After handling the social dramas Gentleman’s Agreement and Pinky, director Elia Kazan returned to the docu-style of Boomerang, this time relishing the tension of a city manhunt for a handful of possibly infected plague carriers. Kazan’s use of genuine locations is superb, capturing the grime of poverty-row housing, ethnic ghettos, and the gleaming city buildings and streets which house nervous state officials looking for a quick fix for a messy problem…
After earning an Oscar Nomination for her starring role in Peyton Place (1957) and getting important supporting roles in The Young Lions (1958) and In Love and War (1958), Hope Lange was given the plum role of Caroline Baker, the suburban girl who travels to the Big Apple after earning a business degree, and slowly rises to the upper echelons of Derby Publishing from typist to book editor…
If a supporting role in Bernadine proved to Fox brass that singer Pat Boone could in fact act (and make money for the studio), then it seemed natural to quickly slide the crooner into a starring project that tied all the demographics together into a light, almost classically written puffball musical…
Return to: Home / Blu-ray, DVD, Film Reviews / J to L . Film: Very Good / BR Transfer: Very Good/ BR Extras: Excellent Label: Twilight Time / Region:All / Released: July 9, 2013 Genre: Romance / Drama / Biography Synopsis: A Eurasian doctor living in 1949 Hong Kong falls for a married American war correspondent. Special […]
Return to: Home / Blu-ray, DVD, Film Reviews / D . Film: Excellent/ BR Transfer: Excellent/ BR Extras: Excellent Label: Twilight Time/ Region: All / Released: 2013 Genre: Western Synopsis: Pioneers struggle to rebuild their lives after a marauding force of Tory-led Mohawks devastate their homestead. Special Features: Audio Commentary with film historians Julie Kirgo and Nick […]
Return to: Home / Blu-ray, DVD, Film Reviews / S . Film: Excellent/ BD Transfer: Excellent/ BD Extras: Excellent Label: Twilight Time/ Region: All / Released: March 26, 2013 Genre: Historical Drama Synopsis: Classic tale of Bernadette Soubirous, a young French girl who experiences a Holy vision and struggles against poverty, ridicule, and threats from the town […]
Return to: Home / Blu-ray, DVD, Film Reviews / P to R . Film: Excellent/ DVD Transfer: Very Good/ DVD Extras: Very Good Label: Twentieth Century-Fox/ Region: 1 (NTSC) / Released: November 1, 2005 Genre: Drama / Romance / Disaster Synopsis: The arrival of a wealthy trollop upsets the social balance of an Indian province prior to […]
Editor’s Blog on CinemaScope and reviews of The Robe (Fox) and Demetrius and the Gladiators (Twilight Time), plus Bella Darvi in Hell and High Water (Fox), and soundtrack reviews of Alfred Newman’s The Robe (La-La Land) and Franz Waxman’s Demetrius and the Gladiators (FSM).
Return to: Home / Soundtrack Reviews / P to R . Rating: Excellent Label: La-La Land Records/ Released: March 27, 2012 Tracks & Album Length: CD1: 18 tracks / (56:08) + CD2: 20 tracks / (55:23) . Special Notes: 12-page colour booklet with liner notes by film historian Julie Kirgo / Limited to 2,000 copies. . Composer: Alfred […]
Return to: Home / Soundtrack Reviews / D . Rating: Excellent Label: Film Score Monthly/ Released: January, 2002 Tracks & Album Length: 29 tracks / (61:52) . Special Notes: 16-page colour booklet with liner notes by Lukas Kendall and Christopher Husted / Limited to 3,000 copies. . Composer: Franz Waxman, Alfred Newman (“The Robe”theme) . . Review: […]
The Jack the Ripper flick that almost got away…
Review of Severin’s packed Blu-ray of JACK THE RIPPER, the shockingly good 1959 version, rescued from oblivion.
ArtScopeTO 08: Interview with Photographer Lori Ryerson
The latest ArtScopeTO podcast features a chat with photographer Lori Ryerson, whose series OFF THE BEATEN PATH can be seen at Toronto’s Urban Gallery until Sat. April 27, 2019.
Podcast Interview with Saint Judy Composer James T. Sale
In a new podcast, composer James T. Sale discusses his music for Sean Hanish’s prescient bio-drama, SAINT JUDY (2018).
Thoughts on sex & architecture & a review of Wim Verstappen & Pim de la Parra’s BLUE MOVIE (1971), new on Blu from Cult Epics.
Death in Splendid Isolation: Lighthouse Mysteries
The lure of the lighthouse proved fatal for some in THE VANISHING (2018) on Blu from Lionsgate + THE PHANTOM LIGHT (1935) on DVD from MPI.
ArtScopeTO 08: Interview with Photographer Lori Ryerson
The latest ArtScopeTO podcast features a chat with photographer Lori Ryerson, whose series OFF THE BEATEN PATH can be seen at Toronto’s Urban Gallery until Sat. April 27, 2019.
Podcast Interview with Saint Judy Composer James T. Sale
In a new podcast, composer James T. Sale discusses his music for Sean Hanish’s prescient bio-drama, SAINT JUDY (2018).
Viva Amiga’s Zach Weddington (and a bit of gear talk)
Podcast interview with Zach Weddington on Viva Amiga, his affectionate documentary on the pioneering multimedia computer (plus a bit of gear talk).
Jack the Ripper was arguably the first ‘star’ serial killer, and the public’s interest in gory details proves how little human nature has changed in the past 31 years…
BR: Blue Movie / Session in Amsterdam (1971)
The frankness within Blue Movie is quite astonishing – full frontal male & female naughty bits, with active handling & touching on camera, as filmed by a young Jan de Bont…
DVD: Phantom Light, The (1935)
In 1935, Michael Powell directed 7 films, and The Phantom Light (1935) is among the few of his early quota work to make it to DVD. For North Americans familiar with his more daring artistic experiments with Emeric Pressburger (such as The Red Shoes, or Black Narcissus)…
BR: Vanishing, The / Keepers (2018)
Based on the still-unsolved Flannan Isle Mystery in which three lighthouse keepers vanished from an isolated isle without a trace in 1900, Joe Bone and Celyn Jones’ script unravels like a classic thriller in which isolation + greed drives men mad…
Whether Pearl S. Buck’s first screenplay required heavy work by Claude Binyon isn’t known, but the author of The Good Earth (published in 1931, and made into a film in 1937 by MGM) reportedly wrote China Story around 1950…
Written during his busiest period (1968-1970), Quincy Jones’ score for John and Mary was quite sparse, leaving obligatory space for the film’s myriad dialogue exchanges and source music, but the score is memorable for being atypical of the material Jones was writing at the time: action comedies (The Italian Job, The Hell with Heroes), comedies (Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice,Cactus Flower), and the funky style of They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!
For some soundtrack fans, it was a bit of surprise to learn the composer of pioneering synth scores had begun his career with large orchestral scores for John Boorman’s Excalibur (1981) and Jim Henson’s The Dark Crystal (1982)…
LP: Bourne Identity, The (2002)
The first film in the enduring franchise gave John Powell the perfect opportunity to write what remains both his definitive action sound, and the definitive action score of that decade, blending large orchestral sounds with layers upon layers of electronics…
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