Glenn Erickson's
Review Page and Column
Sands of Iwo Jima — 4K 05/03/25
KL Studio Classics
4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray
Once upon a time the reigning WW2 battle action movie was this rough & tumble Republic offering, that cemented John Wayne’s glowing image as THE movie star who won the war. The production scored plenty of defense department cooperation to become an efficient recruitment tool — its leathernecks are no-nonsense killers but also complete gentlemen with the ladies — Adele Mara and Julie Bishop. John Agar gets a place of pride in the credits, with solid input from Forrest Tucker, Wally Cassell, and familiar faces Arthur Franz, Richard Jaeckel, John McGuire and Martin Milner. The finish is an impressive recreation of the flag-raising on one of the bloodiest battlefields of the war. On 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray from KL Studio Classics.
05/03/25
The Informant! — 4K 05/03/25
Warner Home Video
4K Ultra HD
This Steve Soderbergh true-life ‘comedy’ drove us nuts: the audience I saw it with wanted to leap up and kill Matt Damon’s insultingly fraudulent corporate Veepee. The ‘nice guy jerk’ poses as a whistleblower while betraying everyone who crosses his path. Yet he squeaks by with an ‘oh I’m so innocent’ act. It’s more a comment on a new kind of business vermin that cover their greed and chicanery with oh-so-sincere personality quirks. It’s another worthy Soderbergh creation, now on 4K Ultra HD from Warner Bros..
05/03/25
CineSavant Column
Hello!
June will be a superb month for fans of classic pix from The Warner Archive Collection. Pictured above are Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell from Howard Hughes’ weirdly distorted comedy-noir potboiler His Kind of Woman, also starring Vincent Price.
That’s only the flashiest Blu-ray bait for the month. Also on the docket are —
Elia Kazan’s masterpiece Splendor in the Grass with Natalie Wood & Warren Beatty; its colors ought to be sensational in HD.
Robert Wise’s Executive Suite, an all-star battle for a company’s presidency, with William Holden, June Allyson, Fredric March, Barbara Stanwyck, Shelley Winters and several others.
John Cromwell’s The Enchanted Cottage, a twisted romantic fantasy with Robert Young and Dorothy McGuire, and a weird take on beauty vs ugliness.
King Vidor’s The Citadel is a worthy prestige classic; it stars Robert Donat and Rosalind Russell and was nominated for a pile of Oscars.
and MGM’s A Date with Judy ought to please fans angling for a Technicolor musical … it co-stars Jane Powell, Elizabeth Taylor, Wallace Beery, Carmen Miranda and Robert Stack.
The appeal of the Archive Collection is to see the beautiful digital remasters … we’re so accustomed to older transfers of these films, sometimes just 16mm TV copies. The remastering of Technicolor pictures is almost always a revelation … new colors, new clarity.
And we can’t resist … Michael McQuarrie links us to the Internet Archive’s online collection of the entire set of Topps Mars Attacks! trading cards, the inspiration for the 1996 feature film by Tim Burton (which is still a favorite).
For a lot of ’60s kids, these cards were our first contact with outright gore being sold to minors as entertainment. Close associate Todd Stribich invested in an entire original set of cards, which you can bet is locked up securely. Their value continues to accrue.
Thanks for reading! — Glenn Erickson
Ugetsu — 4K 04/30/25
The Criterion Collection
4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray
Japan’s art film exports began with Kurosawa but also included masterpieces by Kenji Mizoguchi, of which this costume drama is the finest and most respected. A potter tries to survive and subsist in a time of feudal civil war, but it’s not all historical realism — a streak of spiritualism leans in the direction of a ghost story. Starring Machiko Kyo, Mitsuko Mita ans Kinuyo Tanaka; Reviewed by Charlie Largent. On 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray from The Criterion Collection.
04/29/25
Crack in the World 04/30/25
KL Studio Classics
Blu-ray
Another fine Sci-fi overachiever bounces back in a new encoding, much improved. Andrew Marton’s daring adventure / disaster / eco-apocalypse sees scientists attempting to exploit the heat at the Earth’s core — and almost splitting the planet in two. It’s high jeopardy for Dana Andrews, Janette Scott, Kieron Moore and Alexander Knox; Eugène Lourié’s designs and special effects are breathtaking. With good extras from Gary Gerani, Tim Lucas and Stephen R. Bissette. On Blu-ray from KL Studio Classics.
04/26/25
Anora — 4K 04/30/25
The Criterion Collection
4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray
Charlie Largent reviews a favorite: Sean Baker made out like a bandit at the Oscars with this breakthrough feature. Mikey Madison is the title character, a prostitute in a swank gentleman’s club. Anora becomes a different person when separating high rollers from their money; the conflict comes into focus when she becomes enamored with — and marries — the hopelessly immature and spoiled Vanya, the son of a Russian oligarch. How is Anora supposed to deal with her new husband’s ‘enforcers’ and come out of the bargain in one piece? Vanya’s father is fearsome but the mother’s potential for spiteful harm knows no bounds. On 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray from The Criterion Collection.
04/22/25
CineSavant Column
Hello!
We’re back after a week of vacation, a very healthy rest. It was so diverting that I’ve been running around the house having to remember how everything works and what our routines were.
Charlie Largent launched reviews so I didn’t have to think about the page at all, which gave me real peace of mind. Now, with palmy breezes behind us, we’ll get back to the ususal reality stuff that helps us maintain equilibrium.
Much has arrived in our absence. A big pile of attractive discs to review, but also two new books that sound exciting, Tom Weaver’s From Page to Silver Scream and Daniel Kehlmann’s biography of German director G.W. Pabst, The Director. Give me a few days on those.
And at least one new review for Saturday, while we get the dynamos of production (cough) churning here at CineSavant. Gotta admit that it’s nice to be missed a little. We’re hoping to take a similar break in the Fall.
Correspondent Jonathan Gluckman points us to this YouTube upload by SabuCat of a deleted musical number from the Fred Astaire / Paulette Goddard musical Second Chorus. No known film copy is known to have survived, but Jeff Joseph’s company has up-rezzed a Betamax tape to HD.
The deleted song is about ‘a ghost that lives upstairs,’ with the ghost danced by famed choreographer Hermes Pan. The comments on the YouTube post critique the AI process used to clean up the low-quality digital source. We’re shown a bit of comparison. The final product ‘improves’ but also revises, cleaning up Astaire’s face while erasing details, creases, shadows. Presuming that the Betamax source was frame-rate adapted to NTSC TV 30fps, some odd motion effects show up as well.
Thanks for reading! — Glenn Erickson
CineSavant Column
Hello!
Yes, we usually don’t post on Mondays. The CineSavant Page is going dark for a few days. Nothing sinister, negative, or suchlike, so no need for concern.
New reviews will still be posted at Trailers from Hell on the normal days Tuesday and Saturday. It’s just that they won’t be promoted here or on my Facebook page for a couple of spins of the wheel, maybe the last day of April.
The place to check on Tuesday and Thursday will be my CineSavant Archives Page at Trailers from Hell. Everything that gets posted at TFH shows up there instanfry… indstilly… right away. In other words, a new review should be up some time tomorrow, Tuesday the 22nd.
Sorry for the break. DVD Savant and CineSavant have been up for 24 years and 8 months without a whole lotta interruptions. Not that we can’t be tempted away…
Watch this space too … The CineSavant Column will be back very soon.
Oh, I almost forgot. Does CineSavant need to be more aggressive, confrontational? Here’s Sierra Charriba saying hello. ↗ His message is pointless but he has the right attitude: “CineSavant will be back! Who you send against me now?”
Thanks for reading! — Glenn Erickson
Girl with a Suitcase 04/19/25
Radiance Films
Blu-ray
Claudia Cardinale’s first major starring role was a big success in Europe, even if our New York critics seemed primed for more ‘intellectual’ film art. She’s a sensation as Aida, a showgirl ditched by a dishonest lover … whose more gentlemanly but acutely underage brother comes to her rescue. It’s a hard lesson in survival and romantic incompatibility. Young Jacques Perrin is the decent kid who falls head over heels in love; Cardinale displays big talent as the vulnerable woman who knows the kid is just too young. Excellent direction by Valerio Zurlini, plus terrific pop music and a nice early career appearance by Gian Maria Volontè. On Blu-ray from Radiance Films.
04/19/25
The Savage Eye 04/19/25
Severin Films
Blu-ray
What does one call a film this original? It’s a poetic documentary-investigation of Los Angeles culture circa 1958; it’s also a powerful proto-feminist essay. Ben Maddow, Sidney Meyers & Joseph Strick collaborated on this rare attraction. Barbara Baxley stars as a disaffected divorceé who sees the city as layers of Hell. She and Gary Merrill deliver a stream of consciousness on the progressive soundtrack. It’s sane, humanist and compassionate, and also quite adult; the credits are a roll call of talented individualists: Haskell Wexler, Irving Lerner, Verna Fields, Jack Couffer. One disc in a four-disc set, on Blu-ray from Severin Films.
04/19/25
CineSavant Column
Hello!
Nothing on the Column item docket today — except for goofy online videos old and new … which people keep saying they like.
First up is a homemade video mashup from ‘Tvcrazyman’ — a clever editorial job that tasks The Man of Steel with defeating an armada of invading flying saucers. Ray Harryhausen worshippers may complain, but hey, re-editing the effects master’s work is always rewarding.
Fun is fun:
Up second is an old friend that’s forever winning new fans. Posted by ‘homemadespots’, it’s a musical excerpt from the 1965 Indian murder mystery-musical Gumnamm. A clip of the dance number shows up in Terry Zwigoff’s Ghost World, just long enough to retard one’s consciousness by two or three evolutionary levels.
This one never gets old. The mindless, mind-warping music and the hyperfrenetic dancing are enough to shake one’s brain loose. The earworm guitar riffs will take possession of your frontal lobe for at least a week.
The choreography feels like a metaphor for modern life: people are bombarded by sub-atomic particles, just like David Byrne. It looks so frantic … psychologically speaking, the dance feels like a logical reaction to current national events.
Thanks for reading! — Glenn Erickson
Behold a Pale Horse 04/15/25
Powerhouse Indicator
Region B Blu-ray
Fred Zinnemann’s superb thriller has suspense, fine characterizations and a potent anti-fascist theme. Gregory Peck is excellent as an embittered lost-cause warrior who takes on one last mission into Franco territory to kill an old enemy, Anthony Quinn. Emeric Pressburger’s very modern story benefits from Zinnemann’s precise direction and impressive production design by Alexandre Trauner; the costars are Omar Sharif, Paolo Stoppa, Mildred Dunnock and Christian Marquand. On Region B Blu-ray from Powerhouse Indicator.
04/15/25
The Time Traveler’s Wife 04/15/25
New Line / Warnerblu
Blu-ray
What can you expect when the hero of a story is a Special Collections librarian? Audrey Niffenegger’s scrambled-time romantic fantasy shouldn’t work, but it squeaks by — fashioning a ‘life metaphor’ that doesn’t get tangled up in its own sci-fi plot complexities. The picture-perfect cast, especially Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana, sell the illusion 100%. It may not be Oscar nomination bait, but it’s a crowd-pleaser that revives the good old romantic film blanc fantasy. On Blu-ray from New Line / Warnerblu.
04/15/25
CineSavant Column
Hello!
Michael McQuarrie finds another good Internet Archive item. It’s an episode of the old PBS TV show Frontline. To explain, PBS was this great public-supported TV station that presented all manner of education and public interest programming, including original productions like Frontline that offered fine documentaries with journalistic integrity. Exactly what happened to public broadcasting is an entire different discussion.
The beautifully produced The Monster That Ate Hollywood is about the ‘corporatization’ of Hollywood. Produced in 2001, the process had been underway for decades, but it’s nicely spelled out, with excellent celeb interviews and relevant film clips.
Frankly, it’s hard to imagine anything produced about Hollywood that’s this good — most studio-based projects are so thoroughly corporatized, that anything not selling a product is pushed aside. We should know, having worked on video featurettes and docus for so long … starting in the late ’90s, the attorneys kept a close watch on was shown and spoken. What you wanted to say didn’t matter, what the piece said about their product did.
These are not just companies, says Peter Bart, they’re Nation-States, that want ‘Risk-Averse’ movies.
The final joke is the writer’s credit on the show …. Alan Smithee.
Thanks for reading! — Glenn Erickson
I’m All Right Jack 04/12/25
KL Studio Classics
Blu-ray
Labor madness finds new extremes in Roy Boulting’s acidic satire pitting scheming bosses, a Bolshie provocateur and would-be arms smugglers against each other in a munitions factory. Terry-Thomas, Richard Attenborough, Margaret Rutherford, Liz Fraser and Peter Sellers’ Comisar of the assembly line all torment the upperclass twit Ian Carmichael; some of the hilarity is in thoroughly rotten taste. The double-entendres are so frequent, one starts looking for dirty meanings in every line of dialogue. Can’t wait to read Charlie Largent’s take on this one. On Blu-ray from KL Studio Classics.
04/12/25