Welcome to The Pit: GREYHOUND (2020) + U-BOATS: THE WOLFPACK and B-17: THE FLYING FORTRESS (1987)
‘I see you, evil Nazi schwein, and I will defeat you…’
Every once in a while I manage to connect something brand spanking new with a lesser-known production, and as luck would have it, a forgotten pair of half-hour documentaries sold to syndicated TV stations and specialty channels in 1987 was released by BSX Entertainment on DVD earlier this year.
The double-bill of U-Boats: The Wolfpack and B-17: The Flying Fortress (1987) feature scores by a young Christopher Young (Hellraiser) and are still solid, concise accounts of the German Nazi U-boats which wreaked havoc on allied supply ships in the Atlantic during WWII, and in the second doc, the mighty B-17 bomber, perhaps one of the most iconic war planes of the era.
I pulled out the DVD because the U-boat doc provides background on Greyhound (2020), the more intricately dramatized attempts of a U.S. navy Captain tasked with guiding allied supply ships to Britain. It’s a solid drama starring Tom Hanks, who also wrote the screenplay based on C.S. Forester’s novel The Good Shepherd. Greyhound is a taut, concise, terrific film running less than 90 mins. (!) and is only available via Apple TV+.
In interviews surrounding the film’s imminent (digital) release, Hanks was polite in expressing his delight the Sony-produced film found a home with Apple TV after COVID quashed its intended theatrical run, and although he, like many film fans, would’ve preferred people had had a chance to see Greyhound on the big screen, it still works as an intimate drama on the small screen, even though it should (and deserves) a proper physical release with contextual extras.
Coming next: Blood & Flesh: The Reel Life & Ghastly Death of Al Adamson (2019) + The Female Bunch (1971) from Severin; a book review of Cult Epics’ gorgeous Women of the Sun: Bunny Yeager in Mexico (2020) + The Claire Sinclaire Show (2014); and a pairing of two Sir Lew (low) Grade cinematic duds from 1980, Saturn 3 + Raise the Titanic! and an answer to the most obvious question regarding these ITC super-productions: Are they really that bad, or are there any merits at all to their respective takes on modern sci-fi and the infamous marine tragedy?
Thanks for reading,
Mark R. Hasan, Editor
KQEK.com
Category: EDITOR'S BLOG
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