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Entries tagged with 'Criterion'
Posted Jul. 3, 2008,
Mishima: Mesmerizing and Mysterious!
By Dennis Dermody
The mesmerizing, 1985 Paul Schrader film Mishima: A Life In Four Chaptera is finally out on DVD. The film is based on the life of Japan's celebrated novelist and playwright Yukio Mishima (played magnificently by Ken Ogata), who in 1970, with his trained personal army, took hostage of a government official and committed hari-kari. Schrader brilliantly blends Mishima's bizarre final day with aspects from his novels and gives an eloquent and artful rendering of his obsessions and passions. With a glorious score by Philip Glass and stunning cinematography by John Bailey, I forgot how much I loved this movie until I watched it again. Criterion once again did a great job with a host of extras including a BBC documentary The Strange Case of Yukio Mishima, which is extraordinary.
On a separate disc is Patriotism, Mishima's fascinating 1966 29-minute film which he directed and starred in as an officer who is ordered to kill his troops, but decides to take the high road by committing seppuku. He makes love to his wife and then they both commit suicide by the sword. It's weirdly a test run for his actual death and surprisingly gory as it is beautiful. I've only seen bits of this in documentaries so it was a thrill to finally witness the entire strange film.
Posted Jun. 23, 2008,
The Furies!
By Dennis Dermody
Coming out Tuesday is an elegant DVD edition of Anthony Mann’s 1950 Freudian western The Furies. Starring Walter Huston as a ruthless cattle baron named T. C. Jeffords, and Barbara Stanwyck as his devoted, fiery daughter Vance, the black and white movie is beautifully composed and fascinating in its psychological implications as Stanwyck becomes unhinged when her father brings a new mother-to-be (Judith Anderson) to the ranch and she sets out to destroy him because of it. Wendell Corey, who plays a shady banker who toys with Stanwyck’s affection, says to her later in the movie: “You’ve found a new love in your life, haven’t you, Vance? You’re in love with hate.”
Gilbert Roland plays a Mexican love interest and there are quite a few unforgettable moments (one involving a hurled pair of scissor, which is staggering). A pretty terrific film, the DVD has got audio commentary by film historian Jim Kitses, plus a 1967 television documentary on director Anthony Mann and a loving tribute by Nina Mann, the director’s daughter, which is particularly touching.
Posted May. 27, 2008,
Fabulous Fantasy Film: The Thief of Bagdad!
By Dennis Dermody
Out this week on DVD is the fabulous fantasy film The Thief of Bagdad. It's a two-disc special edition with a luminous print (with eye-popping color and dazzling visual effects). Lavishly produced by Alexander Korda and co-created with the talents of brilliant Michael Powell (The Red Shoes) and innovative production designer William Cameron Menzies, this to me is better than The Wizard of Oz in terms of magical qualities. The film follows the little beggar (Sabu) as he tries to rightfully place the prince (a strikingly handsome John Justin) back on the thrown usurped by the evil grand visier (a chilling Conrad Veidt). With flying carpets, killer dolls, giant genies, it's a thrilling adventure that only improves with repeated viewings. This disc has commentary by Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese and a great feature with master special effects wizard Ray Harryhausen talking about the film's influence on his work, particularly The 7th Voyage of Sinbad.
Posted Apr. 14, 2008,
Who Are You Polly Maggoo? Out on DVD!
By Dennis Dermody
I can't believe I'm holding in my hands the gorgeous DVD of The Delirious Fictions of William Klein. It's not out until May 20th but it's a must own! William Klein was a famed photographer who worked as a photographer for Vogue before he decided to become a filmmaker. Qui etes-vous Polly Maggoo? (Who Are You Polly Maggoo?) was his brilliant 1966 satire on the fashion industry starring his favorite model Dorothy McGowan as Polly Maggoo, followed around by a French TV crew. Future Dark Shadows star Grayson Hall plays the frosty fashion magazine publisher.
This opening scene of the movie where the models are screwed into these bizarre aluminum sheet dresses is hilarious. This three disc set includes Klein's Mr. Freedom (1969), a blistering satire on America about a Communist-hating super-hero, and The Model Couple (1977) about a couple involved in a controlled government experiment. The eye-popping black and white pop 1960s visuals of Who Are You Polly Maggoo? will make you crazy....
Posted Mar. 25, 2008,
Blast of Silence out on DVD!
By Dennis Dermody
Years ago a friend turned me on to Blast of Silence, a fascinating offbeat 1961 crime drama, written and directed by and starring Allen Baron. It's about a hitman who arrives in New York at Christmas to bump off a hood, and the camera follows him up and down the mean streets stalking his prey while an existential voice-over (care of blacklisted actor Lionel Stander) gives the soundtrack a hard-boiled sheen. This low budget wonder was way ahead of it's time and really delivers. Thankfully Criterion is releasing it beautifully restored on April 15th. It also includes a terrific German documentary which followed the director around his NY locations in 1990 as he reminisced about making the film. The DVD also has recent photos of Allen Baron revisiting locations and rare Polaroids taken during the shooting of the film. What a blast, indeed....
Posted Feb. 18, 2008,
Walker Is Wild and Wonderful!
By Dennis Dermody
Just watched the fabulous upcoming DVD release of Walker (out on Criterion). Director Alex Cox’s (Repo Man) 1987 visionary surreal allegory based on the true 19th century American adventurer William Walker (Ed Harris), who, with a band of mercenaries invaded and crowned himself president of Nicaragua (from 1855-57). Harris cuts a fabulous figure with his steely, incandescent blue eyes and large brimmed black hats foolheartedly striding through war zones as if convinced he is so touched by God he is invincible.
Cox throws in anachronistic helicopters, Newsweek magazines and automobiles to make parallels to the 1980 contra war, and at the time, audiences stayed away in droves. It’s a shame too, because it feels even more startling, original and prescient now. And Joe Strummer’s glorious original score is haunting as it is memorably melodic.
Posted Nov. 14, 2007,
The Lady Vanishes Out on Criterion!
By Dennis Dermody
A stunning new transfer of Alfred Hitchcock's sublimely thrilling 1938 film The Lady Vanishes is out on Criterion. Margaret Lockwood plays the lovely lady traveling by train who befriends an elderly woman Miss Froy (Dame May Whitty) and then when the old lady vanishes everyone on the train denies ever seeing her. Lockwood enlists a cocky young man (Michael Redgrave), who is writing a book about European folk music, and they frantically search for the missing Miss Froy. The train is filled with all sorts of suspicious characters and some comical ones -- like the hilarious British cricket fanatics Caldicott and Charters (played by Naunton Wayne and Basil Radford).
But the movie is a streamlined suspenseful treat from beginning to end. Criterion has really upgraded from the last time this was on DVD and the image is sharp and clear. They also added a second disc with another mystery starring Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne (a 1941 film called Crook's Tour), and a video essay by Hitchcock scholar Leonard Leff.
Posted Sep. 18, 2007,
The 3 Penny Opera!
By Dennis Dermody
Just watched the fabulous two-disc DVD of The 3 Penny Opera from Criterion and it made we weep with joy it was so fabulous! Dramatist Bertolt Brecht and composer Kurt Weill collaborated on a version of The Beggar's Opera in 1928 and the resulting The 3 Penny Opera was a resounding success with critics and audiences. Film director G. W. Pabst (Pandora's Box) was in the audience and bought the rights for the film version. But Brecht turned in a script that reflected his growing Communist idealism that had little to do with the stage play and ended up suing Pabst. Ironically, the resulting film which is an approximation of the play (and includes half of the songs) ended up reflecting a definite Marxist leaning towards the end.
Posted Aug. 23, 2007,
If...
By Dennis Dermody
I've had the new DVD of Lindsay Anderson's incendiary anarchic 1969 film If.... (out on Criterion) next to the TV for a while, and have been afraid to watch it. Mainly because when I saw it the year it came out it had such a powerful effect on me I went back to the theater and watched it countless times.
Set in an English boarding school, the stuffy rules, regulations, corporal punishments are a backdrop to Malcolm McDowell's angry young man secretly drinking vodka in his room, and listening to the album "Missa Luba," biding his time until he sets into motion his own revolution. Anderson's daring filmmaking technique -- shifting between black & white and color and the crazy, surreal turns were thrilling at the time. Not to mention the anti-establishment sentiments which were exhilerating.
I finally watched it last night and it was as powerful and wonderful as when I first saw it. It's hard not to compare it to Jean Vigo's 1932 featurette Zero For Conduct, but while there are similarities in terms of rebel spirit, it really stands on its own. The transfer looked amazing, and it still pushes emotional buttons -- especially at the end when it explodes into a full-fledged war on screen. What a great film and still a call to arms!
Posted Jul. 18, 2007,
Les Enfants Terribles Out on Criterion
By Dennis Dermody
One glorious film: Les Enfants Terribles is coming out in a beautiful edition on Criterion. Based on the novel by Jean Cocteau who gave the project to director Jean-Pierre Melville after seeing his first film, it’s a perfect marriage of style and subject. The complex relationship between a brother and sister and the destructive games they play is basis for this strange tale. Paul (played by another Cocteau “protégée," Edouard Dermithe) is injured by a snowball thrown after school by a boy he’s in love with. Under doctor’s order, he is forced to stay at home in bed, nursed by his adoring sister Elisabeth (Nicole Stephane). They create this hothouse hermetically sealed world and the people they draw in eventually suffer for it. For years Mellville (who went on to direct Army of Shadows and Le Samourai) bristled when people described this as a “Cocteau” movie, and indeed it does feel like one, but Cocteau was on the set during the filming and considering the source it’s understandably “Cocteau-ish” in mood. Who cares -- it’s stunning.