It’s the most impressive ‘new’ movie we’ve seen this year: Robert Siodmak’s 1957 political thriller fictionalizes a true mass murder case in 1943 Berlin — one that a high-ranking Nazi wants to justify the extermination of ‘undesirables’ for the furtherance of Aryan white supremacy. The snapshot of home-front Berlin is fascinating, and also the depiction of a complacent public, going along with official lies nobody fully believes. Produced on a big scale, the unjustly obscure show stars Claus Holm, Mario Adorf, Hannes Messemer, Peter Carsten, Karl Lange, Werner Peters and Annemarie Düringer. The illuminating audio commentary is by Imogen Sara Smith.
The Devil Strikes at Night
Blu-ray
Kino Classics
1957 / B&w / 1:66 widescreen / 97 min. / Nachts wenn der Teufel kam / Street Date , 2022 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Claus Holm, Mario Adorf, Hannes Messemer, Peter Carsten, Karl Lange, Werner Peters, Annemarie Düringer, Monika John, Rose Schäfer, Ernst Fritz Fürbringer, Walter Janssen.
Cinematography:...
The Devil Strikes at Night
Blu-ray
Kino Classics
1957 / B&w / 1:66 widescreen / 97 min. / Nachts wenn der Teufel kam / Street Date , 2022 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Claus Holm, Mario Adorf, Hannes Messemer, Peter Carsten, Karl Lange, Werner Peters, Annemarie Düringer, Monika John, Rose Schäfer, Ernst Fritz Fürbringer, Walter Janssen.
Cinematography:...
- 3/12/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Michael Anderson directs a classy slice of ’60s spy-dom. In West Berlin, George Segal’s Quiller struggles through a near- existential battle with Neo-Nazi swine more soulless than his own cold-fish handlers. Harold Pinter supplies the circular dialogue, Alec Guinness the charming insincerity and Max von Sydow a devilish menace. Quiller is mesmerized by the seductive ambiguity of lovely Senta Berger. Does she love Quiller? Or is love dead in this brave world of deceit and subterfuge?
The Quiller Memorandum
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1966 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 105 min. / Street Date March 19, 2019 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95
Starring: George Segal, Alec Guinness, Max von Sydow, Senta Berger, George Sanders, Robert Helpmann, Robert Flemyng, Peter Carsten.
Cinematography: Erwin Hillier
Film Editor: Frederick Wilson
Original Music: John Barry
Written by Harold Pinter from the novel by Adam Hall
Produced by Ivan Foxwell
Directed by Michael Anderson
The ’60s spy movie craze was a copycat game.
The Quiller Memorandum
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1966 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 105 min. / Street Date March 19, 2019 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95
Starring: George Segal, Alec Guinness, Max von Sydow, Senta Berger, George Sanders, Robert Helpmann, Robert Flemyng, Peter Carsten.
Cinematography: Erwin Hillier
Film Editor: Frederick Wilson
Original Music: John Barry
Written by Harold Pinter from the novel by Adam Hall
Produced by Ivan Foxwell
Directed by Michael Anderson
The ’60s spy movie craze was a copycat game.
- 3/26/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
It’s tendon-biting combat, with guns, trains, planes, chainsaws, and an indestructible all-terrain vehicle (that still couldn’t stand the potholes in the street of Los Angeles)! Rod Taylor, Jim Brown and Yvette Mimieux blast their way through one of the roughest of the ’60s action spectacles, as mercenaries on a mission of mercy that’s really a venal grab to ‘rescue’ a fortune in diamonds. Director Jack Cardiff pushed the limits of acceptability on this one — legends persist about longer, more egregiously violent cuts.
Dark of the Sun
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1968 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 100 min. / The Mercenaries / Street Date December 18, 2011 / available through the Warner Archive Collection / 19.95
Starring: Rod Taylor, Yvette Mimieux, Peter Carsten, Jim Brown, Kenneth More, André Morell, Olivier Despax, Guy Deghy, Bloke Modisane, Calvin Lockhart.
Cinematography: Edward Scaife.
Film Editor: Ernest Walter
Original Music: Jacques Loussier
Written by Quentin Werty (Ranald MacDougall), Adrian Spies from the...
Dark of the Sun
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1968 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 100 min. / The Mercenaries / Street Date December 18, 2011 / available through the Warner Archive Collection / 19.95
Starring: Rod Taylor, Yvette Mimieux, Peter Carsten, Jim Brown, Kenneth More, André Morell, Olivier Despax, Guy Deghy, Bloke Modisane, Calvin Lockhart.
Cinematography: Edward Scaife.
Film Editor: Ernest Walter
Original Music: Jacques Loussier
Written by Quentin Werty (Ranald MacDougall), Adrian Spies from the...
- 12/15/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Guest reviewer Lee Broughton returns to shine a critical light on a double bill Spaghetti Western disc, two features starring the world’s favorite acting fiend, Klaus Kinski. The prolific German actor racked up credits in more than twenty Euro-Westerns, some of which amounted to brief-if-worthy guest spots. These two Italian productions feature the German actor up front in starring position, and both are pretty good genre entries to boot.
And God Said to Cain & Twice a Judas
Double Bill DVD
Spaghetti Western Collection Volume 45
Wild East
1970 & 1968 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / Street Date August 26, 2013 / 19.95
Starring: Klaus Kinski, Antonio Sabato.
Directed by Anthony Dawson (Antonio Margheriti), Nando Cicero
CineSavant DVD Guest Review by Lee Broughton
Anthony Dawson’s And God Said to Cain (1970) is a decidedly gothic affair distinguished by the fact that Kinski is cast against type as a sympathetic vengeance seeker who holds the film’s moral high ground.
The...
And God Said to Cain & Twice a Judas
Double Bill DVD
Spaghetti Western Collection Volume 45
Wild East
1970 & 1968 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / Street Date August 26, 2013 / 19.95
Starring: Klaus Kinski, Antonio Sabato.
Directed by Anthony Dawson (Antonio Margheriti), Nando Cicero
CineSavant DVD Guest Review by Lee Broughton
Anthony Dawson’s And God Said to Cain (1970) is a decidedly gothic affair distinguished by the fact that Kinski is cast against type as a sympathetic vengeance seeker who holds the film’s moral high ground.
The...
- 4/28/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
'The Devil Strikes at Night,' with Mario Adorf as World War II era serial killer Bruno Lüdke 'The Devil Strikes at Night' movie review: Serial killing vs. mass murder in unsubtle but intriguing World War II political drama After more than a decade in Hollywood, German director Robert Siodmak (Academy Award nominated for the 1946 film noir The Killers) resumed his European career in the mid-1950s. In 1957, he directed The Devil Strikes at Night / Nachts, wenn der Teufel kam, an intriguing, well-crafted crime drama about the pursuit of a serial killer – and its political consequences – during the last months of the mass-murderous Nazi regime. Inspired by real events, The Devil Strikes at Night begins as war-scarred Hamburg is deeply shaken by the horrific murder of a waitress. Through the Homicide Bureau, inspector Axel Kersten (Claus Holm) begins an investigation that leads him to a mentally disabled laborer,...
- 5/11/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Commemorating Rod Taylor, we turn to Dark of the Sun, routinely dismissed as a nasty slice of thick-ear but admired by Scorsese for its unflinching brutality and lean, efficient technique: possibly the best film directed by great cinematographer Jack Cardiff, who otherwise could be said to have squandered years on dreck like Girl on a Motorcycle (lovely to look at, inane and obnoxious) and The Mutations (ugly to look at, inaner and obnoxiouser). It's always a bit of a crime when a great specialist becomes an undistinguished all-rounder, and Cardiff's belated return to cinematography was, on the whole, a happy day. His admired first film in the director's chair, Sons and Lovers, looks magnificent, but screenwriter Gavin Lambert felt Cardiff didn't really understand the material.
Well, in a sense the strength of Dark of the Sun, superficially an action/adventure yarn set in the Congo during revolution, is its simplicity:...
Well, in a sense the strength of Dark of the Sun, superficially an action/adventure yarn set in the Congo during revolution, is its simplicity:...
- 1/15/2015
- by David Cairns
- MUBI
The Warner Archive Collection is a manufacture-on-demand (Mod) DVD series that specializes in putting previously unreleased films on DVD for the first time. Recently they dug deep into their vast history of classic horror and selected some winners to resurrect.
The Warner Archive Collection can make a wide array of films available because they don't actually create the DVD until it is ordered by a customer. This way, they are not taking a chance of getting stuck with a large amount of inventory if a selected title doesn't sell. You'll certainly recognize some of the horror films the Warner Archive Collection has added to its library, but there are a couple of really obscure ones in there as well. Take a look at the list of what's been made available and plan your shopping list now.
Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (1973)
Although the recent remake featuring the suddenly single...
The Warner Archive Collection can make a wide array of films available because they don't actually create the DVD until it is ordered by a customer. This way, they are not taking a chance of getting stuck with a large amount of inventory if a selected title doesn't sell. You'll certainly recognize some of the horror films the Warner Archive Collection has added to its library, but there are a couple of really obscure ones in there as well. Take a look at the list of what's been made available and plan your shopping list now.
Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (1973)
Although the recent remake featuring the suddenly single...
- 7/11/2012
- by Doctor Gash
- DreadCentral.com
Directed by Michael Winner
Screenplay by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais; original story by Michael Winner and Tom Wright
Featuring Oliver Reed, Michael J. Pollard, Helmut Lohner, Wolfgang Preiss, Peter Carsten, Karin Baal
Just one look at the poster for Hannibal Brooks tells you United Artists didn’t know what to do with the film.
The promotional material focuses on the action, and the fact that Pollard is the action hero and not Reed, while ignoring the script’s attempt to portray warfare in shades of gray rather than stark black and white. But while the film has the best intentions, the script falters at the end, injecting a moralistic tone at odds with earlier scenes.
The film opens as Stephen Brooks (Reed), a British soldier in World War II, is captured by German troops. Brooks isn’t upset that he’ll spend the rest of the war as...
Screenplay by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais; original story by Michael Winner and Tom Wright
Featuring Oliver Reed, Michael J. Pollard, Helmut Lohner, Wolfgang Preiss, Peter Carsten, Karin Baal
Just one look at the poster for Hannibal Brooks tells you United Artists didn’t know what to do with the film.
The promotional material focuses on the action, and the fact that Pollard is the action hero and not Reed, while ignoring the script’s attempt to portray warfare in shades of gray rather than stark black and white. But while the film has the best intentions, the script falters at the end, injecting a moralistic tone at odds with earlier scenes.
The film opens as Stephen Brooks (Reed), a British soldier in World War II, is captured by German troops. Brooks isn’t upset that he’ll spend the rest of the war as...
- 3/30/2012
- by Chris McMillan
- Planet Fury
Given the unrest across Africa today, it’s easy to forget that there was similar troubles as country after country gained their independence from colonization in the 1950s and 1960s. The Congo crisis, in particular, lasted from 1960-66 as it struggled to establish itself after Belgian rule. Over 100,000 people died during the ordeal and it inspired a 1965 novel, The Dark of the Sun, by Wilbur Smith.
The novel, rather than the actual events, led to the 1968 MGM film adaptation which is finally available on DVD from Warner Archive. The film has been a favorite of directors including Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino who lifted some of the score, and its lead Rod Taylor, for use in last year’s Inglorious Basterds.
Taylor plays mercenary Bruce Curry who is hired by the iron-fisted president Ubi (Calvin Lockhart) to retrieve $50 million in diamonds from the northern country. Accompanied by his Congolese friend...
The novel, rather than the actual events, led to the 1968 MGM film adaptation which is finally available on DVD from Warner Archive. The film has been a favorite of directors including Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino who lifted some of the score, and its lead Rod Taylor, for use in last year’s Inglorious Basterds.
Taylor plays mercenary Bruce Curry who is hired by the iron-fisted president Ubi (Calvin Lockhart) to retrieve $50 million in diamonds from the northern country. Accompanied by his Congolese friend...
- 6/17/2011
- by Robert Greenberger
- Comicmix.com
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