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Surprise: these are quality movies on an important subject. Entry 13 in the ‘Golden Age of the Exploitation Picture’ gives us not sleaze but two well-produced vintage public education epics on the subject of (gasp) venereal disease. Although reissued by sensation hucksters as racy ‘forbidden’ fare, they had serious social aims — the screenplay for one was adapted by the famed author Upton Sinclair. The other was directed by Edgar G. Ulmer. Added extras are four short subjects directed by Edgar G., and two sex-ed lecture reels that alternate between funny and revolting.

Damaged Lives & Damaged Goods

Forbidden Fruit: The Golden Age of the Exploitation Picture, Volume 13

Blu-ray

Kino Classics / Something Weird

1933 & 1937 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / Street Date February 8, 2022 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Directed by Edgar G. Ulmer, Phil Goldstone

Kino’s ongoing series ‘The Golden Age of the Exploitation Picture’ has creeped through every vintage sensation that could be 4-walled, carnival style,...

The biggest surprise about this month’s release of Charles Chaplin’s City Lights (1931) is that it wasn’t already a part of Criterion’s prestigious collection. Though several of his other masterworks have already been featured, it’s this 1931 title that many deem to be the quintessential of all his Little Tramp films, a light and breezy comedy that’s as effortlessly comical as it is undeniably moving. Credited as his last silent film, it stands as one of the most revered silent films ever made, famously released after the advent of sound due to Chaplin’s steadfast obsession with cinema as a silent art. And to make the Tramp speak would only have resulted in tantamount sacrilege, a magic and mystery that would have evaporated with the insistent new technology.

A tramp (Charles Chaplin) wanders the streets of Los Angeles, involved in a series of comic scenarios before...

City Lights

Written by Charles Chaplin

Directed by Charles Chaplin

USA, 1931

As they have with The Gold Rush, Modern Times, The Great Dictator, and Monsieur Verdoux, The Criterion Collection has released another stunning Blu-ray/DVD transfer of a Charlie Chaplin classic, rife with a surplus of features. City Lights (1931), which Criterion itself calls, “the most cherished film by Charlie Chaplin … his ultimate Little Tramp chronicle,” is certainly a film easy to love and admire; it’s The Tramp at his most endearingly hapless, his best of intentions always hilariously undermined, and it’s perhaps the most emotionally affecting Chaplin film.

The Kid has the unforgettable Jackie Coogan desperately reaching out for his newfound father figure, and throughout, the young boy and Chaplin tug at the heartstrings. But City Lights, especially with its transcendent final scene, trumps the more manipulatively straightforward sentiment in the earlier feature. Much has been made of this supremely effective conclusion,...

Moviefone's Top DVD of the Week:

"Man of Steel"

What's It About? In Zack Snyder's Superman reboot, "Man of Steel," the young Clark Kent (Henry Cavill) goes on a journey to discover his origin and to better understand his super-human powers. However, when the Kryptonian military leader, General Zod (Michael Shannon), threatens the fate of earth, Clark must face his past to save his planet.

Why We're In: "Man of Steel" is full of spectacular action sequences that will quench any superhero junkie or comic book fiend's appetite. However, Snyder's film was ranked as one of Moviefone's Best Movies of 2013 (So Far) primarily because it successfully rebooted the Superman story after previous failed attempts. It may be your typical Blockbuster fare, but it's undoubtedly a thrilling ride.

Watch: A special feature from the "Man of Steel" Blu-ray (Video)

Moviefone's Top Blu-ray of the Week:

"Noseferatu"

What's It About? F.W. Murnau's 1922 silent "Nosferatu,...