News

Michael Caine's perfect James Bond replacement, The Ipcress File, was unfortunately cut short by two back-to-back sequel flops. With more than 175 acting credits to his name, Caine has starred in classic movies such as The Man Who Would Be King (1975), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), Get Carter (1971), and Alfie (1966). Caine is also celebrated for starring in several of Christopher Nolan's best movies, such as Interstellar, Inception, The Dark Knight, and The Prestige.

The Ipcress File was released in 1965 and starred Caine and a clever spy in London named Harry Palmer. The film was directed by Sidney J. Furie and also featured appearances by Nigel Green, Guy Doleman, Sue Lloyd, and Gordon Jackson. The Ipcress File received an impressive Rotten Tomatoes score of 97% matched with an audience score of 85%. The success and acclaim of the first film sparked two back-to-back sequels in 1966 and 1967, which tanked hard and essentially sunk the spy franchise.

We loved James Bond but diehard ’60s spy fans hold a special admiration for Len Deighton’s ‘thinking man’s secret agent’ Harry Palmer. Viavision pulls off a slick trick by assembling the three top Michael Caine Harry Palmer pictures, each from a different studio, in a single deluxe gift box. Harry fights the Brain Drain, encounters criss-crossing conspiracies at the Berlin Wall, and witnesses a privatized invasion of the U.S.S.R., in The Ipcress File, Funeral in Berlin and Billion Dollar Brain, three great pictures by three very different directors. The presentations come with a glut of special edition extras.

The Harry Palmer Collection

All-Region Blu-ray

Viavision [Imprint] 75, 76, 77

1965-67 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / Street Date October 20, 2021 / Available from Amazon / 109.99

Starring: Michael Caine

From the novels by Len Deighton

Produced by Harry Saltzman

Directed by Sidney J. Furie, Guy Hamilton, Ken Russell

It didn’t seem possible that there...

Foreseeing a relaxation of censorship on the horizon, England’s Titan Films filmed this mad surgery opus with far more gore and cruelty than was the norm in 1967-68, and their gambit paid off. Horror favorite Peter Cushing stars with Sue Lloyd, a pair nobody expected to show up in a shocker with such a high sleaze quotient. Pi’s special edition gives us three versions of the show including the continental cut with Cushing’s most lurid scene ever, and heaps of comment and analysis.

Corruption

Region B Blu-ray

Powerhouse Indicator

1968 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 91.5 min., 90.5 min. / Carnage / Street Date August 30, 2021 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / �18.99

Starring: Peter Cushing, Sue Lloyd, David Lodge, Noel Trevarthen, Anthony Booth, Kate O’Mara, Wendy Varnals, Billy Murray, Vanessa Howard, Marian Collins (or Jan Waters), Phillip Manikum, Alexandra Dane, Valerie Van Ost, Diana Ashley, Victor Baring, Shirley Stelfox, Marianne Morris.

Cinematography: Peter Newbrook

Film Editor:...

It’s finally back on Blu in Region 1, the ‘sixties spy movie beloved by enthusiasts that yearned for something a bit more substantial & nutritious than James Bond. This first Harry Palmer adventure seems even more perfect than when it was thanks to a great espionage recipe and quality ingredients. Michael Caine is sensational as the anti-007, the feel of London streets is intoxicating, and John Barry’s music score is beyond praise. Are Sidney Furie’s directorial mannerisms too show-offy, too fussy? I only raise the question to defend him.

The Ipcress File

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1965 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 109 min. / Street Date October 27, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95

Starring: Michael Caine, Nigel Green, Guy Doleman, Sue Lloyd, Gordon Jackson, Aubrey Richards, Frank Gatliff, Thomas Baptiste, Oliver MacGreevy, Freda Bamford, David Glover, Mike Murray, Anthony Baird.

Cinematography: Otto Heller

Film Editor: Peter Hunt

Production Designer: Ken Adam

Original Music: John Barry

Written by W.H. Canaway,...

It’s the Swinging Sixties baby, and Peter Cushing is right in the thick of it! Or rather I should say he’s up to his tweed in blood and severed heads in Corruption (1968), a strange and nasty little number that proves the Baron did know how to get his hands dirty.

Released in December by Columbia Pictures, Corruption curried no favor from critics at the time, with most labeling it as silly nonsense with a poor script. But time has been kind to the film (and softened its edges), as it’s a good showcase for Cushing and a solid snapshot of London’s loosening mores. And with a tagline that screams, “Corruption Is Not A Woman’S Picture!”, how can you refuse?

Sir John Rowan (Cushing) has it all: Lynn, his beautiful model fiancée (Sue Lloyd – Eat the Rich), a thriving career as one of London’s leading plastic surgeons,...

Cinema Retro has received the following press release from Shout! Factory:

Modern-day Robin Hood. Wealthy man of mystery. Debonair rogue. Call Simon Templar what you will, but never cross The Saint. A timeless figure of adventure since his creation by Leslie Charteris in 1928, The Saint has thrilled adventure aficionados with his exploits in a variety of media, including novels, movies, and radio—but nowhere was the dashing Mr. Templar more indelibly realized than in his 1960s television series, presented here in one outstanding collection: The Saint: The Complete Series. Fans of the dashing spy will finally be able to revisit his adventures with the release of The Saint: The Complete Series on DVD from Timeless Media Group, a division of Shout! Factory, LLC.

Available for the first time as a complete series, the 33-dvd box set features all 118 episodes of the classic espionage show, including first 71 episodes of...

By Lee Pfeiffer 

Now this is what you call a bargain: three terrific WWII flicks for only $10 on Amazon, courtesy of Shout! Factory's Timeless Media label, which continues to distribute first rate editions of films that were often considered to be second-rate at the time of their initial release. This "War Film Triple Feature" package includes three gems that were not particularly notable at the time of their release. Two have grown in stature, while the third has benefited only from Cinema Retro writer Howard Hughes' enthusiastic coverage in issue #25. The films included in the set are:

"Attack" (1955)- During the period of WWII, both the Allied and Axis film industries concentrated on feature films that were pure propaganda designed to motivate their fighting men and the public at large. By the early-to-mid-1950s, however,  more introspective viewpoints emerged among Hollywood directors and writers. With the conflict now over,...

Last Remaining Copies!

A new concept in special issue publications from Cinema Retro!- Now shipping worldwide! Order this limited edition now!

Our new line of special issues is called Foto Files. The images are derived from the Cinema Retro archives.

Our premiere issue is dedicated to "Spy Girls" of the 1960s and 1970s. It's an 80-page magazine that emphasizes rare and exciting photographs of those actresses who were "deadlier than the male" in some of the best retro spy movies ever made!

Over 350 photos and film poster artwork from the era Limited print run. Not available in most retail outlets. All of your favorite femme fatales from such legendary series as James Bond, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Harry Palmer, Bulldog Drummond, Matt Helm, Our Man Flint, and many others! Among the sex sirens featured in this remarkable collector's item issue: Ursula Andress, Diana Rigg, Elke Sommer, Caroline Munro, Camilla Sparv,...

Michael Caine's early films defined the look of an era, but with scores by John Barry, Quincy Jones and Sonny Rollins they also defined its soundrack

There is a kind of music in Michael Caine's voice: deceptively flat, barely inflected, emitting just the tiniest glints of detached insolence and laconic menace as it maps the area between the pre-war docklands community of Rotherhithe, his birthplace, and Elephant and Castle, where his family was rehoused in a prefab built on bomb-damaged land not far from the location of Shakespeare's theatres. Few people alive know more about the actor's craft than Caine, none is more gifted in the art of underplaying, and that voice is integral to his virtuosity.

But there is music of a more conventional kind in the films that made him famous – when the former Maurice Micklewhite rather unexpectedly became the model of a new kind of English leading man,...

Food is often used as visual shorthand for sex at the movies – but, as in life, their real relationship is much messier

Fifty years ago came the release of a film with one of the most famous sex scenes in the history of cinema. Yet the couple don't even touch, let alone take their clothes off. In Tony Richardson's Tom Jones, Albert Finney and Joyce Redman share a wordless meal which becomes a kind of foreplay. They stare into each other's eyes as they lustily strip meat off bones, swallow whole oysters and stuff juicy pears into their dripping mouths. It is obvious from the first lick of the lips where this will end. And it's not washing up.

Food and sex seem as natural a screen coupling as Bogart and Bacall. Mickey Rourke and Kim Basinger exploring the sexy potential of a fridge's contents in 9½ Weeks. The lusty wedding...

Grindhouse Releasing has announced that Corruption will soon be available for the first time in the Us on Blu-ray and DVD. The late 60′s British horror Corruption, starring Peter Cushing, is set for an October release as part of a 2-disc set that comes with additional bonus features. The film features Cushing as a doctor who goes to extreme lengths to restore his wife’s beautiful face after she is left disfigured by burns:

“Grindhouse Releasing is proud to present the First-ever U.S. home video release of the wildest, sickest and sleaziest swinging-sixties British horror thriller -Corruption. The legendary Peter Cushing stars as a surgeon driven to murder and madness as he attempts to restore the beauty of his hideously disfigured fashion model wife. Co-starring Sue Lloyd and Hammer Horror beauty Kate O’Mara (The Vampire Lovers). This special edition contains shocking scenes of Gore and Nudity previously...

Fresh off his Golden Globe win for Hugo, Martin Scorsese will accept the 2012 Harold Lloyd Award from the International 3D Society at its annual Creative Arts Awards ceremony on Feb. 1. Harold Lloyd cofounded the Hollywood 3D Society in 1950. His granddaughter, Susan Lloyd, chairman of Harold Lloyd Entertainment, will make the presentation. “Marty Scorsese has embodied Harold Lloyd’s vision and passion for captivating movie fans around the world for his entire career,” she said in the announcement. “With Hugo he has shared his love of filmmaking and filmmakers, in 3D, which would also have thrilled Harold.”

Scorsese will also receive...

"Dream death-match to be sure, but I just noticed Koji Wakamatsu is actually making a new film based on Mishima's life," wrote Sanjuro six months ago, sparking a discussion in the Forum. 11.25 Jiketsu no Hi: Mishima Yukio to Wakamonotachi, with Arata taking the lead and Terajima Shinobu (Caterpillar) playing Mishima's wife, "focuses on the events of November 25, 1970, when Mishima entered the Tokyo headquarters of the Japan Self-Defense Forces along with four members of his private militia, the Tatenokai," wrote Nicholas Vroman in May at Toronto J-Film Pow-Wow. "Seizing control of the commandant's office, Mishima delivered a rambling speech from the balcony hoping to inspire a coup d'etat. He then returned to the office and committed suicide." He also notes that Wakamatsu's been blogging throughout the production. And today, Wildgrounds has posted the first trailer (above).

"Eco Sci-Fi" is the theme of the October issue of Electric Sheep, featuring David Cairns...

Dynasty legend Joan Collins has paid tribute to her friend and former co-star Sue Lloyd, who died on Thursday.

Collins was devastated to learn that British model-turned-actress Lloyd had died aged 72 from undisclosed causes.

The pair became close as young actresses when they were both cast in movie The Stud and its sequel The Bitch, which were both based on novels by Collins' sister Jackie.

Collins tells Britain's Daily Telegraph, "She was the life and soul of parties in the late Seventies when we were working on The Stud and The Bitch. We had a lot of fun filming The Stud when we had to strip for a pool scene. 'Let's get drunk,' Sue suggested, as we were both highly embarrassed about it. So we did and the scene rocked."...

Actor known for her roles in The Ipcress File and Crossroads

The actor Sue Lloyd, who has died aged 72, exuded glamour and sophistication on screen in the 1960s, before finding renewed fame two decades later as Barbara Hunter in 714 episodes of the TV soap opera Crossroads. But it took two attempts by the serial's producers to persuade her to join a programme that was roundly abused by the critics.

"My initial reaction was to be a bit sniffy about it," Lloyd recalled in her 1998 autobiography, It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time. "The soap was renowned for its wobbly scenery, bizarre storylines and regular slaughtering by the critics. Why would I, just back from filming [Revenge of] The Pink Panther with Peter Sellers in the south of France and about to embark on the comedy The Upchat Line with John Alderton, want to get involved in a project like that?...

Itc cut the strings with this thriller spy series that didn.t rely on marionettes. It was a big hit across the pond, but since it was made for the American market, which didn.t produce the hoped ratings, it was cancelled after one season (1965-66). DVD resurrects another .lost. show as E1 Entertainment brings the complete series out of antiquity. John Mannering (Steve Forrest) is known as .The Baron. after his grandfather.s cattle ranch. He outwardly appears to be an antiques dealer with a father lavish lifestyle, but secretly he.s an agent for the British government. He and his assistant Cordelia (Sue Lloyd) engage in all sorts of daring do in the name of the queen. The show...