Not unlike The Train (1966), the original director of this adaptation of Thomas Gaddis’ 1955 book about lifer Robert Stroud involved a director being replaced by John Frankenheimer, and as Twilight Time commentators Nick Redman, Julie Kirgo, and Paul Seydor note in unison, the choice of Michael Crichton…
More than 20 years after the release of Frank and Eleanor Perry’s adaptation of John Cheever’s short story, Burt Lancaster was asked by an audience member during the taping of a Phil Donahue talk show of his thoughts on the film. The imposing actor paused for a moment, long enough for a smile to emerge, and he responded by saying he knew the film wasn’t going to be a box office, and yet it remained a special film…
Burt Lancaster stars in Stanley Kramer and Abby Mann’s classic postwar drama Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) + John Frankenheimer’s WII art heist thriller The Train (1964), both on Blu via Twilight Time.
Abby Mann’s original 1959 Playhouse 90 teleplay was a risky venture in spite of being broadcast 15 years after the end of WWII, tackling the subject of Nazi atrocities when the general public (specifically American and European audiences) had little interest in hearing more tales about murdered Jews and details of something called concentration camps…
One of the greatest WWII and caper films most may never have heard of, The Train was based on the autobiographical book Le front de l’art by Rose Valland, a woman charged with cataloguing France’s Parisian art treasures for the Nazis, and whose meticulous record keeping enabled the French to keep a tally of stolen art during the war’s final period as the Nazis attempted to smuggle as much cultural loot to Berlin…
Now Where Were We? Right. Let’s go back to LAST NIGHT (1998)
Don McKellar’s LAST NIGHT (1998) is the first review after a long pause in activities at KQEK.com
Gothic Steele: An Angel for Satan (1966)
Review of AN ANGEL FOR SATAN / UN ANGELO PER SATANA (1966), Barbara Steele’s last Italian Gothic, on Blu-ray from Severin Films
Spanish Giallo I: When a Cannibal is not a Cannibal, but When a Scream is Indeed a Scream
Severin Films showcases the work of Eloy de la Iglesia via two fine Spanish gialli entries: NO ONE HEARD THE SCREAM (1973) + CANNIBAL MAN (1972)
ArtScopeTO 10: Interview with Abstract Painter Donna Wise
For my occasional podcast series ArtScope TO, Abstract Painter Donna Wise discusses her unique techniques, and working during the 2020-2021 pandemic.
Podcast: Jason Pichonsky on Restoring Julian Roffman’s THE BLOODY BROOD (1959) + PHOBIA (1980)
Alongside a podcast with CanCon film historian Jason Pichonsky are revised reviews of Julian Roffman’s THE BLOODY BROOD (1959) + John Huston’s PHOBIA (1980), both from KINO Lorber / Unobstructed View.
Podcast: ANNE WITH AN E composers Amin Bhatia & Ari Posner
Podcast interview with ANNE WITH AN E’s composing team Amin Bhatia and Ari Posner.
Assorted characters collide and interact in the lead-up to Earth’s demise at precisely midnight.
BR: Angel for Satan, An / Un angelo per Satana (1966)
Had Barbara Steele remained in Europe – especially Italy – during the early 1970s, she may well have appeared in giallo thrillers…
BR: Cannibal Man / La semana del asesino / Apartment on the 13th Floor, The (1972)
Cannibal Man has a palpable crime-drama feel – the events unfold after daily title cards – and one can sense Hitchcockian sensibilities…
BR: No One Heard the Scream / Nadie oyó gritar (1973)
After the grisly thriller Cannibal Man (1972), Spanish auteur Eloy de la Iglesia opted for a far less graphic thriller which is part giallo…
DVD: Go-Go Boys: The Inside Story of Cannon Films, The (2014)
Produced and released around the same time as Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films (2014), the approach by director Hilla Medalia is a more authorized chronicle…
Connect