The name talent attached makes this late- Weimar thriller a must-see proposition: Billy Wilder, Robert & Curt Siodmak, Franz Waxman. Their dark murder farce resembles what would later become the self-aware Black Comedy. The trouble begins when a suicidal nice guy can’t pull the trigger, and hires a crook to do the job for him. The satire is clever but the execution is awkward — the filmmakers set up big laughs that the heavy German filming style doesn’t deliver. Just the same, the situations seem extremely progressive, ahead of their time.
The Man in Search of his Murderer
Blu-ray
Kino Lorber Kino Classics Kino Repertory
1931 / B&w / 1:33 flat / 97 min. / Der Mann, der seinen Mörder sucht; Jim, der Mann mit der Narbe, Looking for his Murderer / Street Date April 6, 2021 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Heinz Rühmann, Lien Deyers, Raimund Janitschek, Hans Leibelt, Hermann Speelmans, Friedrich Hollaender, Gerhard Bienert, Roland Varno.
The Man in Search of his Murderer
Blu-ray
Kino Lorber Kino Classics Kino Repertory
1931 / B&w / 1:33 flat / 97 min. / Der Mann, der seinen Mörder sucht; Jim, der Mann mit der Narbe, Looking for his Murderer / Street Date April 6, 2021 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Heinz Rühmann, Lien Deyers, Raimund Janitschek, Hans Leibelt, Hermann Speelmans, Friedrich Hollaender, Gerhard Bienert, Roland Varno.
- 4/13/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Not enough love is set aside for this ambitious, under-budgeted Lost Civilization epic. John Agar and Cynthia Patrick find love in an ancient albino race that worships a Death Ray and enslaves a race of Subterranean Humanoid Underground Dwellers — Mole Men, what else? It’s unconvincing and the production lacks polish, but it’s also got clever story gimmicks and sympathetic monsters, so it gets a warm reception at CineSavant Central.
The Mole People
Blu-ray
Scream Factory
1956 / B&W / 1.85:1 + 2:1 widescreen / 77 min. / Street Date February 26, 2019 / 27.99
Starring: John Agar, Cynthia Patrick, Hugh Beaumont, Alan Napier, Nestor Paiva, Phil Chambers, Rodd Redwing, Robin Hughes, Frank Baxter, Eddie Parker.
Cinematography: Ellis W. Carter
Film Editor: Irving Birnbaum
Mask Maker: Jack Kevan
Special Photography: Clifford Stine
Written by László Görög
Produced by William Alland
Directed by Virgil Vogel
“Mole Hole, Mole Hole — A land of renown!
Iraq is Up and Sumeria’s down!
The Mole People
Blu-ray
Scream Factory
1956 / B&W / 1.85:1 + 2:1 widescreen / 77 min. / Street Date February 26, 2019 / 27.99
Starring: John Agar, Cynthia Patrick, Hugh Beaumont, Alan Napier, Nestor Paiva, Phil Chambers, Rodd Redwing, Robin Hughes, Frank Baxter, Eddie Parker.
Cinematography: Ellis W. Carter
Film Editor: Irving Birnbaum
Mask Maker: Jack Kevan
Special Photography: Clifford Stine
Written by László Görög
Produced by William Alland
Directed by Virgil Vogel
“Mole Hole, Mole Hole — A land of renown!
Iraq is Up and Sumeria’s down!
- 2/26/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Georg Wilhelm Pabst’s mine disaster saga is both a stirring social drama and a remarkable feat of technical engineering — the underground cave-ins and gas-fed fires are still frightening in their realism. Criterion’s extras offer critical and historical context for a pacifist statement filmed during a tense political time in France and Germany.
Kameradschaft
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 908
1931 / B&W / 1:19 flat full frame / 88 93 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date January 30, 2018 / 39.95
Starring: Alexander Granach, Fritz Kampers, Daniel Mendaille, Ernst Busch, Elisabeth Wendt.
Cinematography: Fritz Arno Wagner
Film Editor: Jean Oser
Set design: Ernö Metzner, Karl Vollbrecht
Original Music: G. von Regelius
Written by Ladislaus Vajda, Peter Martin Lampel, Herbert Rappaport, Karl Otten, Anna Gmeyner.
Produced by Seymour Nebenzal, Nero-Film Ag
Directed by G. W. Pabst
G.W. Pabst could seemingly do no wrong in the German silent film industry. His string of silent pictures gained classic status, and...
Kameradschaft
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 908
1931 / B&W / 1:19 flat full frame / 88 93 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date January 30, 2018 / 39.95
Starring: Alexander Granach, Fritz Kampers, Daniel Mendaille, Ernst Busch, Elisabeth Wendt.
Cinematography: Fritz Arno Wagner
Film Editor: Jean Oser
Set design: Ernö Metzner, Karl Vollbrecht
Original Music: G. von Regelius
Written by Ladislaus Vajda, Peter Martin Lampel, Herbert Rappaport, Karl Otten, Anna Gmeyner.
Produced by Seymour Nebenzal, Nero-Film Ag
Directed by G. W. Pabst
G.W. Pabst could seemingly do no wrong in the German silent film industry. His string of silent pictures gained classic status, and...
- 2/6/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Here’s a real gem — a ‘classic’ Chekhov story turned into a compelling tale of lust and murder. George Sanders and Linda Darnell shine as a judge and the peasant girl who intrigues him; Edward Everett Horton is excellent cast against type in a dramatic role.
Summer Storm
DVD
Sprocket Vault / Kit Parker
1944 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 106 min. / Street Date October 20, 2009 (I’m a little late) / available through Sprocket Vault / 14.99
Starring: George Sanders, Edward Everett Horton, Linda Darnell, Anna Lee, Hugo Haas, Lori Lahner, Sig Ruman, Robert Greig, Byron Foulger, Mike Mazurki, Elizabeth Russell.
Cinematography: Archie Stout, Eugen Schüfftan
Art Direction: Rudi Feld
Collaborating Editor: Gregg G. Tallas
Original Music: Karl Hajos
Written by Roland Leigh, Douglas Sirk (as Michael O’Hara), Robert Theoren based on the play The Shooting Party by Anton Chekhov
Produced by Seymour Nebenzal
Directed by Douglas Sirk
Douglas Sirk, born Hans Detlef Sierck, had a pretty amazing career.
Summer Storm
DVD
Sprocket Vault / Kit Parker
1944 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 106 min. / Street Date October 20, 2009 (I’m a little late) / available through Sprocket Vault / 14.99
Starring: George Sanders, Edward Everett Horton, Linda Darnell, Anna Lee, Hugo Haas, Lori Lahner, Sig Ruman, Robert Greig, Byron Foulger, Mike Mazurki, Elizabeth Russell.
Cinematography: Archie Stout, Eugen Schüfftan
Art Direction: Rudi Feld
Collaborating Editor: Gregg G. Tallas
Original Music: Karl Hajos
Written by Roland Leigh, Douglas Sirk (as Michael O’Hara), Robert Theoren based on the play The Shooting Party by Anton Chekhov
Produced by Seymour Nebenzal
Directed by Douglas Sirk
Douglas Sirk, born Hans Detlef Sierck, had a pretty amazing career.
- 3/18/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
By John M. Whalen
Cornell Woolrich is a writer whose work was much loved and cherished by fans of film noir. The Internet Movie Database lists 102 credits for him for both film and TV shows—titles including “Rear Window,” “The Bride Wore Black,” “The Night Has a Thousand Eyes,” “Black Angel,” “Fear in the Night,” and “Phantom Lady,” He didn’t write any screenplays that I know of. The films and TV shows were all adapted from a prolific output of stories written under his Woolrich and William Irish pseudonyms, and under his real name, George Hopley.
While Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, and James M. Cain make up the Big Three in noir fiction, Woolrich carved out a special niche for himself. Chandler, and Hammett wrote about tough guy heroes who usually overcame the web of evil they encountered. Cain’s heroes weren’t always so lucky, but at least...
Cornell Woolrich is a writer whose work was much loved and cherished by fans of film noir. The Internet Movie Database lists 102 credits for him for both film and TV shows—titles including “Rear Window,” “The Bride Wore Black,” “The Night Has a Thousand Eyes,” “Black Angel,” “Fear in the Night,” and “Phantom Lady,” He didn’t write any screenplays that I know of. The films and TV shows were all adapted from a prolific output of stories written under his Woolrich and William Irish pseudonyms, and under his real name, George Hopley.
While Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, and James M. Cain make up the Big Three in noir fiction, Woolrich carved out a special niche for himself. Chandler, and Hammett wrote about tough guy heroes who usually overcame the web of evil they encountered. Cain’s heroes weren’t always so lucky, but at least...
- 5/13/2016
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
An exercise in dizzy disorientation, this Cornell Woolrich crazy-house noir pulls the rug out from under us at least three times. You want delirium, you got it -- the secret words for today are "Obsessive" and "Perverse." Innocent Robert Cummings is no match for sicko psychos Peter Lorre and Steve Cochran. The Chase Blu-ray Kino Classics 1946 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 86 min. / Street Date May 24, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Robert Cummings, Michèle Morgan, Steve Cochran, Peter Lorre, Lloyd Corrigan, Jack Holt, Don Wilson, Alexis Minotis, Nina Koschetz, Yolanda Lacca, James Westerfield, Shirley O'Hara. Cinematography Frank F. Planer Film Editor Edward Mann Original Music Michel Michelet Written by Philip Yordan from the book The Black Path of Fear by Cornell Woolrich Produced by Seymour Nebenzal Directed by Arthur D. Ripley
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
As Guy Maddin says on his (recommended) commentary, the public domain copies of this show were...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
As Guy Maddin says on his (recommended) commentary, the public domain copies of this show were...
- 5/7/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Douglas Sirk's first American movie came out so well that Prc sold it to MGM, earning Sirk a promotion out of the Poverty Row studios. John Carradine is excellent - and underplays! -- as the Hangman of Prague who moonlights as a depraved sex criminal. But the context in this wartime propaganda movie is serious -- it commemorates the Nazi murder of an entire Czech town. Hitler's Madman DVD-r The Warner Archive Collection 1943 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 84 min. / Street Date December 1, 2015 / available through the WBshop / 18.95 Starring Patricia Morrison, John Carradine, Alan Curtis, Howard Freeman, Ralph Morgan, Ludwig Stössel, Edgar Kennedy, Al Shean, Elizabeth Russell, Jimmy Conlin, Ava Gardner, Natalie Draper, Victor Kilian, Otto Reichow, Peter van Eyck, Hans Heinrich von Twardowski, Blanch Yurka. Cinematography (Eugen Schüfftan, credited as Technical Advisor), Jack Greenhalgh Film Editor Dan Milner Second unit and uncredited production designer Edgar G. Ulmer Original Music...
- 12/22/2015
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
The history of the Nebenza(h)ls, a German-American family of producers, involves film production in both Europe and Hollywood: In 1931, Seymour Nebenzal produced Fritz Lang’s classic film M for Nero-Film, a company that had been founded by his father in Berlin. Twenty years later, in the USA, father Seymour and son Harold Nebenzal were responsible for the remake with the same Read More...
- 2/1/2013
- Bollywood Trade
When one letter could mean so much to film aficionados everywhere, you know you have something special in your midst. The film I’m alluding to is Fritz Lang’s 1931 masterpiece M. A masterpiece that, luckily for the Criterion Collection, has gained a high watermark in the hearts of film fans everywhere. What more could a fan say about this wonderful and haunting film?
Peter Lorre stars as serial killer and alluded pedophile Hans Beckert, which was his first starring role in a film. Remember, this was made in Germany while thee Nazis were in power, so you had German Expressionism on the rise and German film was chugging along with one brilliant film after another, and M is no exception to that statement. Lorre was known for comedic roles before this film, but once you see him as Hans Beckert, you won’t think of him in the same way again.
Peter Lorre stars as serial killer and alluded pedophile Hans Beckert, which was his first starring role in a film. Remember, this was made in Germany while thee Nazis were in power, so you had German Expressionism on the rise and German film was chugging along with one brilliant film after another, and M is no exception to that statement. Lorre was known for comedic roles before this film, but once you see him as Hans Beckert, you won’t think of him in the same way again.
- 5/11/2010
- by James McCormick
- CriterionCast
DVD Playhouse—April 2010
By
Allen Gardner
Ride With The Devil (Criterion) Ang Lee’s revisionist take on the Civil War is awash in moral ambiguity, along with some stunning cinematography, production design, and fine performances. Set during the Kansas-Missouri border war, Tobey Maguire and Skeet Ulrich star as two friends who join up with the Confederate-sympathizing Bushwhackers, finding an odd ally in a former slave (Jeffrey Wright). While it’s fascinating to see America’s bloodiest conflict through the eyes of a foreigner, thereby allowing much of the previously mentioned ambiguity a certain latitude, the film never loses the bad taste it leaves for one simple reason: it asks us, the audience, to side with not just the Confederates, but some of the lowest trash that made up the dregs, and the fringes, of the movement. Big points for audacity, but snake eyes on the story itself. Singer Jewel is impressive in her film debut.
By
Allen Gardner
Ride With The Devil (Criterion) Ang Lee’s revisionist take on the Civil War is awash in moral ambiguity, along with some stunning cinematography, production design, and fine performances. Set during the Kansas-Missouri border war, Tobey Maguire and Skeet Ulrich star as two friends who join up with the Confederate-sympathizing Bushwhackers, finding an odd ally in a former slave (Jeffrey Wright). While it’s fascinating to see America’s bloodiest conflict through the eyes of a foreigner, thereby allowing much of the previously mentioned ambiguity a certain latitude, the film never loses the bad taste it leaves for one simple reason: it asks us, the audience, to side with not just the Confederates, but some of the lowest trash that made up the dregs, and the fringes, of the movement. Big points for audacity, but snake eyes on the story itself. Singer Jewel is impressive in her film debut.
- 4/16/2010
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
Criterion has announced that it will release Fritz Lang’s classic 1931 thriller, M, on Blu-ray disc May 11th. The German-language film chronicles the exploits of a sinister child murderer run amok on the streets of Berlin, unforgettably played by Peter Lorre. Although the film is nearing its 80th anniversary, to this day it embodies, as Criterion puts it, “the blueprint for the psychological thriller.”
The film is the latest in the Criterion catalogue to be upgraded to Blu-ray, and if their past work is any indication, purchasers should be pleased with the restored high-definition digital transfer, with an uncompressed monaural soundtrack. As an added incentive for collectors, the new edition will include an exclusive “long-lost English-language version of M.”
M is currently ranked at #57 on the IMDb “Top 250″ and is widely cited as one of the most chilling films ever released — praised in particular for its unique fusion between the...
The film is the latest in the Criterion catalogue to be upgraded to Blu-ray, and if their past work is any indication, purchasers should be pleased with the restored high-definition digital transfer, with an uncompressed monaural soundtrack. As an added incentive for collectors, the new edition will include an exclusive “long-lost English-language version of M.”
M is currently ranked at #57 on the IMDb “Top 250″ and is widely cited as one of the most chilling films ever released — praised in particular for its unique fusion between the...
- 2/19/2010
- by Bryan
- FamousMonsters of Filmland
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.