Orson Welles in fine form! This lavishly produced costume drama, beautifully cast and directed, was filmed on location in gorgeous Italian palazzos, churches and villas. Welles is cast to type as the literally mesmerizing mountebank Cagliostro, who aids Madame du Barry in a scheme to seize the throne of France. Welles almost certainly ‘helped’ the credited director; the highly theatrical goings-on look exactly like Orson’s style. Super performances from Nancy Guild, Akim Tamiroff, Valentina Cortese, Margot Grahame and Charles Goldner turn Alexandre Dumas’ tale into swashbuckling mind-control excitement; the disc tops it off with a sensationally good restoration.
Black Magic
Blu-ray
ClassicFlix
1949 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 105 min. / Street Date January 25, 2022 / Available from ClassicFlix / 19.99
Starring: Orson Welles, Nancy Guild, Akim Tamiroff, Charles Goldner, Stephen Bekassy, Valentina Cortese, Margot Grahame, Frank Latimore, Gregory Gaye, Berry Kroeger, Robert Atkins, Raymond Burr, Harriet White Medin, Silvana Mangano, Milly Vitale.
Cinematography: Ubaldo Arata, Anchise Brizzi
Art Directors: Jean d’Eaubonne,...
Black Magic
Blu-ray
ClassicFlix
1949 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 105 min. / Street Date January 25, 2022 / Available from ClassicFlix / 19.99
Starring: Orson Welles, Nancy Guild, Akim Tamiroff, Charles Goldner, Stephen Bekassy, Valentina Cortese, Margot Grahame, Frank Latimore, Gregory Gaye, Berry Kroeger, Robert Atkins, Raymond Burr, Harriet White Medin, Silvana Mangano, Milly Vitale.
Cinematography: Ubaldo Arata, Anchise Brizzi
Art Directors: Jean d’Eaubonne,...
- 2/1/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
The Warner Archive comes through with a film noir gem that still has the power to make one’s skin crawl, as a pair of circus sharpshooters go on the lam, using their skills to pull off cheap robberies. The clammy feeling of being cut off from society, having no place to go, is expressed in near-existential terms. Peggy Cummins’ cheap tease Annie Laurie Starr promises John Dall’s Bart Tare eternal love, but what good are promises from a psycho?
Gun Crazy
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1949 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 87 min. / Street Date , 2018 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Peggy Cummins, John Dall, Berry Kroeger, Anabel Shaw, Harry Lewis, Nedrick Young, Rusty Tamblyn, Morris Carnovsky.
Cinematography: Russell Harlan
Film Editor: Harry Gerstad
Production Designer: Gordon Wiles
Original Music: Victor Young
Written by Dalton Trumbo and MacKinlay Kantor from his short story
Produced by Frank King, Maurice King
Directed by...
Gun Crazy
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1949 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 87 min. / Street Date , 2018 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Peggy Cummins, John Dall, Berry Kroeger, Anabel Shaw, Harry Lewis, Nedrick Young, Rusty Tamblyn, Morris Carnovsky.
Cinematography: Russell Harlan
Film Editor: Harry Gerstad
Production Designer: Gordon Wiles
Original Music: Victor Young
Written by Dalton Trumbo and MacKinlay Kantor from his short story
Produced by Frank King, Maurice King
Directed by...
- 5/15/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Now a successful producer, John Wayne tries a big budget action picture with an anti-Communist theme. It’s The Alamo on a ferryboat, set in the far East where the locals are a hungerin’ for Freedom. Wayne is an apolitical adventurer who just feels like savin’ Chinese and kissin’ Lauren Bacall. Ace director William Wellman holds it together — barely.
Blood Alley
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1955 / Color / 2:55 widescreen / 115 min. / Street Date July 18, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: John Wayne, Lauren Bacall, Paul Fix, Joy Kim, Berry Kroeger, Mike Mazurki, Wei Ling, Henry Nakamura.
Cinematography: William H. Clothier
Film Editor: Fred McDowell
Original Music: Roy Webb
Written by A.S. Fleischman, from his novel.
Produced by John Wayne
Directed by William Wellman
John Wayne was extremely busy in 1955, starring in movies for big studios as well as for his own company Batjac. He was rated the most popular Hollywood star and was making constant public appearances,...
Blood Alley
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1955 / Color / 2:55 widescreen / 115 min. / Street Date July 18, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: John Wayne, Lauren Bacall, Paul Fix, Joy Kim, Berry Kroeger, Mike Mazurki, Wei Ling, Henry Nakamura.
Cinematography: William H. Clothier
Film Editor: Fred McDowell
Original Music: Roy Webb
Written by A.S. Fleischman, from his novel.
Produced by John Wayne
Directed by William Wellman
John Wayne was extremely busy in 1955, starring in movies for big studios as well as for his own company Batjac. He was rated the most popular Hollywood star and was making constant public appearances,...
- 7/6/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Jacqueline Bisset’s in a heck of a fix. Her hubby Alan Alda has been seduced by promises of fame and fortune from creepy concert genius Curt Jurgens, and is responding to weird overtures from Curt’s daughter Barbara Parkins. The pianist’s mansion is stuffed with occult books, and he displays an unhealthy interest in Alda’s piano-ready hands. Do you think the innocent young couple could be in a diabolical tight spot? Nah, nothing to worry about here.
The Mephisto Waltz
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1971 / Color /1:85 widescreen / 115 min. / Street Date April 18, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Alan Alda, Jacqueline Bisset, Barbara Parkins, Brad(ford) Dillman, William Windom, Kathleen Widdoes, Pamelyn Ferdin, Curt Jurgens, Curt Lowens, Kiegh Diegh, Berry Kroeger, Walter Brooke, Frank Campanella.
Cinematography: William W. Spencer
Film Editor: Richard Brockway
Original Music: Jerry Goldsmith
Written by Ben Maddow from a novel by Fred Mustard Stewart
Produced...
The Mephisto Waltz
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1971 / Color /1:85 widescreen / 115 min. / Street Date April 18, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Alan Alda, Jacqueline Bisset, Barbara Parkins, Brad(ford) Dillman, William Windom, Kathleen Widdoes, Pamelyn Ferdin, Curt Jurgens, Curt Lowens, Kiegh Diegh, Berry Kroeger, Walter Brooke, Frank Campanella.
Cinematography: William W. Spencer
Film Editor: Richard Brockway
Original Music: Jerry Goldsmith
Written by Ben Maddow from a novel by Fred Mustard Stewart
Produced...
- 5/8/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Robert Siodmak’s superb noir classic pits two graduates of Little Italy against one other: a crook who can deceive relatives and seduce strangers into helping him, and the cop who wants to put him out of business. Starring the great Richard Conte, with Victor Mature in what might be his best role.
Cry of the City
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1948 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 95 min. / Street Date November 15, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring Victor Mature, Richard Conte, Fred Clark, Shelley Winters, Betty Garde, Berry Kroeger, Tommy Cook, Debra Paget, Hope Emerson, Roland Winters, Walter Baldwin, Mimi Aguglia, Kathleen Howard, Konstantin Shayne, Tito Vuolo.
Cinematography Lloyd Ahern
Original Music Alfred Newman
Written by Richard Murphy from the novel The Chair for Martin Rome by Henry Edward Helseth
Produced by Sol C. Siegel
Directed by Robert Siodmak
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Perhaps because of a legal or rights issue, Robert Siodmak...
Cry of the City
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1948 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 95 min. / Street Date November 15, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring Victor Mature, Richard Conte, Fred Clark, Shelley Winters, Betty Garde, Berry Kroeger, Tommy Cook, Debra Paget, Hope Emerson, Roland Winters, Walter Baldwin, Mimi Aguglia, Kathleen Howard, Konstantin Shayne, Tito Vuolo.
Cinematography Lloyd Ahern
Original Music Alfred Newman
Written by Richard Murphy from the novel The Chair for Martin Rome by Henry Edward Helseth
Produced by Sol C. Siegel
Directed by Robert Siodmak
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Perhaps because of a legal or rights issue, Robert Siodmak...
- 12/3/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Normal 0 false false false En-us X-none X-none
By Harvey Chartrand
Mr. Lucky: The Complete Series is now available for the first time ever as a 4-dvd box set from Timeless Media Group… all 34 episodes, with a running time of about 840 minutes. Mr. Lucky– created by writer/director Blake Edwards (Peter Gunn) – ran for only one season (from 1959 to 1960), even though it was a hit with viewers.
This adventure/crime drama is a sort of Peter Gunn Lite, featuring a lush, organ-powered theme song by Henry Mancini (a bonus CD of Mr. Lucky’s soundtrack is included in the set), an assortment of shady characters aboard a floating casino, and competent acting by series regulars John Vivyan (as suave professional gambler Mr. Lucky), Ross Martin (as his sidekick and business partner Andamo), Pippa Scott (as Mr. Lucky’s girlfriend Maggie Shank-Rutherford) and Tom Brown (as Lieutenant Rovacs, Mr. Lucky’s...
By Harvey Chartrand
Mr. Lucky: The Complete Series is now available for the first time ever as a 4-dvd box set from Timeless Media Group… all 34 episodes, with a running time of about 840 minutes. Mr. Lucky– created by writer/director Blake Edwards (Peter Gunn) – ran for only one season (from 1959 to 1960), even though it was a hit with viewers.
This adventure/crime drama is a sort of Peter Gunn Lite, featuring a lush, organ-powered theme song by Henry Mancini (a bonus CD of Mr. Lucky’s soundtrack is included in the set), an assortment of shady characters aboard a floating casino, and competent acting by series regulars John Vivyan (as suave professional gambler Mr. Lucky), Ross Martin (as his sidekick and business partner Andamo), Pippa Scott (as Mr. Lucky’s girlfriend Maggie Shank-Rutherford) and Tom Brown (as Lieutenant Rovacs, Mr. Lucky’s...
- 2/15/2013
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Act of Violence
Directed by Fred Zinnemann
Screenplay by Robert L. Richards
USA, 1948
A recurring theme among war veterans, be it in film or in real life, is how many are haunted by the memories of their so called exploits and other various horrific scenarios which unfolded before their unfortunate eyes. Austrian-born director Fred Zinnemann, whose parents were unlucky victims of WWII, takes this notion of a shameful wartime past returning to plague a U.S. veteran to a near literal degree in his 1948 picture, Act of Violence.
Frank R. Enley (Van Heflin) is living the ideal life on the outskirts of Los Angeles. He is blessed with a successful career, has a caring and supporting wife, Edith (Janet Leigh), a new baby, and a lovely two story house located in a quintessentially American suburban neighbourhood. Shortly after Frank leaves the home one day with a neighbor for a two day fishing expedition,...
Directed by Fred Zinnemann
Screenplay by Robert L. Richards
USA, 1948
A recurring theme among war veterans, be it in film or in real life, is how many are haunted by the memories of their so called exploits and other various horrific scenarios which unfolded before their unfortunate eyes. Austrian-born director Fred Zinnemann, whose parents were unlucky victims of WWII, takes this notion of a shameful wartime past returning to plague a U.S. veteran to a near literal degree in his 1948 picture, Act of Violence.
Frank R. Enley (Van Heflin) is living the ideal life on the outskirts of Los Angeles. He is blessed with a successful career, has a caring and supporting wife, Edith (Janet Leigh), a new baby, and a lovely two story house located in a quintessentially American suburban neighbourhood. Shortly after Frank leaves the home one day with a neighbor for a two day fishing expedition,...
- 1/6/2012
- by Edgar Chaput
- SoundOnSight
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