Warners knocks us out with a beautifully remastered Rko noir. Nicholas Ray's crime tale is like no other, a meditation on human need and loneliness. It's a noir with a cautiously positive, hopeful twist. On Dangerous Ground Blu-ray Warner Archive Collection 1952 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 82 min. / Street Date October 11, 2016 / available through the WBshop / 21.99 Starring Ida Lupino, Robert Ryan, Ward Bond, Charles Kemper, Anthony Ross, Ed Begley, Ian Wolfe, Sumner Williams. Cinematography George E. Diskant Art Direction Ralph Berger, Albert S. D'Agostino Film Editor Roland Gross Original Music Bernard Herrmann Written by A.I. Bezzerides, Nicholas Ray from the novel Mad with Much Heart by Gerald Butler Produced by John Houseman, Sid Rogell Directed by Nicholas Ray
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
The Warner Archive is known for pleasant surprises, but this one is a real thrill -- one of the very best Rko films noir, reissued in a much-needed beautiful restoration.
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
The Warner Archive is known for pleasant surprises, but this one is a real thrill -- one of the very best Rko films noir, reissued in a much-needed beautiful restoration.
- 10/8/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Political terror scenarios were a bit simpler in the 1950s, and movies about them fairly rare. Frank Sinatra gives a strong performance as the villain John Baron, in a tense tale of presidential assassination by high-powered rifle. Suddenly Blu-ray The Film Detective 1954 / B&W / 1.75 widescreen / 75 min. / Street Date October 25, 2016 / 14.99 Starring Frank Sinatra, Sterling Hayden, James Gleason, Nancy Gates, Willis Bouchey, Cinematography Charles G. Clarke Art Direction Frank Sylos Film Editor John F. Schreyer Original Music David Raksin Written by Richard Sale Produced by Robert Bassler Directed by Lewis Allen
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Some disc companies do well by refurbishing movies in the Public Domain, using various methods to bring what were once bargain-bin eyesores nearer the level of releases made from prime source material in studio vaults. As I've reported with efforts by HD Cinema Classics and Vci, the results vary dramatically -- did the company do a professional job,...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Some disc companies do well by refurbishing movies in the Public Domain, using various methods to bring what were once bargain-bin eyesores nearer the level of releases made from prime source material in studio vaults. As I've reported with efforts by HD Cinema Classics and Vci, the results vary dramatically -- did the company do a professional job,...
- 10/8/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
I guess Howard Hughes wanted to go easy on Minnesota Nazis. William Cameron Menzies directs a Cold War thriller about an insidious germ warfare conspiracy -- it's an early paranoid suspense tale with apocalyptic consequences. But the story behind the movie's making -- and then remaking -- is even more fantastic. The Whip Hand DVD-r The Warner Archive Collection 1951 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 82 min. / Street Date February 16, 2016 / available through the WBshop / 18.59 Starring Elliott Reid, Raymond Burr, Carla Balenda, Edgar Barrier, Otto Waldis, Michael Steele, Lurene Tuttle, Peter Brocco, Lewis Martin, Frank Darien, Olive Carey, George Chandler, Gregory Gaye. Cinematography Nicholas Musuraca Film Editor Robert Golden Original Music Music by Paul Sawtell Written by George Bricker, Frank L. Moss, Ray Hamilton Produced by Louis J. Rachmil Directed by William Cameron Menzies
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Film writers Bill Warren and Tom Weaver have reported extensively on the unusual production story...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Film writers Bill Warren and Tom Weaver have reported extensively on the unusual production story...
- 6/4/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Jim Knipfel May 17, 2019
Kiss Me Deadly remains the greatest hardboiled apocalyptic sci-fi noir ever.
Former comic book writer Mickey Spillane published his first Mike Hammer mystery, I, The Jury, in 1947. In a way, it wasn’t that far removed from the superhero stories he’d been writing, even if it was a bit earthier without all the funny costumes. Spillane’s own alter-ego, the burly, hard-drinking, tough-talking Hammer was harder-boiled than that mealy-mouthed wimp, Sam Spade. And unlike that other wet blanket named Philip Marlowe, Hammer had few if any qualms about taking sleazy divorce cases or pulling his gun.
Over the next three decades, the Brooklyn-born Spillane pumped out a dozen more Hammer mysteries, including My Gun is Quick, Vengeance is Mine, and The Girl Hunters. Along with Spillane’s no-nonsense writing style and stories packed with extreme (for the 1950s) sex and violence, the lurid and suggestive cover...
Kiss Me Deadly remains the greatest hardboiled apocalyptic sci-fi noir ever.
Former comic book writer Mickey Spillane published his first Mike Hammer mystery, I, The Jury, in 1947. In a way, it wasn’t that far removed from the superhero stories he’d been writing, even if it was a bit earthier without all the funny costumes. Spillane’s own alter-ego, the burly, hard-drinking, tough-talking Hammer was harder-boiled than that mealy-mouthed wimp, Sam Spade. And unlike that other wet blanket named Philip Marlowe, Hammer had few if any qualms about taking sleazy divorce cases or pulling his gun.
Over the next three decades, the Brooklyn-born Spillane pumped out a dozen more Hammer mysteries, including My Gun is Quick, Vengeance is Mine, and The Girl Hunters. Along with Spillane’s no-nonsense writing style and stories packed with extreme (for the 1950s) sex and violence, the lurid and suggestive cover...
- 5/17/2016
- Den of Geek
By John M. Whalen
“A Bullet for Joey” (1955) with Edward G. Robinson, George Raft and Audrey Totter is one of those “Red scare” movies from the mid-fifties that combines elements of a crime plot with espionage and the evils of communism. It was the Cold War era and people were digging bomb shelters and practicing “duck and cover” air raid drills, while at the same time, congressional committees hauled in suspected Communist Party members, including actors, writers and directors, to testify and name names. Hollywood did its part, in turn, by black listing suspected commies and turning out anti-communism films like John Wayne’s “Big Jim McClain” “The Woman on Pier 13 (“I Married a Communist”), and “I Was a Communist for the FBI.” “A Bullet for Joey”, despite having two of Hollywood’s toughest tough guy actors in the cast, is one of the weaker examples of this sub-genre.
“A Bullet for Joey” (1955) with Edward G. Robinson, George Raft and Audrey Totter is one of those “Red scare” movies from the mid-fifties that combines elements of a crime plot with espionage and the evils of communism. It was the Cold War era and people were digging bomb shelters and practicing “duck and cover” air raid drills, while at the same time, congressional committees hauled in suspected Communist Party members, including actors, writers and directors, to testify and name names. Hollywood did its part, in turn, by black listing suspected commies and turning out anti-communism films like John Wayne’s “Big Jim McClain” “The Woman on Pier 13 (“I Married a Communist”), and “I Was a Communist for the FBI.” “A Bullet for Joey”, despite having two of Hollywood’s toughest tough guy actors in the cast, is one of the weaker examples of this sub-genre.
- 3/16/2016
- by [email protected] (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
A new documentary doesn't exactly unveil the writer, but leaves one admiring the fearless ability to mine his psyche for his art
There are several surprising things to learn about Philip Roth in the new PBS documentary about him: that you can go on a Philip Roth bus tour of Newark and take photos of his high school; that because of a back complaint, he writes standing up; and how his parents really reacted to Portnoy's Complaint.
The biggest reveal, however, given Roth's entrenched public image as furiously vain and terrifically grumpy – someone who exists in a state of permanent disbelief that he still hasn't won the Nobel Prize – is just how charming and likable he is.
After years of posing for photos like a brooding 60s version of Heathcliff, here he is, a little disheveled, with wonky teeth and a rueful expression, telling stories to illustrate "how childish I...
There are several surprising things to learn about Philip Roth in the new PBS documentary about him: that you can go on a Philip Roth bus tour of Newark and take photos of his high school; that because of a back complaint, he writes standing up; and how his parents really reacted to Portnoy's Complaint.
The biggest reveal, however, given Roth's entrenched public image as furiously vain and terrifically grumpy – someone who exists in a state of permanent disbelief that he still hasn't won the Nobel Prize – is just how charming and likable he is.
After years of posing for photos like a brooding 60s version of Heathcliff, here he is, a little disheveled, with wonky teeth and a rueful expression, telling stories to illustrate "how childish I...
- 3/15/2013
- by Emma Brockes
- The Guardian - Film News
As he’s currently shooting the Al Pacino, Alan Arkin, and Christopher Walken buddy comedy Stand Up Guys, a press release announces that Fisher Stevens — who, just a few years back, won an Oscar for producing the acclaimed documentary The Cove — will next helm an adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel American Pastoral, which Lakeshore and Sidney Kimmel Entertainment are producing.
Originally written by Philip Roth — and adapted by John Romano (The Lincoln Lawyer) — the ’60s-set story follows Seymour “the Swede” Levov, an idealistic American do-gooder whose family is torn apart when his daughter, a rebellious girl, is arrested for illegal acts in protest of the Vietnam War. The moral quandaries created here sound right in line with Stevens‘ documentary, Crazy Love, or first narrative, Just a Kiss — and it’s in a period I’m wholly fascinated with, to boot. Let’s hope this one comes together with the right team.
Originally written by Philip Roth — and adapted by John Romano (The Lincoln Lawyer) — the ’60s-set story follows Seymour “the Swede” Levov, an idealistic American do-gooder whose family is torn apart when his daughter, a rebellious girl, is arrested for illegal acts in protest of the Vietnam War. The moral quandaries created here sound right in line with Stevens‘ documentary, Crazy Love, or first narrative, Just a Kiss — and it’s in a period I’m wholly fascinated with, to boot. Let’s hope this one comes together with the right team.
- 5/17/2012
- by [email protected] (thefilmstage.com)
- The Film Stage
Philip Roth's Pulitzer Prize winning novel "American Pastoral" will be made into a movie from director Fisher Stevens. The book is one of Roth's most critically heralded and offers a look at the social upheavals of the 1960s and 70s as seen through the eyes of a once legendary high school athlete, Seymour “Swede” Levov. "American Pastoral" helped kick off a career renaissance for the author and is the first novel in Roth’s American postwar trilogy -- a grouping that also includes "I Married a Communist" and "The Human Stain." Film versions of...
- 5/17/2012
- by Brent Lang
- The Wrap
Academy Award-winner Fisher Stevens will direct American Pastoral for Lakeshore Entertainment and Sidney Kimmel Entertainment. The project is based on Philip Roth.s Pulitzer Prize winning novel of the same name. Screenwriter John Romano (The Lincoln Lawyer, Intolerable Cruelty) adapted the screenplay.
American Pastoral is a pivotal story depicting the destruction of the American dream. Protagonist Seymour .Swede. Levov, a legendary high school athlete, grows up to marry a former beauty queen and inherits his father.s business. Swede.s seemingly perfect life shatters when his daughter rebels by becoming a revolutionary and commits a savage act of political terrorism during the Vietnam War.
The book is the first novel in Roth.s American postwar trilogy that also includes I Married a Communist and The Human Stain. This will mark Lakeshore Entertainment.s third project with Roth.The Human Stain was released in 2003 and Elegy (based on The Dying Animal...
American Pastoral is a pivotal story depicting the destruction of the American dream. Protagonist Seymour .Swede. Levov, a legendary high school athlete, grows up to marry a former beauty queen and inherits his father.s business. Swede.s seemingly perfect life shatters when his daughter rebels by becoming a revolutionary and commits a savage act of political terrorism during the Vietnam War.
The book is the first novel in Roth.s American postwar trilogy that also includes I Married a Communist and The Human Stain. This will mark Lakeshore Entertainment.s third project with Roth.The Human Stain was released in 2003 and Elegy (based on The Dying Animal...
- 5/17/2012
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Los Angeles, CA, May 15, 2012— Academy Award-winner Fisher Stevens will direct American Pastoral for Lakeshore Entertainment and Sidney Kimmel Entertainment (Ske). The project is based on Philip Roth’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel of the same name. Screenwriter John Romano (The Lincoln Lawyer, Intolerable Cruelty) adapted the screenplay. American Pastoral is a pivotal story depicting the destruction of the American dream. Protagonist Seymour “Swede” Levov, a legendary high school athlete, grows up to marry a former beauty queen and inherits his father’s business. Swede’s seemingly perfect life shatters when his daughter rebels by becoming a revolutionary and commits a savage act of political terrorism during the Vietnam War. The book is the first novel in Roth’s American postwar trilogy that also includes I Married a Communist and The Human Stain. This will mark Lakeshore Entertainment’s third project with Roth—The Human Stain was released in 2003 and Elegy...
- 5/16/2012
- by MIKE FLEMING
- Deadline
When you think of directors who might be natural fits to bring works by acclaimed American authors to the screen, Fisher Stevens may not top the list. In fact, you may not know he’s a director at all. But while many will still associate him with the Short Circuit films or Lost, he’s been steadily carving out a successful (and Oscar-winning for dolphin doc The Cove) career as a producer for the last decade. He’s currently making the movie to directing with crime comedy Stand Up Guys and will next tackle an adaptation of Philip Roth’s American Pastoral.Published in 1997, Roth’s novel follows Seymour “Swede” Levov, a legendary high school athlete, who grows up to marry a former beauty queen and inherits his father’s business. Swede’s seemingly perfect life shatters when his daughter rebels by becoming a revolutionary and commits a savage act...
- 5/16/2012
- EmpireOnline
There were three phases the entertainment industry went through during the Cold War. The first was “The Russians are Coming!” when movies and comics and what have you spat out tales of woe like I Married a Communist, in which we were warned that the enemy wore no convenient uniform or had any distinct facial features that could tip us off that he was the most horrible man in existence. Then you had the “Man, what would it be like if the Russians were coming?” phase where we had movies like Red Dawn and books like Red Storm Rising, trying to give us an idea of what a real shooting war with the Soviets would be like.
Now we’re in the “Man, remember when the Russians were coming?” phase, where we all get nostalgic for M.A.D and make video games about what it would be like to weather a Russian invasion,...
Now we’re in the “Man, remember when the Russians were coming?” phase, where we all get nostalgic for M.A.D and make video games about what it would be like to weather a Russian invasion,...
- 12/7/2011
- by David Anderson
- Comicmix.com
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