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Sean Connery needs no introduction. His career in television and film spanned nearly 50 years and encompassed a wide range of beloved characters and projects. Known for his tall, rugged appearance, Connery got his start in theater productions, TV shows, and films throughout the 1950s, getting his first big break as Bond, James Bond, in 1962's "Dr. No," the first silver screen adaptation of the classic spy from Ian Fleming's novels. The film introduced the world to Connery's rough yet charismatic persona and was successful enough to kick off a franchise that continues today. Connery appeared as Bond in six total series installments, and his outings as the character established the paradigm that all subsequent Bond actors would follow to various degrees.

Connery's place in cinematic history would be secure even if James Bond was the only character he portrayed. However, he was a versatile actor and managed to avoid being typecast,...

This thinking man’s epic got left behind with the demise of Road Show movies, which is a shame. A beautifully made, uncompromised story of warring 17th century Germany, it plays like a fine epic, with great performances. Audiences didn’t want to see Michael Caine playing this kind of character in a costume drama that wasn’t glorious escapism. Everybody’s good — it’s a great picture for Omar Sharif and the underappreciated Florinda Bolkan. The (originally) 70mm cinematography looked incredibly good in 1971.

The Last Valley

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1971 / Color / 2:35 widescreen (in release) / 125 min. / Street Date June 23, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95

Starring: Michael Caine, Omar Sharif, Florinda Bolkan, Nigel Davenport, Per Oscarsson, Madeline Hinde, Michael Gothard, Brian Blessed, Miguel Alejandro, Christian Roberts, Yorgo Voyagis, Ian Hogg, Vladek Sheybal.

Cinematography: Norman Warwick, John Wilcox

Film Editor: John Bloom

Original Music: John Barry

Visual Effects: Wally Veevers

From the...

Finally — a satisfying home video edition of Ken Russell’s absorbing, argument-starting classic, in which D. H. Lawrence’s quartet of bohemians attempt to live out their progressive theories about love and sex. The intellectual arguments may be cold but the characters are warm and vivid. Exceptional performing from all — Alan Bates, Glenda Jackson, Oliver Reed and Jennie Linden, and outstanding cinematography from Billy Williams.

Women in Love

Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 916

1969 / Color / 1:75 widescreen / 131 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date March 27, 2018 / 39.95

Starring: Sir Alan Bates, Oliver Reed, Glenda Jackson, Jennie Linden, Eleanor Bron, Alan Webb, Catherine Willmer, Vladek Sheybal.

Cinematography: Billy Williams

Film Editor: Michael Bradsell

Original Music: Georges Delerue

Written by Larry Kramer

Produced by Larry Kramer, Martin Rosen

Directed by Ken Russell

In college, this one was guaranteed to keep couples up all night, debating the merits of each character’s notion of what constitutes a good relationship.

The AppleThe musical possesses a unique form of power rarely afforded to other Hollywood genres. In the words of film scholar Rick Altman, “The musical invites us to forget familiar notions of plot, psychological motivation, and causal relationships.” In contrast to other commercial genres, the musical is almost one-of-a-kind in its ability to arrest time and space, to suspend disbelief, to defy our lived understanding of human relationships and even the very conventions of filmgoing. In what other mainstream genre can fictional characters get away with looking into the camera lens so often? Dramatic logic is replaced in the Hollywood musical by spectacle and raw emotional appeal, with singing as the defining device for such purely cinematic priorities.But what happens to the musical when singing is taken out of it? This was the conundrum of the short-lived disco musical, a sub-genre that ended as soon as it began.Popular...

It’s hard to think of a musical that would benefit more from a Blu-ray boost than Ken Russell’s kaleidoscopic all dancing, all singing send-up of theatrical clichés on the music hall stage, circa 1925. We’re just happy that the adorable Twiggy got to be put in a film like this, to be enjoyed forever. The Russell crowd is all aboard, led by Glenda Jackson and Murray Melvin. Gosh!

The Boy Friend

Blu-ray

The Warner Archive Collection

1971 / Color / 2:40 widescreen / 136 min. / Street Date February 21, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Twiggy, Christopher Gable, Max Adrian, Bryan Pringle, Murray Melvin, Moyra Fraser, Georgina Hale, Sally Bryant, Vladek Sheybal, Tommy Tune, Brian Murphy, Graham Armitage, Antonia Ellis, Caryl Little, Glenda Jackson.

Cinematography: David Watkin

Film Editor: Michael Bradsell

Production Design: Tony Walton

Costumes: Shirley Russell

Written by: Ken Russell from the musical by Sandy Wilson

Produced and Directed by: Ken Russell

Some...

By Tim Greaves

With Christmas 1970 on the horizon, the UK’s thrilling new sci-fi TV show UFO was well underway. Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's first live-action series, it was set in the future and revolved around the activities of the Supreme Headquarters Alien Defence Organisation (Shado), a covert agency presided over by Commander Ed Straker (Ed Bishop) to fend off alien attacks on mankind. As a wide-eyed 8-year-old I was hooked and I can recall wishing two things. One was that I could have one of the Dinky Toys’ missile-firing Shado Interceptors, which I thought then (and still think now) was the coolest among the incredible array of vehicles that appeared in the show; I’d not be nearly as forgiving today as I was back then that Dinky had manufactured it in garish green, where the ‘real’ ones on TV were white. The other wish was that I...

"Wolverines!" Ryan takes a look back at director John Milius' Cold War action epic, Red Dawn...

John Milius’ films have long been about rugged men surviving against the odds, usually with a gun in their hands, and full of fabulous, terse dialogue. Remember Quint’s monologue about the sinking of the USS Indianapolis in Jaws? That was his, in part. “I love the smell of napalm in the morning” from Apocalypse Now? Milius wrote that line in an early draft. “Do I feel lucky” from Dirty Harry? Milius’ uncredited words.

Milius followed up his directorial debut Conan The Barbarian with Red Dawn, probably the jewel in his career so far; it’s full of fabulously ripe dialogue, hundreds of guns and many more deaths. It’s simultaneously very funny and extraordinary bleak.

In an alternate version of the 1980s, a politically isolated United States stands alone against communism. Along...

“My name is Bond - James Bond". That classic introduction to the cinema’s greatest secret agent is as famous as “I am Dracula, I bid you welcome.” When the box office success of Dr No (1962) turned the unknown Sean Connery into a movie legend, Hammer was never far away from the franchise. With their own films running parallel to the Bond series, Hammer and Eon Productions often made use of the same talent.

Dr No also marked the debuts of Bernard Lee (the first of 11 films as M) and Lois Maxwell (the first of 14 as Miss Moneypenny). Lee had a brief turn as Tarmut in Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell (1973) and despite never starring in a Hammer horror, Maxwell turned up in their early fifties thrillers Lady in the Fog (1953) and Mantrap (1954).

As doomed double-agent Professor Dent, Anthony Dawson is best known as the vile Marquis in Curse...