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REVIEW: "IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT" (1967) STARRING SIDNEY POITIER AND ROD STEIGER; CRITERION BLU-RAY RELEASE

nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro) — Sat, 19 Jan 2019 13:09:00 +0000

��A SLAP HEARD AROUND THE WORLD��

By Raymond Benson

The year 1967 was a milestone for actor Sidney Poitier. First, To Sir, with Love garnered sizable box-office for this British picture, and then Hollywood produced In the Heat of the Night and Guess Who��s Coming to Dinner, two back-to-back revolutionary movies that solidified Poitier��s position not only as Tinsel Town��s only black leading man at the time, but also as an icon of the civil rights movement and the representative��certainly not by choice��of his race in films to the rest of America. Throughout his career, Poitier maintained an intelligence and dignity that was tangible, and this is what made him such a charismatic star.

Both In the Heat of the Night and Guess Who��s Coming to Dinner were Oscar nominees for Best Picture. A winner of five awards, Heat took home the gold. Rod Steiger, Poitier��s dynamic co-star, won the Best Actor trophy. Hal Ashby and Stirling Silliphant were honored for, respectively, editing and the adapted screenplay (based on the novel by John Ball). It was a year of tough competition (The Graduate and Bonnie and Clyde were also nominated).

While In the Heat of the Night is still a terrific movie today, one must place it in the context of the year it was released to fully understand its impact. The civil rights movement was at its height. The nation��s television sets were full of images of marches, riots, and violence. It seemed as if we were sitting on a powder keg, and Heat perfectly captured the tension of the moment by telling a story set in the South of a racist police chief and a black detective who unwittingly join forces to solve a murder.

Virgil Tibbs (Poitier) is a homicide detective from Philadelphia who happens to be passing through town on the night a prominent white businessman is found murdered. Arrested at the train station, Tibbs is brought to Chief Gillespie (Steiger) and the truth comes out that they have the wrong man. Before he can leave town, though, Tibbs finds himself embroiled in the investigation��and ends up leading it��while all around him is the threat of danger due to the color of his skin.

And then there��s the infamous scene which many critics and film historians called ��the slap heard around the world.�� Tibbs and Gillespie go to a cotton plantation to interview the deceased��s primary competitor, Endicott (Larry Gates), who is obviously put off by being questioned by a black man. At one point, he slaps Tibbs��but Tibbs immediately retaliates by slapping the man in return. In 1967, this was positively shocking. It��s the key moment in this powerfully-directed picture.

Warren Oates and Lee Grant also deliver strong performances as a police deputy and the widow of the murder victim, respectively. With the innovative blues score by Quincy Jones (and title theme sung by Ray Charles), Haskell Wexler��s gritty cinematography, and the perfect script by Silliphant, In the Heat of the Night is one of the classic American films.

The Criterion Collection��s new Blu-ray contains a 4K digital restoration with an uncompressed monaural soundtrack. The visual quality is much improved over the MGM Blu-ray of a few years ago (but, unfortunately, does not include the audio commentary by Jewison, Grant, Steiger, and Wexler from the earlier disk). Still, there are some good supplements. Brand new interviews with Norman Jewison and Lee Grant are informative, especially Grant��s treatise on the blacklisting she had undergone. A new interview with Aram Goudsouzian, author of Sidney Pointer: Man, Actor, Icon, presents a capsule portrait of Poitier and his place in Hollywood through the years. A vintage interview of Poitier from a 2006 AFI piece illustrates the making of the picture. Ported over from the previous MGM disk is the 2008 documentary, Turning Up the Heat: Movie-Making in the 60s, which features Jewison, Wexler, and producer Walter Mirisch, plus contemporary filmmakers John Singleton and Reginal Hudlin on the making of the film. Quincy Jones: Breaking New Sound, also from 2008, explores the movie��s soundtrack and features Jones, lyricists Alan and Marilyn Bergman, and Herbie Hancock. The theatrical trailer is included, and the accompanying booklet features an essay by critic K. Austin Collins.

In the Heat of the Night is a landmark drama that broke new ground on several fronts�� but also at its heart is a cracking good murder mystery! A must-see masterpiece.

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REVIEW: POLANSKI'S "MACBETH" (1971), CRITERION BLU-RAY RELEASE

nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro) — Mon, 07 Jan 2019 13:31:00 +0000

RETRO-ACTIVE: THE BEST FROM THE CINEMA RETRO ARCHIVES

��BLOOD AND PRESTIGE��

By Raymond Benson

(Portions of this review are reprinted from the article ��Playboy Goes to Hollywood,�� by the same author, which appeared in Cinema Retro, Volume 2, Issue #5, 2006.)

The Criterion Collection has seen fit to release on Blu-ray and DVD (separate packaging) Roman Polanski��s striking film adaptation of William Shakespeare��s Macbeth, originally released in 1971. Not very well received at first, the picture��s reputation has grown over the years such that it is now arguably considered the definitive version of the ��Scottish play�� on celluloid (although Akira Kurosawa��s 1957 Throne of Blood is certainly a contender). Gritty, realistic, and violent, Polanski��s vision is dark and troubling��as the story is meant to be.

It��s possible that some of the negative press it received in 1971 was due to the fact that it was the first major motion picture produced by Playboy Productions, with Hugh M. Hefner serving as executive producer, while Playboy executive Victor Lownes II served as assistant executive producer (Andrew Braunsberg, a close friend of Polanski��s, was credited as producer). The film came about as a result of the friendship between Polanski and Lownes. The director had been recovering from the tremendous amount of grief he had suffered after the murder of his wife Sharon Tate at the hands of the Manson family in 1969��he needed something that would help purge himself of the ugly and violent images in his head and heart. Shakespeare��s controversial and bloody play seemed to be the right vehicle. (Some say the play is unlucky��there are still theatre people who refuse to refer to it by name.)

Indeed, making the film was something of a catharsis for Polanski��there were a few occasions in which he unwittingly referred to the lead actress as ��Sharon.�� Adapted by renowned playwright and critic Kenneth Tynan, Polanski��s Macbeth became a poster child for the handful of ultra-violent pictures to be released in 1971��the same year as A Clockwork Orange, Dirty Harry, and Straw Dogs. The blood flows freely in Macbeth��a decapitation is even presented most realistically��but to focus solely on the film��s violence does not do it justice. The film is a remarkably faithful adaptation of the play.

��Corporate was initially against the idea,�� Hugh Hefner said in a 2006 interview for Cinema Retro. ��It was not a very commercial undertaking, and I knew it wouldn��t make any money. Victor made a strong case to do it and I agreed with him. It was more of a prestige thing for Playboy. Playboy and Shakespeare? Who would have thought?��

The film was made in Scotland, of course, and featured mostly unknown but highly talented stage actors��Jon Finch as Macbeth, Francesca Annis as Lady Macbeth, Nicholas Selby as Duncan, Stephen Chase as Malcolm, Martin Shaw as Banquo, and Terence Bayler as Macduff. At one point during production, Polanski ran over schedule and over budget, causing the insurance backers to drop the guarantee. Hefner had to fly to London, take stock of the situation, and personally guarantee the completion of the film with Playboy Productions�� money.

Back home in the States, Hefner viewed the dailies at the Playboy Mansion. Hefner remembered, ��For my birthday that year, the cast��on film��suddenly stopped the action of a scene and began singing ��Happy Birthday�� to me.��

The film did receive a number of very positive reviews and a few awards, too��it won Best Picture from the National Board of Review and won a BAFTA for Costume Design. ��Of course, as I predicted, it didn��t make any money,�� Hefner said. ��In fact, it lost money. But we didn��t really care. It was a good picture and I��m proud of it. I believe since its release the film has gone into the black.��

Criterion��s new 4K digital restoration, approved by Polanski, with 3.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack is assuredly the best possible presentation of this remarkable film. The dreary Scottish landscapes are gorgeous in their own way, and you can feel the mud and slop in every scene. Extras include a new documentary featuring interviews with Polanski, Braunsberg, Lownes, and actors Annis and Shaw; a 1971 documentary featuring rare footage of the cast and crew at work; an interview with Kenneth Tynan from a 1971 episode of The Dick Cavett Show; and a segment from the 1972 British TV series Aquarius featuring Polanski and theatre director Peter Coe. Critic Terrence Rafferty��s essay in the booklet rounds out this exceptional package from The Criterion Collection.

Grab it! Just don��t ever pronounce the name of the play aloud!

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REVIEW: INGMAR BERGMAN'S "SAWDUST AND TINSEL" (1953); CRITERION BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION

nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro) — Thu, 13 Dec 2018 13:05:00 +0000

��THE CIRCUS OF HUMILIATION��

By Raymond Benson

The Criterion Collection has upgraded to Blu-ray their earlier DVD release of Ingmar Bergman��s 1953 feature, Sawdust and Tinsel (titled The Naked Night when the picture was first released theatrically in the U.S.). The visual quality has improved with a new 2K digital restoration that looks razor sharp with gorgeous contrasting black and white imagery, and it comes with an uncompressed monaural soundtrack.

Sawdust was a major step forward in the evolution of Bergman��s filmography, although it was not well-received by Swedish audiences at the time of release. It was most likely deemed too disturbing for what appeared to be a movie about a traveling circus. Note that this was before Bergman��s international breakthrough, which would occur a couple of years later with Smiles of a Summer Night. At the time of Sawdust and Tinsel, Bergman was mostly known just in his native country and at the various film festivals around the world where his work had been submitted.

The first several pictures in Bergman��s oeuvre, especially in the late 1940s, were often melodramatic tales of entanglement, lost love, betrayal, and working-class misfits struggling to enrich their lives. It wasn��t until Summer Interlude, in 1951, that a singular stylistic and thematic voice emerged that can now be identified as Bergman-esque. Earlier in 1953, Summer with Monika was released, and that caused something of a sensation with its frank portrayal of what the U.S. distributor called ��The Story of a Bad Girl.�� That one made a star out of Harriet Andersson, who would work on several other pictures with Bergman over the next four decades.

Sawdust and Tinsel was a very different picture from Monika. Taking place in the early 1900s, the story concerns a poor, shoddy traveling circus that barely supports itself. It is run by Albert (?ke Gr?nberg), a middle-aged man who left his wife and sons in a small town in order to be a ringmaster. His mistress, Anne (Harriet Andersson), is the bareback rider, younger and yearning for something better. Frost the Clown (Anders Ek) and his wife Alma (Gudrun Brost), who has an act with a sickly bear, are oddballs and constant thorns in Albert��s side. When the circus sets up near the town where Albert��s family lives, he decides to go for a visit. First, though, the troupe must borrow costumes from the local theater run by creepy manager Sjuberg (played by Bergman stalwart Gunnar Bj?rnstrand). There, Anne meets the mysterious actor, Frans (Hasse Ekman), who seduces her away from Albert.

Doesn��t sound like a good time at the cinema? Hogwash. This is a fascinating and haunting battle of the sexes��a typical Bergman theme��but the carnival milieu is so unique to the director that Sawdust and Tinsel is immediately visually striking with its dreamlike photography (it was the first collaboration between Bergman and longtime cinematographer Sven Nykvist), its colorful and eccentric characters, and its moody and often threatening ambiance.

At the story��s core is a treatise on how human beings react to humiliation. The opening scene, in which Frost must rescue his wife from the taunting of the Swedish military performing exercises near the beach, is a nightmarish, nearly silent mime show of anguish and terror (and the facial contortions that Ek��s Frost makes are worth a study in skin elasticity!). The meat of the picture is how the ultimate shattering of both Albert��s and Anne��s dreams force them to re-examine their lots in life.

It��s all powerful stuff.

Supplements on the disk include an audio commentary from 2007 by Bergman scholar Peter Cowie, a video introduction from 2003 by Bergman himself, and an essay in the booklet by critic John Simon.

NOTE: For those of you looking for the sold-out boxed set retrospective of Bergman��s career that was released in November, Ingmar Bergman��s Cinema, new copies will be available February 26, 2019.

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REVIEW: ORSON WELLES' "THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS" (1942); CRITERION BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION

nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro) — Fri, 07 Dec 2018 18:00:00 +0000

��A STOLEN MASTERPIECE��

By Raymond Benson

In a fascinating interview supplement contained on this amazing new release by The Criterion Collection, film historian Joseph McBride calls The Magnificent Ambersons one of the great Hollywood tragedies in that the film we got from writer/director Orson Welles was not the one he intended. It is widely known that RKO Radio, the studio behind the production, deleted forty-three minutes from Welles�� final cut, reshot the ending, and released the film their way��all against Welles�� wishes��and then promptly destroyed the cut footage so that the movie could never be reconstructed.

The Magnificent Ambersons is a stolen masterpiece.

That said, the film is still a great movie. In fact, it earned Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress (Agnes Moorehead), Best Cinematography (Black & White, by Stanley Cortez), and Best Art/Interior Set Decoration (Black & White).

Ambersons, based on Booth Tarkington��s 1918 novel (Welles claims that Tarkington was a ��friend�� of his father��s), the picture was the director��s follow-up to Citizen Kane. Once again featuring some of the Mercury Players (Joseph Cotten, Ray Collins, and Moorehead) and new casting choices (Dolores Costello, Tim Holt, Anne Baxter), the production of Ambersons went well, with the picture going only a little over budget. Welles delivered a 148-minute cut��and then Pearl Harbor happened. Welles was appointed by Nelson Rockefeller to be a goodwill ambassador to Latin America so that he could attempt to persuade South American countries from entering the war on the Axis side.

Welles dutifully went to Brazil and started shooting a film (It��s All True, another picture sabotaged by RKO) and was essentially unavailable to receive notes and requests from RKO regarding Ambersons. RKO, unhappy with the film, then took it upon themselves to change it to suit their needs, and there was nothing Welles could do about it. The picture released in July 1942 was 88-minutes in length.

Would a Magnificent Ambersons that is an hour longer be a better film than it already is? We can only assume. For one thing, the ending was drastically different. Welles�� version was cynical, dark, and ironic. Given the wartime climate, RKO wanted a more upbeat ending��never mind that it really doesn��t make sense that the characters suddenly change entire attitudes they have held throughout the film. Never mind that the final half-hour of the movie feels choppy, rushed, and out-of-rhythm from the first hour. The 88-minute version is what we have and must live with.

It should be stated again��The Magnificent Ambersons is still a great picture.

The story concerns the wealthy Amberson family in the early 1900s Indianapolis. Beautiful Isabel Amberson (Costello) marries Wilbur Minafer (Don Dillaway) instead of Eugene Morgan (Cotten), but she regrets it�� and she and Morgan carry torches for each other for the remainder of their days. Enter Isabel and Wilbur��s bratty son, George (Holt), who terrorizes the town with his bad manners, arrogance, and boorishness. Things get complicated when he begins to woo Morgan��s daughter Lucy (Baxter) and at the same time insult and humiliate her father. All the while, Wilbur��s sister Fanny (Moorehead) also carries unrequited love for Morgan and inserts herself into the already-touchy situation.

Ultimately, Ambersons is about the downfall of a respected and wealthy family to that thing called Progress��namely, the invention and proliferation of the automobile and other industrial evolutions. Welles makes an ecological statement with the picture (back in 1942!) which is something else RKO was unhappy with, seeing that American industries had to ramp up to support the war effort.

Criterion��s new 4K digital restoration looks marvelous, and it contains two separate audio commentaries with scholars Robert L. Carringer and James Naremore, and critic Jonathan Rosenbaum.

The packaging is first-rate. The numerous and excellent supplements alone make the product a 5-star purchase. Especially interesting and informative are the new interviews with (previously mentioned) McBride and one with film historian Simon Callow. Both men relate different insights into the history of the production and the editing debacle. Director Welles appears on a 1970 segment of The Dick Cavett Show (along with second guest Jack Lemmon) for an often-hilarious and always-entertaining half-hour discussion. New video essays on the cinematography and Bernard Herrmann��s uncredited score (that was also chopped up with RKO��s editing), by Francois Thomas and Christopher Husted, respectively, are a welcome addition.

Also included is the silent version of Ambersons, originally called Pampered Youth (1925), and re-edited for the U.K. as Two to One (1927). If that wasn��t enough, we get two Mercury Theatre radio plays: the 1939 adaptation by Welles of Ambersons (with Welles playing the role of George), and a 1938 adaptation of Seventeen, another Booth Tarkington creation. There��s more, such as audio interviews with Welles by Peter Bogdanovich and at an AFI symposium, and the theatrical trailer. The booklet comes in a stapled ��manuscript�� that resembles a typed screenplay. It contains essays by authors and critics (Molly Haskell, Luc Sante, Geoffrey O��Brien, Farran Smith Nehme, and Jonathan Lethem), and excerpts from a Welles memoir.

The Magnificent Ambersons, even in its sadly truncated form, further illustrates the genius that was Orson Welles. This Criterion release is a must-have.

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REVIEW: MICHAEL MANN'S "THIEF" (1981) STARRING JAMES CAAN, THE CRITERION DUAL FORMAT RELEASE

nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro) — Tue, 04 Dec 2018 13:35:00 +0000

By Lee Pfeiffer

Criterion has released a dual format Blu-ray/DVD edition of director Michael Mann's 1981 crime thriller Thief starring James Caan. It's a highly impressive film on many levels, especially when one considers this was Mann's big screen feature debut. He had previously directed the acclaimed 1979 TV movie The Jericho Mile, which was set in Folsom Prison. Mann was inspired by his interaction with the world of convicts and wrote the screenplay for Thief, which is credited as being based on author Frank Hohimer's novel The Home Invaders, but he maintains virtually none of the source material ended up on screen. The story centers on Frank (James Caan), a bitter man with a troubled past. As a child he was raised in state-run homes before being sent to jail for a petty crime. Inside prison, he committed violent acts in order to defend himself but this only resulted in lengthier jail terms. By the time he has been released, he has spent half of his life behind bars. While in jail, Frank befriended Okla (Willie Nelson), a older man and master thief who is doing a life sentence. He becomes Frank's mentor and father figure and teaches him the tools of the trade. When Frank is finally released, he becomes a master at his craft, which is pulling off seemingly impossible heists of cash and diamonds. Before long, he has become a legend in his field. As a cover, Frank runs a major used car dealership and a small bar. However, he realizes that his luck will certainly run out at some point and he is determined to retire after making a few more high end scores. He works with a small team consisting of two confederates (James Belushi, Willam LaValley) who are also pros in gaining access to seemingly impenetrable vaults. The headstrong Frank wants to also settle down and raise a family. He makes an awkward introduction to Jessie (Tuesday Weld), an equally head strong, down-on-her luck character who nevertheless becomes smitten by him and ends up marrying him. The couple face frustration, however, when their attempts to adopt a baby are thwarted by Frank's criminal record. Frank is ultimately approached by Leo (Robert Prosky), a local crime lord who entices him to stop working independently and pull off a high profile heist for a fortune in diamonds. Frank rejects the offer but eventually he relents, though he is reluctant to work with a new partner. Leo has managed to break through Frank's cynicism by showering him with praise the benefits of his influence, which include arranging for Frank and Jessie to illegally adopt the baby they want so desperately. The lure of being able to retire after this one huge score leads Frank to go against his better judgment and he agrees to work for Leo on this one big job. The diamonds are located in a vault so secure that it would seem to be better suited for Fort Knox. In order to break in, Frank and his team must use highly sophisticated drills and other equipment that would rival the top gear used by any branch of the military. On the verge of realizing his greatest score, however, things go terribly wrong on any number of levels. Frank, seeing his world crumble around him, goes on a violent rampage of destruction and self-destruction.

Thief is a highly stylized movie that moves at a rapid clip and features one of James Caan's strongest performances. The problem, however, is that the character of Frank is so obnoxious, he is difficult to relate to. Peckinpah, Scorsese and Coppola always had a knack for making disreputable characters seem appealing, but Frank is nasty, arrogant and self-centered. This is certainly realistic, given the bitter feelings he has toward society, but the viewer never warms to him in any meaningful way. He is only sympathetic because the people he deals with are so much worse. Nevertheless, Thief is a crackling good yarn that boasts some fine performances especially by Tuesday Weld and character actor Robert Prosky, who is brilliant in a scene-stealing role. Willie Nelson's screen time is very limited but he makes effective use of his two scenes. The film features superb cinematography by Donald E. Thorin, who made his debut here as Director of Cinematography. His night sequences on the rain-slicked streets of Chicago evoke visions of neon-lit nightmare. The film features an electronic score by Tangerine Dream, the band that provided the music for Willliam Friedkin's Sorcerer. Strangely, their score for that films holds up well but their work in Thief comes across as a bit monotonous and dated. The film's ultra-violent conclusion is exciting but rather cliched with Frank turning into yet another pissed off screen hero who decides to take down all of his enemies in an orgy of shootouts and destruction. (I know it sounds petty but I can never accept such sequences when they are set in urban neighborhoods in which no one ever seems to call the police even as houses explode and machine gun fire is sprayed all over the place.). The film excels, however, in the break-in sequences which are superbly directed and feature camerawork that make the crime scene look like an attraction from Disney World, with fireworks-like sparks filling the air.

The Criterion Blu-ray transfer is superb on every level. Extras, which are carried over to the DVD, include a commentary track by Michael Mann and James Caan that was recorded in 1995. There are also fresh video interviews with both men that are rather candid. (Caan, who has worked consistently through his career, modestly says "I was rather popular at one time" in reference to his work on the film. Mann says he is still debating in his mind whether he regrets using Tangerine Dream's score) There is also an interview with Johannes Schmoelling of the band, who discusses working with Mann to create the score. An original trailer is included as is a nicely illustrated booklet with an informative essay by film critic Nick James.

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REVIEW: "JUBAL" (1956) STARRING GLENN FORD, ERNEST BORGNINE AND ROD STEIGER; CRITERION BLU-RAY RELEASE

nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro) — Thu, 29 Nov 2018 13:07:00 +0000

BY LEE PFEIFFER

In a worthy attempt to focus attention on the work of writer/producer/director/actor Delmer Daves, Criterion has released a Blu-ray edition of his 1956 Western Jubal. It's a rather odd choice for the label, which specializes in gold-standard editions of established classics and revered cult films. On the surface, Jubal may sound like a standard horse opera, especially with the title role played by reliable-but-unexciting Glenn Ford. However, the reason why Criterion sought to have the movie re-evaluated is immediately apparent. This is an unusually mature Western with a very dramatic story line that builds in intensity under Daves' assured direction. Ford plays Jubal Troop, a troubled loner and drifter, who is saved from certain death in the mountains by Shep Horgan (Ernest Borgnine), a boisterous but kind prominent rancher who nurses Jubal back to health and rewards him with a job on his ranch. It isn't long before Jubal proves his worth and impresses Shep enough to make him the new foreman- an act that offends and alienates another, long-time ranch hand, "Pinky" Pinkus (Rod Steiger), who had sought the position himself. Jubal's seemingly idyllic situation is further hampered by the fact that Shep's sultry Canadian wife Mae (Valerie French) is disgusted by her husband's boorish behavior and his tendency to treat her as a prized steer. Clearly suffering from sexual frustration, the isolated woman exists in a world of misogynistic men. It isn't long before she's making eyes at Jubal, who must summon all of his willpower to resist her advances out of respect for his friendship with Shep. Adding to the rising tensions is the fact that Mae had once had a fling with "Pinky" and he can't accept the fact that she now favors Jubal. The intricate plot takes numerous turns leading to Mae's manipulation of Shep and Jubal by implying to her husband that she has slept with his ranch foreman. This sets in motion a series of tragic circumstances.

Although Daves is best known for his seminal Western 3:10 to Yuma, there is much in Jubal that rivals that classic. Daves makes full use of the magnificent Wyoming locations, using the widescreen process as effectively as George Stevens did with Shane. While the personal relationships of the principal characters are perpetually in crisis mode, Daves seems to use the sweeping cinematography to intentionally dwarf the key players, as though to imply that, in the end, we're all just rather inconsequential figures in nature's landscape. The performances are all first rate, and this may well be the most effective performance of Glenn Ford's career. His low-key approach to acting has often been dismissed as boring, but Ford always brought a quiet intensity and "guy next door" quality to each of his performances. As Jubal, he's just a shy man who wants to get through the demons of his past by starting a new life that is unblemished by personal stress. Instead, he finds himself in the unlikely situation of being embroiled in a cauldron of sexual tension, betrayal and violent death. Ernest Borgnine is terrific as the hapless Shep, a likable "man's man" who remains oblivious to the fact that the wife he so adores has nothing but contempt for him. Rod Steiger seems a bit out of place here, as he as always seemed far more comfortable in gritty, urban dramas. Valerie French practically steams up the screen as the femme fatale at the heart of the deception that endangers the men in her life. She clearly the villain, but you can't help but empathize with her plight, which must have mirrored that of countless women of the plains: she is trapped in a man's world of endless work with little appreciation for her femininity beyond her "duty" to provide sex.

The Criterion transfer is flawless and the colors leap off the screen. Frustratingly, the film is devoid of any bonus extras. It would have been a nice touch to hear a film scholar discuss the film and Daves' work in general. However, there is a booklet that contains a lengthy and informative essay by Kent Jones. If you like Western, this one is a "must".

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REVIEW: "SHAMPOO" (1975) STARRING WARREN BEATTY; CRITERION BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION

nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro) — Tue, 16 Oct 2018 13:09:00 +0000

BY BRIAN GREENE

Shampoo (1975) is a movie that can leave a viewer unsure as to what they just watched. Was it merely a vanity project for Producer/Co-Screenwriter/lead actor Warren Beatty, who plays a babe magnet L.A. hairdresser who juggles his three main girlfriends while haplessly attempting to go into business for himself? Beatty portrays George Roundy, a flashy dressing, motorcycle riding lothario who deftly manipulates the hearts and sexual appetites of the beautiful women who constantly want to throw themselves at him and his hair dryer. Or is it a social satire, a la The Graduate, that exposes the flaws in American life by showing us the sexual/romantic dysfunction in the homes of the upper crust? One of Beatty��s character��s love interests is the wife (Lee Grant) of the business tycoon (Jack Warden) he hopes will finance his would-be new spa. Is it a screwball sex comedy that aims for occasional emotional profundity? The second of the hairstylist��s two lady friends is the tycoon��s mistress (Julie Christie), and the third is that woman��s close friend (Goldie Hawn). Or is the movie primarily a commentary on the American political climate of the late 1960s, and its damaging impact on the citizenry? The story takes place over one 24-hour span, that happens to be the day Richard Nixon won the 1968 presidential election.

The answer is that Shampoo is a little of each of those things. Which leads to the question of whether it was successful in developing any or all of its themes. The feature��s overall quality has been a debatable point over the decades. Roger Ebert felt it came up short, summarizing that it ��wasn��t confident enough to pull off its ambitious conception,�� wasn��t as funny as it could have been in the funny places,�� and ��it��s not as poignant as it could be in its moments of truth.�� In the pages of The New York Times, meanwhile, critic Nora Sayre positively savaged the movie, charging that it ultimately sank into ��a slough of sentimentality�� while also calling it pretentious and dumb. Other reviews have been kinder. It��s been called ��a sharp satire�� by Time Out, and ��one of the last true moments of personal expression in American cinema�� by Elaine Lennon in Senses of Cinema, etc.

It can be hard to know what we��re supposed to make of the main characters. Roundy is shown to be a user, and his three girlfriends, while likeable-enough people, are hardly role models feminists of the day could have seen as on-screen heroes. So are we supposed to find all of them laughably shallow people, tragic figures victimized by their own egos and emotional needs, or are they simply authentic representations of a womanizing hairstylist and the kinds of people with whom he would be likely to consort? Director Hal Ashby, who struggled while working alongside the overbearing Beatty in Beatty��s open-to-interpretation role as Creative Producer, seems to have felt distantly sympathetic to the characters. Ashby said of them, ��They��re not people I spend time with, but they��re people I��ve looked at and felt sorry for. So I spent a lot of time being very kind to those people. The other way��s easy. To make fun of people is easy. Life isn��t that easy.��

Something else with which Ashby had to tangle during the making of Shampoo was the often volatile artistic relationship between Beatty and Co-Screenwriter Robert Towne. Beatty and Towne were engaged in a creative power battle over the film��s content starting back from when it was only an idea being bounced around between the two of them. Once Ashby was brought in, he found himself often acting as referee between those two. Towne was actively involved on the set, to the point where Goldie Hawn came to feel like she was working under three different directors. Despite this circus atmosphere, though, and despite Ebert��s and Sayre��s critiques, and despite what some see as its foggy intentions, Shampoo took in a slew of nominations at both the Academy Awards and Golden Globes. Lee Grant won the Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.

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REVIEW: BILLY WILDER'S "ACE IN THE HOLE" (1951) STARRING KIRK DOUGLAS, CRITERION DUAL FORMAT RELEASE

nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro) — Sat, 06 Oct 2018 13:39:00 +0000

RETRO-ACTIVE: THE BEST FROM THE CINEMA RETRO ARCHIVES

BY LEE PFEIFFER

Even astute fans of retro cinematic classics may be unfamiliar with Billy Wilder's 1951 gem "Ace in the Hole". The film was a boxoffice flop in its American release back in the day but over the decades it has become regarded as a genuine classic and one of the best movies of its era. Kirk Douglas, in one of the truly great performances of his career, is cast as Chuck Tatum, a once-lauded reporter for a major New York newspaper, who finds his career on the skids. His cynical nature, overbearing personality and weakness for liquor has resulted in him being displaced to New Mexico, where- out of desperation- he convinces the editor of an Albuquerque paper to give him a job. Within hours, Tatum is bored by the sleepy atmosphere and passive nature of his co-workers, most of whom have no ambition beyond reporting minor stories of local interest. Things change radically when Tatum stumbles onto a crisis in the desert that could make for a compelling story. Leo Minosa (Richard Benedict) is the owner of a cafe located on a remote road who finds himself trapped in a cave after venturing inside to look for ancient Indian artifacts. Tatum sees that rescue plans for the man are rather poorly staged by the local deputy sheriff (Gene Evans). He enters the cave at great danger to himself and makes a connection with Leo, whose legs and midsection are buried under debris. Tatum is able to communicate with him from a small opening in a dirt mound and he assures Leo that he will get food, water and cigars while he organizes a rescue team. Grateful, Leo looks upon Tatum as his guardian angel. However, it becomes clear that Tatum is using his relationship with Leo for his own selfish purposes. He sees the potential as one of those "child stuck in a well" scenarios that tends to galvanize the entire nation. By personally taking charge of the rescue effort, Tatum makes himself a national hero overnight, as hundreds of people stream to the remote location and erect a tent city in order to be on the scene when Leo is eventually saved. Tatum, fully aware of American's eagerness to embrace the bizarre elements of any story, also plays up the notion that Leo is the victim of an ancient Indian curse for prowling around sacred tribal grounds.

Tatum has some disturbing factors to contend with, however. The primary problem is dealing with Leo's bombshell, self-centered wife Lorraine (Jan Sterling in a terrific performance). She was already looking to get out of a boring marriage with a boring man and decides to leave town during Leo's moment of crisis. Tatum uses a combination of charm and threats to convince her that staying put and playing the role of loyal wife would be in everyone's benefit. His prediction comes true in the financial sense, as the Minosa's cash-starved cafe begins to burst at the seams with visitors due to its proximity to the cave. Ironically, Leo's life-threatening predicament is finally bringing him the financial success that has eluded him. While Tatum becomes obsessed with manipulating the crisis, he also finds that his dispatches from the scene and his exclusive access to Leo have put him back in demand as a writer. He bypasses his own employer to sell updates to his ex-boss in New York at extortionist rates. He also has a hot/cold relationship with Lorraine, who clearly has a submissive sexual aspect to her moody demeanor. She's excited when Tatum mistreats her, though it's never made clear if their relationship goes beyond the flirtation stage. Tatum gets some disturbing news when he learns that the rescue team can use an expedited method to rescue Leo. Not wanting to kill the goose who laid the golden egg, Tatum manipulates the corrupt local sheriff (Roy Teal) into ordering a more labored method of rescue, even though it will result in a delay of days before reaching the victim. The decision has startling consequences for all involved. To say any more would negate the surprising turn of events depicted in the film. Suffice it to say, the intensity of the story continues to build throughout, making "Ace in the Hole" a truly mesmerizing cinematic experience.

Criterion has released "Ace in the Hole" as a dual format Blu-ray/DVD. The quality, as one might expect, is up to the company's superb standards. The package is loaded with fascinating extras including a rare extended interview with Billy Wilder at the American Film Institute in 1986. In it, Wilder talks about "Ace in the Hole" and other aspects of his career. The film was an early directorial effort for him and the first movie he produced, following his career as one of the industry's most in-demand filmmakers. By his own admission, "Ace in the Hole" was a major source of frustration for him. The movie was ignored by American critics and audiences and even re-titled "The Big Carnival". In the post-WWII era, it was probably deemed far too cynical for U.S. audiences. In fact, the "hero" of the film is a cad, the leading lady is a self-obsessed phony and the local law officials are corrupt. Except for a few minor characters, there is no one in the film with a truly moral center. Wilder says he took heart from the fact that the movie was quite successful in its European release. The set also contains a 1988 interview with Kirk Douglas, who discusses the film and his respect for Wilder in a very informative segment. Most impressive is the inclusion of "Portrait of a 60% Perfect Man", a 1980 documentary by French film critic Michel Clement in which Wilder gives extraordinary access to his private life. We see him at home and at the office with long-time collaborator, I.A.L. Diamond as they laze around trying to come up with ideas for future projects. Wilder comes across as a symbol of Hollywood's bygone Golden Age. Speaking in a thick Austrian accent with his ever-present stogie at hand, Wilder regales the viewer with insights about his family's escape from the Nazi occupation and his unlikely meteoric rise up the film industry's food chain. Almost from the beginning he was a hot property and would remain a revered director, producer and writer throughout his entire career. The set also includes a vintage audio interview with another Wilder collaborator, screenwriter Walter Newman and an insightful and creatively designed "newspaper" with essays by critic Molly Haskell and filmmaker Guy Maddin. Director Spike Lee provides a brief video "afterword" in which he extols the virtues of the film and also shows off a cool original lobby card that he treasures because it is signed by both Wilder and Douglas. Topping off the "extras" is a truly excellent audio commentary track by film scholar Neil Sinyard, who provides so many interesting background observations about the film that it will open any viewer's eyes to the latent meanings of certain sequences and images. Even if you consider audio commentaries to be dry and academic, I do urge you to give this one a listen. It's first rate throughout.

In summary, this is a first rate presentation of one of the most unfairly neglected American film classics; one that in recent years is finally getting the acclaim that it should have received on its initial release. Criterion has surpassed even its usual high standards.

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BLU-RAY REVIEW: ��SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE�� (1973/1974; Directed by Ingmar Bergman) (The Criterion Collection)

nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro) — Sun, 30 Sep 2018 13:39:00 +0000

��EARTHLY AND IMPERFECT LOVE��

By Raymond Benson

Ingmar Bergman��s celebrated six-part mini-series, Scenes from a Marriage, premiered on Swedish television in 1973. For markets outside of his native country, Bergman cut the 297-minute TV version down to 169-minutes (not quite three hours) for a theatrical release in 1974��which is the version I first saw.

Having recently discovered Bergman in the early 1970s while attending college, I welcomed Scenes with enthusiasm and awe, as did most critics. The film received numerous accolades, although the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences deemed the picture ineligible for Oscars since it had previously been a television mini-series. The acclaim for the film, director/writer Bergman, and the movie��s two brilliant actors, Liv Ullmann and Erland Josephson, was through the roof.

In a nutshell, it��s the intimate, often painful, sometimes joyful story of the twenty-year relationship of a married-then-divorced couple. The tale begins in 1965. Upper-middle-class Marianne and Johan have been married for ten years. They have two tween daughters (who are seen only very briefly in the first few seconds of the picture) and are seemingly happy. However, when Johan has an affair with ��Paula�� (who never appears), the inevitable separation ensues, followed by a divorce. But as ten more years elapse, Marianne and Johan continue to occasionally see each other��even when they��re dating or married to others��in an ongoing, never-ending tryst.

In fact, in 2003, Bergman made a sequel to Scenes from a Marriage. Saraband was a Swedish TV-movie that was also released theatrically worldwide, and it featured the now elderly Marianne and Johan, again played by Ullmann and Josephson. (Oddly, their daughters�� names in Scenes are Karin and Eva, whereas in Saraband their names are Martha and Sara! Go figure.) Saraband was Bergman��s final film.

What made Scenes so remarkable back in 1973/1974 was its frankness, realism, and the camera��s near-claustrophobic closeness to the actors��especially their faces and what they revealed through subtle expressions or glances. Bergman, perhaps more than any other filmmaker, used the landscape of the face to reveal the genuine subtext of a character��s thoughts. The intimacy achieved in the work was revelatory, and the film is said to have gone on to influence other filmmakers (most notably Woody Allen).

I had revisited Scenes from a Marriage a few times since its first release, but now having the chance to dive into The Criterion Collection��s new Blu-ray edition, I approached the picture with a fresh eye and mind, especially informed by the experience of age and a long marriage of my own.

I came away this time a bit puzzled. Who are these people, that they can be so matter-of-fact about adultery and mistresses and lovers? It��s as if it��s taken for granted that all married people will have affairs at some point. Back in the early 70s, I suppose we all thought that this was being ��civilized�� or ��behaving like adults.�� Or perhaps it was a Swedish or European thing!

It is more likely, however, that Scenes from a Marriage was written and directed to be a somewhat autobiographical treatise. Ingmar Bergman was married no less than five times, had numerous love affairs (and mistresses while married), including a five-year romance with Liv Ullmann (he was the father of her only child). Maybe in his world, or in the contemporary universe of artists and the literati in which Marianne and Johan reside, this kind of attitude existed.

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BLU-RAY REVIEW: ��THE TREE OF LIFE�� (2011; Directed by Terrence Malick) (The Criterion Collection)

nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro) — Thu, 06 Sep 2018 13:31:00 +0000

��GRACE VS. NATURE��

By Raymond Benson

Not many filmmakers since the great Stanley Kubrick have had the same kind of mystique, but one who easily fits that bill is Terrence Malick, a writer/director who has endeavored to redefine the narrative form of cinema in visually poetic terms.

Malick doesn��t create movies, he makes cinema in verse. The story in a Malick film is not a priority, although there is often a profound tale at work. A Malick picture is all about the emotions, the visual beauty, the aural splendidness, and taking part in a cerebral, yet primally impressionistic experience.

The reclusive filmmaker disappeared from the public eye after his two acclaimed, more ��accessible�� works (Badlands, 1973, and Days of Heaven, 1978). He returned twenty years later and made The Thin Red Line (1998). Something was immediately different about his art. Malick��s storytelling was more oblique, nonlinear, and lyrical. This trend continued more intensely in The New World (2005). Never one to be labeled ��prolific,�� Malick brought out his fifth feature, The Tree of Life, in 2011, and it featured a radical progression in this elegiac, non-traditional way of spinning a yarn.

The Tree of Life received Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Cinematography (by Emmanuel Lubezki), but there were many audience members who just didn��t get it or refused to meet the film halfway. I remember counting many walkouts from the theater in which I first saw it. Its comparison to the initial reaction to Kubrick��s 2001: A Space Odyssey is apt. This was a new kind of film, something that challenged the viewer into sitting back, opening the mind and the heart, and going with the flow.

And flow it does�� the picture is much like a symphony of sight and sound. The imagery of the world in all its glory from the ground, sky, and sea to the plants, animals, and people is breathtakingly sensual. The music��mostly classical pieces and some original scoring by Alexandre Desplat��is practically continuous as the pace of the editing moves frenetically. How anyone could call this a boring movie is mind-boggling.

There is a story. The focus is on the O��Briens, a family in a small town in Texas in the 1950s, particularly utilizing the point of view of the oldest boy, Jack (played by newcomer Hunter McCracken). Brad Pitt is the stern, sometimes over-the-top disciplinarian father, and angelic Jessica Chastain is the loving mother. Jack��s two siblings are played by Laramie Eppler and Tye Sheridan. The entire family��s performances are superb. Scenes in the present day feature an adult Jack (Sean Penn), who is somberly ��remembering�� the events of the film. Something has triggered old Jack��s memory of when the middle brother died at the age of nineteen (we don��t know how�� possibly Vietnam?).

And then there��s the creation sequence, something else that is comparable to the Star Gate section of 2001 (and that film��s co-visual effects supervisor, Douglas Trumbull, is a consultant on Tree). We see in a nearly twenty-minute segment how the earth was formed in the heavens, how life began in the waters, the rise of dinosaurs (yes, dinosaurs!), the predatory disposition of certain species, and their eventual destruction to make way for man.

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REVIEW: HOWARD HAWKS' "RED RIVER" (1948) STARRING JOHN WAYNE AND MONTGOMERY CLIFT; CRITERION DUAL FORMAT RELEASE

nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro) — Sat, 01 Sep 2018 13:00:00 +0000

RETRO-ACTIVE: THE BEST OF THE CINEMA RETRO ARCHIVES

"THE SON-OF- A -BITCH CAN ACT!"

By Raymond Benson

It��s well-known that when John Ford, who had worked with actor John Wayne on a number of films prior to seeing him in Howard Hawks�� Red River, proclaimed that he didn��t know that ��the son-of- a- bitch could act!��

His words were apt. Prior to the release of Red River in 1948 (it was shot in 1946 but didn��t appear in theaters until ��48), Wayne had mostly played the likable, stalwart ��John Wayne�� character that had first appeared in Ford��s Stagecoach (1939). But in Red River, Wayne plays a role that turned critical and public opinion of the actor��s thespian abilities. He pulls off a remarkable feat��Wayne��s character, Thomas Dunson, is a first-class S.O.B., a guy you really want someone to punch out throughout the movie; and yet, Wayne manages to make him likable. He carries an audience through over two hours of hardcore western, and he delivers one of his two or three best performances. It doesn��t hurt that Wayne is ably supported by Montgomery Clift, who plays Wayne��s adopted son. In many ways, it��s really Clift��s picture��he��s the protagonist, and the story is seen through his eyes. But wait��maybe it��s seen through Walter Brennan��s eyes in the original, rare theatrical cut, released here in a glorious 2K digital restoration on Blu-ray.

In fact, I had never seen the theatrical cut, the version preferred by director Hawks. A longer cut, by about six minutes, was the one that was shown on television and appeared on previous home video releases. The longer version was actually intended as a preview for studio execs; it utilizes on-screen textual transitions (as if the audience is reading from a book) and an extended final confrontation between Wayne and Clift. The theatrical cut dispenses with the textual transitions and instead substitutes sequences narrated by Walter Brennan, who then, arguably, becomes the character through whose eyes we see the story. Why this version, which originally played to audiences in 1948, didn��t become the standard edition after that is a mystery; in actuality, Hawks was quite right��the theatrical cut is the better one, except for the trimmed final fight between the two leads. As Hawks tells Peter Bogdanovich in an audio interview included as an extra in the Criterion Collection��s elaborate box set, the best way to watch Red River is to view the theatrical cut up until the last few minutes, and then change to the preview cut at the point when Wayne marches through the heads of cattle to confront Clift at the corral.

Another thing that is remarkable about Red River is that it was Hawks�� first western. He would go on to make a handful more (good ones, too!), and was known for making pictures in all genres, but the fact that he went out of the gate with one of the greatest westerns of all time is truly an achievement. Red River, without question, is one of the five best American films of the genre.

The story is a fictional account of the first cattle drive from Texas to Kansas along the Chisholm Trail, the hardships the men overcome, and the battle of wills between Wayne, the tyrannical leader and father, and Clift, the calmer, perhaps smarter right-hand cowpoke and adopted son. Hawks manages to capture the perilous trek with uncanny realism, assured composition and tempo, and drama. Hawks once said that the key to a good film was ��three good scenes and no bad ones.�� Well, Red River has far more than three good scenes. The stampede sequence is nothing short of astounding.

Criterion went all out on this one. It��s a four-disk set��two Blu-rays and two DVDs containing identical material. Both versions of the film are included, along with a couple of interviews with Bogdanovich, who explains the difference between the two cuts and presents his views on the picture. Critic Molly Haskell talks about Hawks in a new video interview, and film scholar Lee Clark Mitchell tells us all about the western genre in an interesting piece. There are audio excerpts from interviews with Hawks and novelist Borden Chase, as well as a Lux Radio Theatre adaptation of Red River featuring Wayne, Joanne Dru, and Brennan. Besides the usual essay-filled booklet, the box comes with Chase��s original novel, Blazing Guns on the Chisholm Trail, from which the film was adapted.

Great stuff, and worth every penny.

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REVIEW: STEVEN SODERBERGH'S "SEX, LIES AND VIDEOTAPE" (1989); CRITERION BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION

nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro) — Wed, 25 Jul 2018 13:00:00 +0000

��THERAPY FOR SECRETS��

By Raymond Benson

The year 1989 brought us such Oscar-winning pictures as Driving Miss Daisy, Born on the Fourth of July, Dead Poets Society, and, of course, the blockbuster Batman. One picture, though, always stood out for me and was my personal favorite of the year��Steven Soderbergh��s remarkable feature film debut, Sex, Lies, and Videotape. The Academy nominated it only for Original Screenplay. The Cannes Film Festival, however, awarded it the Palme d��Or and the Best Actor honor for James Spader. The movie put Soderbergh on the map, establishing him as an innovative, provocative filmmaker who was unafraid to take on challenging subjects.

The Criterion Collection has produced a new, restored 4K digital transfer and a new 5.1 surround mix (from the original sound elements), supervised by Soderbergh. The results, in the director��s own words that appear in an on-screen comment on the restoration, are such that one should ��throw away�� all previous home video (DVD, Blu-Ray) versions of the film��this is the definitive edition.

Made for only a little over a million dollars, the story is really a chamber drama of sorts that focuses on four characters. There is Ann (wonderfully played by Andie MacDowell), a sexually uptight and frigid housewife married to John (Peter Gallagher), a successful, go-getter lawyer who happens to be a lying philanderer. He��s having an affair with Ann��s precocious and definitely not sexually uptight sister, Cynthia (Laura San Giacomo), who works as a bartender. Enter Graham, an old college friend of John��s, who has returned to town after nine years��and he is one strange dude. James Spader delivers a nuanced, sensitive, but assuredly slightly perversely skewed performance��one that pretty much defined the kinds of roles he would play for years to come. Like Ann, he, too, is sexually inhibited due to something that happened with his college girlfriend.

These days the only way Graham ��gets off�� is by videotaping various female acquaintances and interviewing them about their sex lives��and then viewing them when he��s alone.

While Ann suspects her husband is betraying her, she finds Graham oddly fascinating and they become friends until she discovers Graham��s ��habit.�� This proclivity is not a problem for Cynthia, though��she happily makes a video for Graham.

How things turn out for the quartet of characters plays out like therapy. In fact, Ann is seeing a therapist throughout the picture. Soderbergh has subtly structured and presented the story such that, in many ways, we, the audience, are the therapists observing the characters as they reveal their secrets.

In 1989, the material was shocking. Without any nudity or explicit sex scenes, Sex, Lies, and Videotape manages to be extremely visceral, voyeuristic, and, yes, sexy. It explores how the most intimate desires of human beings might seem kinky or perverse to some, and yet be perfectly normal for others. The way the ��therapy�� of the film addresses these hang-ups in the final moments is revelatory. Soderbergh may have never written or directed a more perfect picture.

The new transfer looks and sounds remarkable. An audio commentary from 1998, featuring Soderbergh and filmmaker Neil LaBute, accompanies the film.

The supplements are up to Criterion��s usual high standards. There��s a new introduction to the film by Soderbergh, along with vintage interviews with the writer/director from 1992 and 1990. A new documentary on the making of the film, featuring actors MacDowell, Gallagher, and San Giacomo, is especially informative and insightful. James Spader makes an appearance in a vintage 1989 appearance on the Today Show. There��s a deleted scene with commentary by Soderbergh. A new conversation between sound editor/re-recording mixer Larry Blake and composer Cliff Martinez explores the challenges of the location shoot in Baton Rouge. Finally, Blake takes us on a journey through the evolution of sound restorations. The booklet features an essay by critic Amy Taubin and excerpts from Soderbergh��s 1990 book about the film.

Sex, Lies, and Videotape is still relevant and powerful. The picture reveals a young filmmaker who is exploding with talent, and four brave actors who dig deeply within to reveal all. It��s a masterpiece of independent filmmaking. Pick it up.

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REVIEW: "DIETRICH & VON STERNBERG IN HOLLYWOOD"; CRITERION BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION

nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro) — Fri, 06 Jul 2018 16:20:18 +0000

��LIGHT, SHADOW, AND MARLENE��

By Raymond Benson

I love it when The Criterion Collection produces a lavish boxed set containing multiple features, an abundance of supplements, and a thick and illustrated booklet. What better collection is there than one featuring the six Hollywood films made between 1930 and 1935 by Josef von Sternberg and starring the exquisite Marlene Dietrich? Hats off to producer Issa Clubb for overseeing what could be one of Criterion��s better products.

These adventure-romances showcased a star who immediately defined the word ��exotic��a German-born, English-speaking, beautiful, sultry, seductress who could act, sing, and dance. Like Greta Garbo, who had arrived in Hollywood during the silent era, Marlene Dietrich exhibited a European mystery to American audiences of the early Depression years. Her self-styled (with the help of her trusted director, von Sternberg) gender-bending wardrobes and mannerisms, her sometimes ambiguous but often overt sexuality, and her allure of ��knowing something we didn��t�� made her an overnight star�� for a while.

As documented in the various supplements that appear over the six Blu-ray disks in the set, Dietrich and von Sternberg enjoyed a successful and acclaimed period during the Pre-Code days. It seemed, though, that as soon as the Production Code went into effect in July 1934, the popularity of the star and the director��s films waned. For the second half of the 1930s, Dietrich, like several other leading ladies, became what was termed ��box-office poison��that is, until she made a booming come-back in 1939��s Destry Rides Again.

Dietrich and von Sternberg first worked together in the 1930 German-produced picture, The Blue Angel, which was filmed in both the German language and in English. The director, already an established filmmaker in Hollywood, convinced his studio, Paramount, to bring Dietrich over and sign her to a multi-picture contract. The young star left Germany on the night The Blue Angel premiered in her native country. Paramount held the U.S. release back until after the exhibition of her first official Hollywood production, Morocco (also 1930). This initial appearance in America proved to be a sensation. The English-language version of The Blue Angel was released a month later, and Marlene Dietrich had arrived.

The historical importance of the films in Criterion��s new collection can be broken down into three words��light, shadow, and Marlene. Josef von Sternberg was a master of visual imagery in motion pictures at a time when black and white cinematography was evolving as an art form. A cameraman himself, he was one of the few directors in Hollywood who knew how to light a set and photograph it (in fact, he is not only the director but also the cinematographer of the sixth title in this set, The Devil is a Woman). Von Sternberg��s use of German expressionism��heavy on the shadows, high contrast between light and dark��did wonders for Marlene Dietrich��s cheekbones. An actress was likely never photographed so beautifully as in those first few films��not even Garbo. The greatest pleasure of the Dietrich & von Sternberg boxed set is the gorgeousness of its images. While von Sternberg certainly had much to say about how his films were photographed, many kudos must be given to the other two cinematographers he worked with��Lee Garmes (three titles) and Bert Glennon (two titles).

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REVIEW: INGMAR BERGMAN'S "THE VIRGIN SPRING" (1960); CRITERION BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION

nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro) — Tue, 26 Jun 2018 08:59:00 +0000

By Raymond Benson

The Criterion Collection has upgraded its 2006 DVD release of Ingmar Bergman��s classic Oscar-winning drama, The Virgin Spring, to Blu-ray, and the results are, naturally, spectacular.

The film won Bergman his first of three Best Foreign Language Film Academy Awards, and it can certainly be ranked among the Swedish filmmaker��s best works. Known as a ��rape and revenge tale,�� the picture was so influential that it was the inspiration for Wes Craven��s first horror-exploitation movie from 1972, The Last House on the Left. Craven took the basic plotline, updated it, and turned it into a gory (and some would say, sickening) fright fest.

Bergman��s film is easier to take, but one can imagine how harrowing it might have been in 1960. As a departure for the auteur, Bergman did not write the screenplay himself. The script was adapted by Ulla Isaksson from a Swedish medieval ballad/legend called ��T?res d?ttrar I W?nge�� (��T?re��s daughters in V?nge��). Like The Seventh Seal before it, the story is set during the Dark Ages. It��s the only other instance in which Bergman accurately and convincingly depicts this historical period on film. This time, his visual collaborator is the great cinematographer Sven Nykvist, who presents the stark, sharp black and white imagery with crystal clarity.

The story concerns Christian T?re (Max von Sydow) and his family��his wife, M?reta (Birgitta V?lberg), his teenage daughter Karin (Birgitta Pettersson), the disturbed, unwed and pregnant servant Ingeri (Gunnel Lindblom), and other household helpers. One morning, the virginal, innocent, and na?ve Karin sets off on horseback, accompanied by Ingeri, to deliver candles to a church some miles away. After a frightening, chance encounter with a one-eyed man, Ingeri separates from Karin, who soldiers on with the candles. She comes upon a motely trio of creepy herdsmen��all brothers��with whom she offers to share her lunch. The older two assault Karin, rape, and murder her. The younger brother, who appears to be around twelve, watches in horror. Ingeri, hidden in the forest, also witnesses the crime.

Later, the herdsmen encounter Christian and his family, who are naturally worried about Karin because she didn��t return home. To reveal what happens next would of course be a spoiler��just know that Christian must make a hard decision and summon a strength from within that he didn��t know he had.

It��s all powerful stuff, and Bergman handles it with harsh realism and surprising sensitivity. The assault scene is brief, breathtakingly shocking, and surely something that jolted audiences at the time. Pettersson delivers a particularly courageous performance, and the actress�� work is the heart of the movie. The rest of the cast, especially von Sydow, Lindblom, and V?lberg, are also excellent.

Particularly interesting is that the film can be interpreted as either a deeply religious or an anti-religious one. Christianity is often a subject matter in Bergman��s oeuvre, and his disdain for organized religion is usually palpable. In this case, however, when the titular ��virgin spring�� appears in the picture, it just might represent an acknowledgment of a higher power. It��s up to the viewer to decide.

Once again, the filmmaker recreates on what was surely a very low budget a medieval world that is totally believable. The attention to detail is striking��P. A. Lundgren��s production design and Marik Vos�� costume designs bring The Virgin Spring to life (the latter was nominated for an Academy Award).

Criterion��s new 2K digital restoration looks gorgeous and is an improvement over the earlier DVD release. It comes with an uncompressed monaural soundtrack and an audio commentary from 2005 by Bergman scholar Birgitta Steene. The 2006 supplements are ported over: 2005 interviews with actors Lindblom and Pettersson, a terrific introduction by director Ang Lee (who claims it was the first art film he ever saw), and an interesting audio recording of a 1975 American Film Institute seminar by Bergman��in English! There is an alternate English-dubbed soundtrack, but for my money Bergman films should always be viewed in the original language. The booklet sports an essay by film scholar Peter Cowie, reflections on the film by screenwriter Isaksson, and the text of the original ballad upon which the picture is based.

Among the many masterpieces that Ingmar Bergman made, The Virgin Spring is a shining gem. Don��t miss it.

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REVIEW: "WOMEN IN LOVE" (1969) STARRING OLIVER REED, ALAN BATES AND GLENDA JACKSON; CRITERION BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION

nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro) — Fri, 23 Mar 2018 15:32:18 +0000

��OR IS IT ABOUT MEN?��

By Raymond Benson

Ken Russell��s controversial but widely-acclaimed adaptation of D. H. Lawrence��s novel, Women in Love, might have had a better and more appropriate title��Men in Love. While touted as being an examination of the nature of love and sexuality between two men and two women, in the end we are left with the more potent notion that there is a love that can exist between two males��as friends��that is more powerful and ��eternal�� than the love a man will have for a woman.

Released in 1969 in Britain and in 1970 in the U.S. (hence, its four Oscar nominations for the year 1970), Women in Love has not aged well in terms of its arty and borderline pretentious direction�� but as I tell my Film History students, ��judge a film within the context of when it was released.�� In that regard, Women was a groundbreaking and daring motion picture of its time. In the U.S. it played only in the big city art house theaters, probably due to its frank nudity (both female and male��one of the first mainstream pictures to feature full frontal men in the raw) and subject matter.

It��s the early 1920s in the English countryside, where class standing is very much a thing; but a movement is afoot for the emancipation of women, free-thinking, avant-garde art, and the breaking of social taboos. While the story focuses on four characters��Rupert (Alan Bates), Gerald (Oliver Reed), Gudrun (Glenda Jackson), and Ursula (Jennie Linden)��the ��protagonist,�� as it were, is Rupert. In fact, it is how he approaches his relationships with his best friend Gerald and the woman he eventually marries, Ursula, that is the crux of the story.

Glenda Jackson, however, won the Best Actress Oscar as the free-spirited, take-no-prisoners Gudrun in what is honestly a supporting role in the story. This statement is not meant to take away from her engaging, charismatic performance��she��s terrific. There is no question that she steals the movie. But Linden has more screen time as her younger, more conservative sister.

What made the film a cause c��l��bre at the time was the much-talked-about nude wrestling scene between Bates and Reed��which, apparently, they had to talk Russell in to filming because they were keen to do it. Beautifully shot by Oscar-nominated Billy Williams, the rumble in an English manor study by firelight rightly is a remarkable piece of cinema.

Ken Russell received his only directing Oscar nomination for the film. Some might watch it today and think that his work��and the acting as well��is over-the-top. The truth is that Russell intentionally stylized the movie with a heightened realism that matches the passion and intensity of its subject matter. This is a picture in which style and substance are notched up to eleven. Russell, in his later career, would often be accused of extravagance and pretentiousness��but here, Women in Love is relatively tame in comparison.

This gorgeous period piece with heady dialogue, editing influenced by the French New Wave, lovely costumes, and beautiful scenery, is showcased by the Criterion Collection��s new restored 4K digital transfer with an uncompressed monaural soundtrack.

Supplements include two different commentaries from 2003 (one by Russell, one by producer/screenwriter Larry Kramer); new interviews with DP Billy Williams and editor Michael Bradswell; vintage interviews with Russell and Jackson; an interesting on-location piece featuring Bates, Linden, and Kramer; and the theatrical trailer.

The most striking supplement is Russell��s own biopic autobiography, A British Picture��Portrait of an Enfant Terrible (1989), a bizarre but fun piece in which a little boy plays Russell throughout the years, even when Russell is an adult. Another interesting, but less successful, inclusion is a 1972 short film, Second Best, based on a D. H. Lawrence short story, produced by and starring Bates. The booklet features an essay by scholar Linda Ruth Williams.

Cinema, English, and literature buffs will certainly appreciate Women in Love. For those willing to position it in its appropriate historical place, it��s a scrumptious and sensual delight.

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