in DOOM PATROL: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON are first-rate fantasy/sci-fi/superhero entertainment that's just brimming with fun. Rather than giving us one "origin story" episode followed by various adventures, the entire season is an ongoing origin tale where everything that happens is yet another step in the evolution of these reluctant heroes and their bumbling yet earnest efforts to save the universe.


DIGITAL FEATURES

    Gag Reel 

BLU-RAY & DVD FEATURES

    Gag Reel
    Deleted Scenes
    Featurette: "Come Visit Georgia"

15 ONE-HOUR EPISODES

    Pilot
    Donkey Patrol
    Puppet Patrol
    Cult Patrol
    Paw Patrol
    Doom Patrol Patrol
    Therapy Patrol
    Danny Patrol
    Jane Patrol
    Hair Patrol
    Frances Patrol
    Cyborg Patrol
    Flex Patrol
    Penultimate Patrol
    Ezekiel Patrol

Read our original coverage HERE

DOOM PATROL: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON -- Blu-ray/Digital Review by Porfle

CHINA BEACH: THE COMPLETE SERIES -- DVD Review by Porfle

 Originally posted on 11/9/2019

 

I was never a fan of "China Beach", but after taking a long look at Time-Life's CHINA BEACH: THE COMPLETE SERIES (1988-1991), I can only conclude that those who are fans will have a field day with this lavish 19-disc collection of 62 episodes, including the original pilot movie and over five hours of bonus features.

The show's premise, of course, is the odyssey of U.S. Army Nurse Colleen McMurphy (Dana Delany, TOMBSTONE) serving a frantic tour of duty at a combination evac hospital and R&R facility set on a picturesque beach near Da Nang in Viet Nam.

Thus we observe the daily dramas of all the nurses, doctors, soldiers, Red Cross volunteers, and various civilian personnel, most of which are based on the real-life experiences of actual people.  (Not the least of these being former nurse Lynda Van Devanter, whose book "Home Before Morning" was the inspiration for the McMurphy character and her story.)

The show's setting is richly authentic, managing to give those of us with no such experience whatsoever an idea of what life was like there. McMurphy's days and nights are filled with the blood, horror, and tragedy of war, yet she must try to keep herself grounded by maintaining some semblance of normality in her personal life and dealings with friends and coworkers.

We also meet a widely-diverse cast of characters including Dr. Dick Richards (Robert Picardo, "Star Trek: Voyager"), whose playboy lifestyle helps him deal with a deteriorating marriage; SP4 Samuel Beckett (Michael Boatman), who processes dead bodies and thus has a unique perspective on mortality; and Red Cross volunteer Cherry White (Nan Woods), a painfully naive young woman searching for her MIA brother, Rick.

Local prostitute K.C (a stunning Marg Helgenberger, "CSI") is basically there to leech off the servicemen but eventually forms a meaningful relationship with Corporal "Boonie" Boonwell (Brian Wimmer), China Beach's lifeguard and recreation manager.  We also get to know enigmatic recon operative Sgt. Evan "Dodger" Winslow (Jeff Kober, THE BABY DOLL MURDERS), trying to hold onto his humanity after having served in the jungle for too long.

Like "M*A*S*H" before it, everyday moments of happiness or strife are often interrupted by either a sudden influx of wounded G.I.s or harrowing enemy attacks, the worst being an intense episode which occurs during the TET offensive. 

For me, these segments represent "China Beach" at its most compelling. I find it least interesting when it lapses into soap opera, concentrates too much on characters such as USO singer Laurette Barber (Chloe Webb), whom I found obnoxious, or borders on the morally ambiguous, as when McMurphy allows a Viet Cong patient who blew up several G.I.s in a bar to go free and perhaps kill again simply because she feels sorry for her.

The show also tends, in my opinion, to come off as rather sanctimonious, as though basking in its own nobility for being so lavishly well-intentioned. Other viewers, I happily concede, may not get this impression at all.

Indeed, being quite aware of the immense and generally well-deserved popularity of the show, I can heartily recommend CHINA BEACH: THE COMPLETE SERIES to those devoted fans who will fully appreciate having all 62 episodes (not to mention the wealth of featurettes, commentaries, interviews, and bonus booklets) in their DVD collection.


Buy it at Time-Life

CHINA BEACH: THE COMPLETE SERIES -- DVD Review by Porfle

SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE -- Movie Review by Porfle

  Originally published on 11/20/17

 

SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE (2002) begins Park Chan-wook's celebrated vengeance trilogy with the old story of a "simple plan" that inevitably goes all to hell.

Ha-kyun Shin plays Ryu, a green-haired deaf-mute who toils in a factory while desperately waiting for a donor kidney for his dying sister (Ji-Eun Lim). His attempt to purchase the necessary organ on the black market ends disastrously, as he loses not only all his money but one of his own kidneys as well. Then he gets laid off from his job just as the doctor informs him that a donor kidney, which he can no longer afford, is finally available.

Ryu's domineering girlfriend Yeong-mi (Du-na Bae), a radical political activist with terrorist ties, concocts a scheme to abduct the young daughter of wealthy businessman Park Dong-jin (Kang-ho Song) and hold her for ransom, with the naive confidence that it will be a "benevolent" kidnapping and result in happy endings for all involved.

Her prediction goes horribly wrong, as does the kidnapping, and she and Ryu find themselves the targets of a vengeful father whose emotional devastation demands a payment in blood. Ryu, meanwhile, attempts to track down the illicit organ merchants and extract some lethal payback of his own. Both find the price of revenge distressingly high.

"I wanted to make something that felt too real," director Park Chan-wook explains. "I wanted the audience to be tired when they finished the film." As opposed to the later OLDBOY'S flamboyant surrealism and absurdity, the bad things that happen during this film are disturbingly matter of fact, with no suspenseful music or editing, often occurring in the background of a shot. We're allowed to search the frame for information ourselves rather than have everything pointed out to us, which can be strangely unsettling.

"As a director, I think this unkind way of presenting the story makes the viewer a more active participant in the film," says Park. Lengthy wide-angle shots often place the characters far from the camera, punctuated by unexpected images from odd angles which tease us with brief snippets of information.



One of the most important death scenes in the film occurs almost peripherally within the frame as the static camera lingers over a placid rural setting. Without the usual editing and camera angles leading the viewer through the scene, we're left to watch helplessly as the tragedy unfolds with dreadful inevitability.

Still, Park occasionally gets up close and personal, as in a brutal torture-by-electricity scene or a shocking knife murder of a man by a group of terrorists. Here, in a subtle bit of absurdity that's almost funny, the camera impassively observes the dying man as he strains to read the death warrant pinned to his own chest by a knife.

Even in a sequence which in any other film might play out as a brisk action setpiece, such as Ryu's bloody final encounter with the organ merchants, Park tweaks our expectations by approaching the familiar scenario with a fresh and pleasingly odd perspective.

"When you set out for revenge, first dig two graves," someone told James Bond way back in 1981's FOR YOUR EYES ONLY. Here, Park Chan-wook takes that hoary old proverb and dramatizes it in dispiritingly downbeat and often heartrending new ways, focusing in almost clinical fashion on tragic details that linger in the mind.

Perhaps the most disturbing thing about this chain reaction of consequences is that there are two sides headed for a deadly collision, and our sympathies extend to both of them. (This is a theme that will carry over into the next film in the series, OLDBOY.)  SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE is hardly the kind of revenge flick where Charles Bronson blows away bad guys as we cheer through our popcorn. For these unfortunate characters, vengeance ain't necessarily good for what ails 'em.


Read our full review of Palisade Tartan Asia Extreme's eight-disc DVD set THE VENGEANCE TRILOGY

Read our review of OLDBOY
Read our review of LADY VENGEANCE

SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE -- Movie Review by Porfle

THEIR FINEST HOUR: FIVE BRITISH WWII CLASSICS -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

 Originally posted on 3/28/2020

 

Film Movement Classics' five-disc Blu-ray collection THEIR FINEST HOUR: 5 BRITISH WWII CLASSICS brings together some of the absolute best British war films of the 40s and 50s, all beautifully restored (fans of rich old-style black and white photography should find them a visual treat) and augmented with plenty of bonus features.

Here are our impressions of each film:


DUNKIRK (1958)

While I loved Christopher Nolan's recent version of this particular WWII historical event, many criticized it for not supplying viewers with a more substantial backstory leading up to it.

The 1958 film, DUNKIRK, does just that, giving us much more of a lead-up to what happened and why, detailing the collapse of the British military's defense of France from the overwhelming German invasion and their subsequent retreat to the beaches at Dunkirk where a rescue effort descended into carnage and chaos.

In traditional Ealing Studios fashion, this is filmed in beautiful, no-frills black and white which gives everything more of a gritty realism.

It also reflects that studio's fondness for depicting the basic goodness and integrity of the British people when faced with a unifying adversity that threatened to strike at the very heart of their entire existence.

The first half of the story follows a ragtag group of soldiers separated from the rest of their unit and wandering about rural France under the reluctant command of a callow corporal (John Mills) who suddenly finds himself the highest ranking officer.

We get to know this likable bunch as they march through pastoral settings that suddenly turn into blazing life and death situations where even civilian refugees are slaughtered by strafing planes and missile shells.

Meanwhile, British civilians back home are gearing up to launch their small seagoing craft to aid in the rescue effort across the channel at Dunkirk.  Bernard Lee, who played "M" to Sean Connery's James Bond, willingly lends his own boat to the cause, while a young Richard Attenborough (THE GREAT ESCAPE) initially finds himself lacking the necessary courage for such a perilous venture.

The spectacular cinematic depictions of these events include countless extras in explosive battle action, ships filled with escapees being bombed and sunk, and other cinematic wonders.  Ultimately, however, it's the heroism of both soldiers and civilians that is honored by the makers of DUNKIRK. 


THE DAM BUSTERS (1955)

Back in the early days of WWII a man named Dr. Wallis (Michael Redgrave) comes up with a way for a squadron of bomber planes, led by Wing Commander Guy Gibson (Richard Todd), to cause chaos to German industry by blowing up some of that country's biggest dams.

THE DAM BUSTERS (1955) is the story of that incredible real-life mission which, despite a heavy death toll among its valiant participants, was a spectacular success.

It doesn't seem so at first, however, and much of the story tells of Dr. Wallis' difficulty in selling the idea--which involves releasing huge bombs over the water at extremely low altitudes and under heavy fire so that they skip across the surface of the water like stones until they collide with the dam--to the military brass.

Directed by Michael Anderson, the film proceeds slowly, methodically, almost like a detective yarn in which the mystery to be solved is how to make Dr. Wallis' seemingly fantastic idea come to pass in practical terms amidst skepticism and technical glitches.

During the slow buildup we get to know Commander Gibson and the men of his ace flying squadron as they prepare themselves for what may be a suicidal and ultimately fruitless mission.

Low-key and utterly lacking in flash and sensationalism, this is a quietly engrossing, impeccably rendered story which finally evolves into one of the most thrilling, nailbiting war thrillers to come out of the British film industry.

So exciting and well-mounted is the sustained final dam-busting sequence, in fact, that George Lucas used much of it as the inspiration for the Death Star attack in STAR WARS. 

Here, the cinematic potential of the event is fully and brilliantly explored, with special effects that are amazing for the time. This includes some beautiful miniatures, matte shots, and even cel animation to augment the live action footage. In addition, the crisp black and white photography is consistently good throughout the film.

The cast features some familiar faces in minor roles (including a young Robert Shaw of JAWS) as well as lead stars Michael Redgrave, whose Dr. Wallis is likably mild-mannered and earnest, and Richard Todd, a fearless yet human hero whose love for his ever-present canine companion (in a heart-tugging subplot) humanizes him.

From a book by Paul Brickhill (THE GREAT ESCAPE), adapted by R.C. Sherriff (BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, OLD DARK HOUSE, THE INVISIBLE MAN), THE DAM BUSTERS is a literate, satisfying film that brings these thrilling true events to life without sensationalism but with a subtle, human touch.


ICE COLD IN ALEX (1958)

A ragtag group of British army soldiers and nurses in a beat-up ambulance must undertake a hazardous desert crossing in Northern Africa to escape a beseiged Tobruk in this WWII thriller, ICE COLD IN ALEX (1958).

The group is led by a battle-weary alcoholic named Captain Anson (John Mills in fine form) and also includes stalwart Sergeant Major Pugh (an equally good Harry Andrews), dedicated nurse Sister Diana Murdoch (the lovely Sylvia Syms) and her nerve-wracked companion Sister Denise Norton (Diane Clare).

Along the way they pick up stranded South African officer Captain van der Poel (Anthony Quayle), a brawny, overbearing fellow who never lets his backpack out of his sight. This arouses the suspicion of the others, who suspect him of being a German spy.

What follows is one of those grueling, tensely-absorbing cinematic ordeals that manages to keep us on edge even in the story's quieter moments.  The harsh, arid desert not only drains them physically but also contains such perils as a deadly minefield, a bog of quicksand, and the occasional unit of German soldiers. 

We're also constantly worried about the dire condition of their vehicle, which threatens to give out on them at any moment. This is especially daunting when the group is forced to make their way into the worst stretch of desert imaginable with little hope of reaching the other side.

Character interactions are nicely done, with fine performances by all. (Familiar faces in minor roles include Liam Redmond and Walter Gotell.) The film also boasts fine black and white photography and a rousing musical score.

Direction is by J. Lee Thompson, whose career included such widely-varied films as THE GUNS OF NAVARONE, MACKENNA'S GOLD, CONQUEST OF THE PLANET OF THE APES, and DEATH WISH 4: THE CRACKDOWN.

The human element of the story (including an unlikely hint of romance) comes to a satisfying end during a final reckoning with Captain van der Poel. After all the action, adventure, and suspense that has come before, this memorable resolution is ultimately what makes ICE COLD IN ALEX such a rewarding experience.


THE COLDITZ STORY (1955)

Stalwart British screen mainstay John Mills leads the cast once again in THE COLDITZ STORY (1955), based on the true account of Colditz Castle escapee Major Pat Reid.

This medieval fortress in the frosty wilderness of Saxony, with its high stone walls and ancient parapets, provides a unique backdrop for a WWII Allied prisoner-of-war drama in comparison to the familiar setting of big wooden barracks in the middle of a forest.

With the exquisite black and white photography common to such 1950s-era British war films, director Guy Hamilton--who would later helm such James Bond films as GOLDFINGER and LIVE AND LET DIE--has fashioned a gripping tale of men from various countries such as England, Poland, and France all banding together to constantly try and escape the clutches of their ever-wary German captors.

Where the later prison-camp epic THE GREAT ESCAPE spent much time following the progress of its heroes as they tunnelled their way to freedom, THE COLDITZ STORY opens with its characters already in the midst of tunneling, to the point where two competing tunnels, each unaware of the other, inadvertently merge with each other beneath the floorboards of the castle.

The rest of the film recounts several different escape attempts in episodic fashion, even down to individual men scrambling over the barbed wire for a mad dash toward the surrounding woods, until finally there's a unified plan to get several men out dressed as German officers.

This takes up much of the film's latter half and keeps the viewer on edge as the attempt plays out under the cover of a variety performance in the prisoners' theater hall which is attended by German officers and guards.

Despite some grim elements, much of the story is in a rather lighthearted vein, especially when the Allies manage to get the better of their captors in small ways that usually end with some stuffy German officer suffering the derisive laughter of the prisoners.

The more dramatic scenes involve such confrontations as the Allied commander ordering a man not to attempt an escape disguised as a German officer because his unusual height, the discovery of an informant whose family has been threatened if he doesn't cooperate, and other more sobering developments.

The cast is superb, with John Mills giving his usual fine performance along with such familiar faces as Theodore Bikel, a likable and startlingly young Lionel Jeffries, and the great Anton Diffring, who was practically born to play WWII German officers.

A bit unfocused at first with its various subplots and detours into humor, as well as a musical score so bombastic it makes Albert Glasser sound subtle, THE COLDITZ STORY eventually comes together into a gripping suspense tale which stands as one of the superior WWII prisoner-of-war films of the 1950s.



WENT THE DAY WELL? (1942)

I've seen several classic British WWII films of the 40s and 50s recently, but Ealing Studios, known mainly for such dryly amusing post-WWII British comedies as WHISKY GALORE!, THE TITFIELD THUNDERBOLT, and PASSPORT TO PIMLICO, surprises by delivering what may be the most entertaining and gripping war thriller of the bunch.

WENT THE DAY WELL? (1942) is utterly novel in that it begins just like one of Ealing's easygoing pastoral comedies, taking us to the secluded English village of Bramley End and introducing us to its tightly-knit community of endearingly eccentric inhabitants.

Here, they're getting on with their leisurely-paced lives even as the war in Europe rages across the channel, always mindful of their own loved ones fighting in it (as well as those in the local guard) and ready to defend their own shores if the need arise.

This comes sooner than expected when the garrison of Royal Engineers entering their village and warmly welcomed by its people turn out to be undercover German paratroopers paving the way for an invasion.

Their takeover is sudden and brutal, their rule backed by violence and terror while the first escape attempt is punished by having five of their children condemned to be shot.

The idea of the usual Ealing comedy suddenly taking a sharp turn into gritty, savage realism is, to say the least, jarring, especially when we see certain warmly endearing characters shot or bayoneted for standing up to their captors in the defense of their country and their fellow villagers.

Suspense builds as the Germans' harsh methods drive the people to take decisive action while a company of British soldiers is still en route to rescue them, resulting in a sustained battle sequence which, taking place in ordinary settings and involving the most ordinary of country folk, is unique in the annals of war thrillers.

The cast is superb, including Hitchcock veteran Leslie Banks as a trusted villager who turns out to be a German spy and is thus one of the film's most despicable villains.  Alberto Cavalcanti's direction of the story by Graham Greene is unerringly precise, with Ealing's usual impeccable black and white photography.

It may be the fact that I'm still flush with excitement after having just watched it, but I'm moved to proclaim WENT THE DAY WELL? as one of the finest and most edge-of-the-seat thrilling war films I've ever seen. It's certainly unique in my experience, as well as deeply resonant on a purely emotional level.



Buy it from Film Movement Classics


Blu-ray Features

The Colditz Story:
Colditz Revealed documentary
Restoration Comparison
The Dam Busters:
The Making of The Dam Busters
Sir Barnes Wallis Documentary
617 Squadron Remembers
Footage of the Bomb Tests
The Dam Busters Royal Premiere
Restoration of a Classic
The Dam Busters TrailerDunkirk:
Dunkirk Operation Dynamo Newsreel
Young Veteran Ealing Short
Interview with actor Sean Barrett
John Mills home movie footageIce Cold In Alex:
Extended Clip from A Very British War Movie Documentary
John Mills Home Video Footage
Interview with Melanie Williams
Steve Chibnall on J. Lee Thompson
Interview with Sylvia Syms

24-page booklet with essay by film writer and curator Cullen Gallagher

Sound: Mono
Discs: 5
Available 3/31/20

THEIR FINEST HOUR: FIVE BRITISH WWII CLASSICS -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle