Newsletter - FOR THE WEEK

OF March 27th, 2017

  This Week's Highlights
 
 

Salvete! Massive week with 22 Blu-ray reviews of packages by Criterion, Elephant Films, Kino, Sony, 88 Films, Warner Archive, Olive Films, Cult Films, Classicflix, Shout! Factory, Twilight Time of films by Alfred Hitchcock, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Robert Altman, Luchino Visconti, Carol Reed, Juzo Itami, Robert Wise, Aldo Lado, Donald Cammel, Val Guest, Mark Robson, John Landis, Ulli Lommel, Joe D'Amato, Jean Rollin and more. Our Calendar has a updates including films directed by Sam Peckinpah, Delmer Daves, Arthur Hiller, Alfred Hitchcock, Billy Wilder, Rudolph Maté, Nicholas Ray, Marcel Ophüls, Seijun Suzuki, Dario Argento, Mario Bava, Marcel Carné, Douglas Sirk, Yonggang Wu, Taylor Hackford, Paul Newman, Budd Boetticher, André De Toth, Kinji Fukasaku and others. Feature Blu-ray and DVD is posted for MARCH. We have a new article posted and a CONTEST with another BRAND NEW CRITERION Blu-ray prize. Enjoy!!

DVDBeaver has their own store at Movie Zyng - check it out! Many have $1 shipping - even overseas!

Feature Blu-ray and DVD chosen for the Month of MARCH! Opinions for April?

FOLLOW US on TWITTER! (where we post important reviews, contests - prizes, polls, calendar updates - plus much more...)

 

(Week of) March 27th CONTEST  identify the clip HERE to win a prize of a BRAND NEW Criterion Blu-ray of Being There Best of luck!

BIG THANKS!: DVDBeaver would not exist without the support of many patrons - those who generously donate, and especially those who use our Amazon(s), Barnes & Noble, TCM, Warner Archive and YesAsia links. That's it. When you go to Amazon - PLEASE use one of our links to get there (they are on every page - top and bottom - and we have 5000 webpages). It costs you absolutely nothing and we get a small commission on items you purchase. This helps pay our bills - in fact it's the only thing that pays our bills.
STRATEGIES: The best way to take full advantage of Amazon is to use...
PRE-ORDERs - lock in at the discount price by ORDERING - if perchance you decide against the purchase you have until the release date to cancel - at no charge AND if you will purchase more than 35 DVDs (or anything) in a 365 day period (and live in the Continental US) it makes excellent financial sense to subscribe to Amazon Prime
NOTE:_

If there are DVD or Blu-ray titles you'd like us to cover - please feel free to recommend!

Gary at 2ze dot com

LATEST ADDITIONS TO THE RELEASE CALENDAR:

Ride the High Country [Blu-ray] (Sam Peckinpah, 1962) Warner Archive
36 Hours [Blu-ray] (George Seaton, 1965) Warner Archive
The Rounders [Blu-ray] (Burt Kennedy, 1965) Warner Archive
Spencer's Mountain [
Blu-ray] (Delmer Daves, 1963) Warner Archive 
From Hell It Came [Blu-ray] (Dan Milner, 1957) Warner Archive
The Wheeler Dealers [
Blu-ray] (Arthur Hiller, 1963) Warner Archive 

The Paradine Case [Blu-ray] (Alfred Hitchcock, 1947) Kino Lorber

The Salesman [Blu-ray] (Asghar Farhadi, 2016) Sony Pictures
Those Redheads from Seattle
[Blu-ray 3D] (Lewis R. Foster, 1953) Kino Lorber

Tough Guys [Blu-ray] (Jeff Kanew, 1986) Kino Lorber
Last Plane Out
[Blu-ray] (David Nelson, 1983) Code Red / Kino Lorber
The Funny Farm [
Blu-ray] (Ron Clark, 1983) Code Red / Kino Lorber
Akeelah and the Bee [
Blu-ray] (Doug Atchison, 2006) Lionsgate
The Big Kahuna
[
Blu-ray] (John Swanbeck, 1999) Lionsgate
One, Two, Three [
Blu-ray] (Billy Wilder, 1961) Kino Lorber
The Sheik
[
Blu-ray] (George Melford, 1921) Kino Lorber
Son of the Sheik
[
Blu-ray] (George Fitzmaurice, 1926) Kino Lorber
Akira - Collector's Edition [
Blu-ray] (Katsuhiro Ôtomo, 1988) Funimation
Madhouse aka And When She Was Bad [
Blu-ray] (Ovidio G. Assonitis, 1981) Arrow Video

Magnificent Obsession [Blu-ray] (Douglas Sirk, 1954) RB FR Elephant Films

Things to Come [Blu-ray] (Mia Hansen-Løve, 2016) MPI
The Violent Men [
Blu-ray] (Rudolph Maté, 1955) RB FR Sidonis

Interlude [Blu-ray] (Douglas Sirk, 1957) RB FR Elephant Films

Bitter Victory [Blu-ray] (Nicholas Ray, 1957) RB FR Sidonis

The Sorrow and the Pity [Blu-ray] (Marcel Ophüls, 1969) RB UK Arrow
The Taisho Trilogy (Limited Edition) (Zigeunerweisen, Kageroza, Yumeji) [
Blu-ray] (Seijun Suzuki, 1980-1991) RB UK Arrow
The Black Knight [
Blu-ray] (Tay Garnett, 1954) RB FR Sidonis

One-Eyed Jacks [Blu-ray] (Marlon Brando, 1961) RB UK Arrow
The Boxer [
Blu-ray] (Mark Robson, 1997) RB UK 101 Films
Hell Below Zero [
Blu-ray] (Mark Robson, 1954) RB FR Sidonis

Opera [Blu-ray] (Dario Argento, 1987) RB FR Le Chat qui Fume

Kill, Baby Kill [Blu-ray] (Mario Bava, 1970) RB DE Koch Media
Fantômas contre Scotland Yard
(aka Fantomas Against Scotland Yard) [Blu-ray] (André Hunebelle, 1967) RB FR Gaumont
Fantômas se déchaîne (aka Fantomas Strikes Back) [
Blu-ray] (André Hunebelle, 1965) RB FR Gaumont
Les Portes de la nuit
(aka Gates of the Night) [
Blu-ray] (Marcel Carné, 1946) RB FR Pathé Distribution
Les Sorcières de Salem
(aka The Crucible) [
Blu-ray] (Raymond Rouleau, 1957) RB FR Pathé Distribution
Captain Lightfoot
[
Blu-ray] (Douglas Sirk, 1955) RB FR Elephant Films

Blutiger Freitag (aka Bloody Friday) [Blu-ray] (Rolf Olsen, 1972) RB DE Subkultur Entertainment
The Goddess
(Yonggang Wu, 1934) R2 UK BFI
The Age of Shadows
[
Blu-ray] (Kim Jee-woon, 2016) CJ Entertainment / Sony Pictures
The Comedian [
Blu-ray] (Taylor Hackford, 2016) Sony Pictures
The Red Turtle [
Blu-ray] (Michael Dudok de Wit, 2016) Sony Pictures
Payback Time - Triple Feature (Blind Fury (1989), Silent Rage (1982), White Line Fever (1975)) [
Blu-ray] (Phillip Noyce, Michael Miller, Jonathan Kaplan) Mill Creek Entertainment
Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone [
Blu-ray] (Lamont Johnson, 1983) Mill Creek Entertainment
Sometimes a Great Notion [
Blu-ray] (Paul Newman, 1970) RB FR Sidonis
Third Time Lucky (Gordon Parry, 1949) R2 UK Screenbound Pictures
Winning [
Blu-ray] (James Goldstone, 1969) RB FR Sidonis
Adios, Sabata
[
Blu-ray] (Gianfranco Parolini, 1970) Kino Lorber
Cannon for Cordoba
[
Blu-ray] (Paul Wendkos, 1970) RB FR Sidonis
The Cimarron Kid
[
Blu-ray] (Budd Boetticher, 1952) RB DE Koch Media
A Day of Fury [
Blu-ray] (Harmon Jones, 1956) RB DE Koch Media
The Indian Fighter
[
Blu-ray] (André De Toth, 1955) Kino Lorber
Making Contact (aka Joey) [
Blu-ray] (Roland Emmerich, 1985) Kino Lorber
Marjorie Morningstar [
Blu-ray] (Irving Rapper, 1958) Kino Lorber
Return of Sabata [
Blu-ray] (Gianfranco Parolini, 1971) Kino Lorber
The Blue Racer
[
Blu-ray] (17 DePatie-Freleng Cartoons, 1972-1974) Kino Lorber
Highpoint [
Blu-ray] (Peter Carter, 1982) Code Red / Kino Lorber
Sheriff Hoot Kloot [
Blu-ray] (17 DePatie-Freleng Cartoons, 1973-1974) Kino Lorber
Bitter Harvest (Peter Graham Scott, 1963) R2 UK Strawberry Media
House of Secrets (aka Triple Deception) (Guy Green, 1956) R2 UK Strawberry Media
Doberman Cop [
Blu-ray] (Kinji Fukasaku, 1977) RB UK Arrow

Solaris [Blu-ray] (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1972) Criterion UK (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Bird with the Crystal Plumage Limited Edition [Blu-ray] (Dario Argento, 1970) RB UK Arrow

Jackie [Blu-ray] (Pablo Larraín, 2016) RB UK 20th Century Fox

The Founder [Blu-ray] (John Lee Hancock, 2016) RB UK Studio Canal

La La Land Steelbook [Blu-ray] (Damien Chazelle, 2016) RB UK Lionsgate

La La Land Steelbook [4K Ultra Blu-ray] (Damien Chazelle, 2016) RB UK Lionsgate

Split [4K Ultra Blu-ray] (M. Night Shyamalan, 2016) Universal Pictures UK

Klown [Blu-ray] (Mikkel Nørgaard, 2010) RB UK Arrow

Frivolous Lola [Blu-ray] (Tinto Brass, 1998) RB UK Arrow

Cheeky [Blu-ray] (Tinto Brass, 2000) RB UK Arrow

All Ladies Do It [Blu-ray] (Tinto Brass, 1992) RB UK Arrow

Madhouse aka And When She Was Bad [Blu-ray] (Ovidio G. Assonitis, 1981) RB UK Arrow

The House by the Cemetery [Blu-ray] (Lucio Fulci, 1981) RB UK Arrow

Who's That Knocking at My Door (Martin Scorsese, 1967) R2 UK BFI
They Live by Night
 [Blu-ray] (Nicholas Ray, 1948) Criterion
The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog [
Blu-ray] (Alfred Hitchcock, 1927) Criterion
Straw Dogs [
Blu-ray] (Sam Peckinpah, 1971) Criterion

The Marseille Trilogy (Marius, Fanny, César) [Blu-ray] (Alexander Korda, Marc Allégret, Marcel Pagnol, 1931-1936) Criterion

Ugetsu [Blu-ray] (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1953) Criterion

The Louis Malle Collection (Elevator to the Gallows, Les Amants, Zazie dans le métro, The Fire Within, Murmur of the Heart, Lacombe Lucien, Black Moon, My Dinner with Andre, Au Revoir les Enfants, Milou en Mai) [Blu-ray] (Louis Malle) RB UK Curzon Artificial Eye

La La Land [Blu-ray] (Damien Chazelle, 2016) Lionsgate

La La Land [Blu-ray] (Damien Chazelle, 2016) RB UK Lionsgate

The Young Pope [Blu-ray] (Paolo Sorrentino, 2016) HBO Studios

Two Minute Warning [Blu-ray] (Larry Peerce, 1976) RB UK 101 Films

 

 

ONE VOICE (not Ellsworth Monkton Toohey): There is a lot to say this week with many Blu-ray transfers dramatically exceeding their DVD counterparts. Initially focusing on three; Criterion's Blu-ray of Juzo Itami's lovely foodie-comedy Tampopo is an essential. Buy with confidence. How about Cult Films new Blu-ray of Luchino Visconti's L'innocente also towers above the lackluster DVDs, and deserves its viewership. Also the technical stats support that Sony's Taxi Driver (4K Remastered) of, debatably, Martin Scorsese's best film, is THE best digital presentation of this masterpiece. You want it in the definitive video - this is it. It is now apparent that Criterion's Blu-ray of Francis Ford Coppola's Rumble Fish, with 4K, director approved, restoration is a notable improvement over the existing Blu-ray. Not meaning to dump on Masters of Cinema, but Kino's Blu-ray of Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat, surprisingly, goes the way of the US 1080P transfer. Fans warm to John Landis's Into the Night - an adventure with Pfeiffer/Goldblum - and it comes to Region FREE Blu-ray from Elephant Films in France. Sexploaitation-sci-fi seems a common theme this week with three lesser-'B'-classic. In Val Guest's Hammer-produced When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth and an equally breast-popping blonde-fest in Hong Kong high-camp The Mighty Peking Man, and lets not forget one of the most obvious; Invasion of the Bee Girls - with all three on Blu-ray - ripe for the amusing titillation. Twilight Time's Blu-ray of Carol Reed's Our Man in Havana is a winner of a film and transfer. A Graham Greene novel starring Alex Guinness.. nu'ff said. 88 Films needs some love and their Blu-ray of Aldo Lado's atmospheric Giallo horror, mystery Short Night of Glass Dolls offers great value. Fans shouldn't hesitate. You like Noir? How about Essential Noir? - we have Irving Rapper Another Man's Poison, with viciously evil Bette Davis chracterization, on Classicflix Blu-ray looking and sounding spectacular beside the repugnant DVD. Must own for dark-cinema aficionados. One of the liveliest musicals of the 60's How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying offers brilliant colors, sexist satire and a ton of fun, now on Twilight Time Blu-ray. Demon Seed has state-of-the-art Proteus computer forcing itself on an unwilling Julie Christie. Nothing good ensues. Warner Archive give this science-fiction horror, artfully expressed by Donald Cammell, a new Blu-ray release. Popular film Peyton Place goes Blu-ray with some potential issues, via Twilight Time, but the colors will rock your world. Robert Altman's debut film The Delinquents is out on Olive Blu-ray but a far cry from the director's later masterworks. Black Magic is a Shaw Brothers horror-esque effort with love-potions and deception at it centre - now available on Blu-ray. Robert Wise's 1945 A Game of Death is an RKO Radio Pictures remake of a classic - and the new Kino Blu-ray desirable in its own right. Prozzie has Ulli Lommel pleased to reunite with starlet Suzanna Love for another bout of blood thirsty brutality - on Blu-ray from 88 Films. Zombie Lake has Jean Rollins' artful touch to walking dead Nazis terrorizing the countryside - on Blu-ray via Kino. Massacre in Dinosaur Valley is an exploitation jungle adventure with everything from Piranhas to cannibals - also reaching Blu-ray status - as does Beyond the Darkness has even more gruesome blood flowing and excessive mutilation late70's Italian style. On DVD, Eric covered the new films - a drama entitled Claire in Motion, the Australian horror Death Passage and the US relationship comedy Somewhere in the Middle.

"You better take me up on this quick. In about 45 minutes, I'm going to give up and go away..” ― Body Heat

What will this week bring? Change can often be good... embrace it.

  THIS WEEK's REVIEWS / COMPARISONS
 

A Game of Death BD - Lured too close to shore by misplaced channel lights, the yacht carrying noted big game hunter and author Don Rainsford hits a corral reef and sinks, throwing its passengers and crew into shark-infested waters. Rainsford, the sole survivor, swims ashore and makes his way to a mysterious-looking fortress. Inside, he is greeted by Eric Kreiger, the master of the house, and his servant Pleshke. Kreiger, a fervent hunter, recognizes Rainsford's name and insists that he join him and his guests for dinner. Escorted by Pleshke as he goes to change his wet clothes, Rainsford is puzzled by the bars on the windows. At dinner, after introducing Rainsford to his guests, Ellen Trowbridge and her brother Robert, Kreiger boasts that he bought the island as a hunting preserve and has stocked it with the most dangerous game in the world. Blu-ray Release date: March 21st, 2017

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying BD - A blandly outrageous and occasionally sharp-toothed musical satirising big business, with a likeable score by Frank Loesser, which takes potshots at everything from coffee breaks to advertising campaigns. Morse, somehow contriving to be horrendous and endearing at one and the same time, repeats his stage role to brilliant effect as the all-American boy who employs scientific knowhow to rise like a meteor, licking asses and trampling heads every step of the way. Swift's direction is a little stiff and stagy, and there are dull patches; but with handsome camerawork from Burnett Guffey, witty Bob Fosse choreography, and the ineffable Vallee playing the compulsive-knitting, fussbudget boss, this was one of the livelist musicals of the '60s. Blu-ray Release date: March, 2017

Peyton Place BD - Grace Metalious’ scandalous best-seller about the sordid life of a small New England town is given the high-gloss Hollywood treatment in Peyton Place (1957), a hugely successful melodrama produced by Jerry Wald and directed by Mark Robson, with John Michael Hayes providing the screenplay. A cast led by established star Lana Turner (then suffering her own real-life melodrama) is also studded with terrific performances from relative newcomers including Diane Varsi, Hope Lange, Lee Philips, and Russ Tamblyn, and further highlighted by an extraordinary score from Franz Waxman. Blu-ray Release date: March, 2017

Invasion of the Bee Girls BD - A classic example of the crossover genre which thrived briefly in the Sixties and Seventies, this enthusiastic mixture of invasion horror and badly shot soft porn focuses on a small American town whose menfolk are mysteriously dying, apparently during the act of coitus. From the outset, this presents us with two mysteries: why are the deaths occurring, and who would want to have sex with these men anyway? To be fair, the bad lighting and orangey colouration in this film don't flatter anyone, even the genre's better-known actresses; in places the lighting is bad enough to create an extra layer of mystery, as it's hard to see what the characters are doing. Nevertheless, this is a B-movie with a certain charm, pompous enough to be amusing even in its less salubrious moments. Blu-ray Release Date: April 4th, 2017

Rumble Fish BD - In this deeply personal tale of estrangement and reconciliation between two rebellious brothers, set in a dreamlike and timeless Tulsa, Francis Ford Coppola gives mythic dimensions to intimate, painful emotions. The director’s “art film for teenagers” was his second adaptation of young-adult novelist S.E. Hinton’s work in a single year, after the more classically styled The Outsiders. Graced with a remarkable cast headed by Matt Dillon, Mickey Rourke, and Diane Lane; haunting black-and-white visuals that hark back to German expressionism and forward to Coppola’s own Tetro; and a powerful percussive score by Stewart Copeland that underlines the movie’s romantic fatalism, Rumble Fish pulsates throughout with genuine love and dread. Criterion Blu-ray Release date: April 25th, 2017

Another Man's Poison BD - Bette Davis pulls out all the stops as Janet Frobisher, a devious, selfish vixen who will stop at nothing to get what she wants in Another Man's Poison, a drama deliciously full of unexpected twists and turns. Frobisher is a rich mystery writer who falls in love with her secretary's fiancé and lures him away. But her happiness is far from ensured. She first must deal with a long forgotten ex-convict husband who tries to blackmail her, and then she must scheme her way out of the clutches of her husband's ruthless partner, George Bates (Gary Merrill, Davis's husband in real life). Davis proves why she remains such an acting legend as she dominates the screen in the kind of part that only she could bring to life so vividly. Blu-ray Release Date: March 28th, 2017

Tampopo BD - The tale of an eccentric band of culinary ronin who guide the widow of a noodle-shop owner on her quest for the perfect recipe, this rapturous “ramen western” by Japanese director Juzo Itami is an entertaining, genre-bending adventure underpinned by a deft satire of the way social conventions distort the most natural of human urges—our appetites. Interspersing the efforts of Tampopo (Nobuko Miyamoto) and friends to make her café a success with the erotic exploits of a gastronome gangster and glimpses of food culture both high and low, the sweet, sexy, and surreal Tampopo is a lavishly inclusive paean to the sensual joys of nourishment, and one of the most mouthwatering examples of food on film ever made. Blu-ray Release Date: April 24th, 2017

Our Man in Havana BD - Ex-pat vacuum salesman Jim Wormold (Guinness) is roped into Britain's Cuban espionage division. Paid per item of intelligence, and desperate to send daughter Milly (Morrow) to an expensive European school, Wormold embellishes his reports with daring falsification. But the ruse has uneasy consequences, especially when his activities arouse the suspicions of police chief Captain Segura (Kovacs) suspicion. Guinness plays his part to perfection, an Everyman paddling furiously against the tide, and excellent support comes from Ralph Richardson (as the obsessive MI6 boss), Burl Ives and Paul Rogers (as rival agent). But Coward steals the show as his patrician spymaster. Blu-ray Release Date: March, 2017

Black Magic BD - Few Eastern frighteners build up quite as much menace and mania as 1975's masterpiece of Southeast Asian eeriness BLACK MAGIC. One of the first horror shockers to be shot in the sun and cityscapes of Malaysia, and its picturesque capital Kuala Lumpur, BLACK MAGIC is a sordid story of sex, sleaze, slime and spells - with an ancient magician able to bring lonely spinsters together with their ideal partners thanks to some good old fashioned witchery. Of course, this is not say such demonic antics do not sometimes go wrong and with BLACK MAGIC viewers are exposed to some of the most sublime scares ever dreamed up by the Shaw studio! Blu-ray Release Date: October 31st, 2016

L'innocente BD - Visconti returns to the stunningly lavish 19th Century sets of his Cannes Winner, THE LEOPARD, in this, his last film; a deplorably overlooked brooding masterpiece... Presented here from restored HD materials, for the very 1st time doing justice to the film's cinematography, rich sets and story. Finishing where THE LEOPARD left off, we follow the disintegration of the aristocracy into moral decadence and sexual taboos, personified by a career-defining, powerhouse performance by Giannini whose antihero displays hitherto uncharted monstrosity. Giannini is the aristocrat who leaves his wife for his latest mistress Jennifer O'Neil, but his morbid need for domination makes him want his wife back when she becomes pregnant by another man… Blu-ray Release Date: April 10th, 2017

The Mighty Peking Man BD - King Kong comes to Hong Kong in The Mighty Peking Man, a uniquely Shaw Brothers spin on the ageless theme of beauty and the beast. The beast, seven stories high and hailing from the Himalayas, makes his way to the jungles of India in the wake of a violent earthquake. The beauty is Swiss starlet Evelyn Kraft, a sexy blonde Tarzanette who is the Mighty Peking Man's best friend. Both are discovered by Danny Lee, a handsome young explorer who brings the odd couple back to Hong Kong, where Evelyn is almost raped and the monster runs amuck. Instead of the Empire State Building, the special effects laden climax takes place at the Connaught Centre, then Hong Kong's tallest building. Plenty of action, location shooting in India, and an inter-racial romance make this one of Shaw Brothers most unique motion pictures. Variety's verdict: High camp, Chinese style. Blu-ray Release Date: March 13th, 2017

Zombie Lake BD - In a small lakeside town, young women are disappearing without a trace. The superstitious locals blame ''The Lake of Ghosts'', because of the lake's haunting past, but the town's mayor (Howard Vernon) seems reluctant, or powerless to take any action. When another woman is found dead near the lake, with her throat ripped out, a reporter comes to town and soon discovers that the lake harbors a terrible secret dating back to World War II. It is then a group of local Resistance fighters take action against a troop of Nazi zombie soldiers invading their town, as they have come back from the dead. And now, whenever the waters at ZOMBIE LAKE are disturbed, the dead will rise! Blu-ray Release Date: February 26th, 2013

Prozzie BD - An English child sees an American soldier kill her mother, a prostitute; years later, the girl grows up and gets married and begins to hear her dead mother's voice, instructing her to start killing. Blu-ray Release Date: February 13th, 2017

When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth BD - Sanna (Victoria Vetri), a beautiful blonde woman, is condemned to death when she is blamed for a sudden aberration of the sun. Fortunately, the girl is rescued by fisherman Tara (Robin Hawdon), a member of the nearby Sand Tribe, but Sanna's presence infuriates Tara's girlfriend Ayak (Imogen Hassall). While others run from the carnivorous dinosaurs, Tara trains one of the beasts who believes she is one of her offspring. A typhoon leaves four survivors to fight for survival. Blu-ray Release date: February 28th, 2017

Demon Seed BD - Susan Harris is alone in the house when, suddenly, doors lock, windows slam shut and the phone stops working. Susan is trapped by an intruder - but this is no ordinary thug. Instead, the intruder is a computer named Proteus, an artificial brain that has learned to reason. And to terrorize. Blu-ray Release Date: March 14th, 2017

Lifeboat BD - Hitchcock goes to sea in this Oscar-nominated character piece. Tallulah Bankhead is among the survivors of a Nazi torpedo attack on a cruise ship, but tensions on board the rescue craft are as lethal as the German threat. Based on a John Steinbeck story, this taut, tense psychological thriller, set entirely on a lifeboat following the bombing of a luxury liner, anticipates the claustrophobic atmosphere of both Rear Window and Rope. A simple premise tightens the dramatic focus and the film explores the delicate balance of power among the survivors as they suffer the consequences of their own and one another's folly. Kino Blu-ray Release Date: March 21st, 2017

Beyond the Darkness BD - Focusing on a PSYCHO-style story of a young loner, under the authority of a besotted but blood-thirsty matriarch, who enjoys bouts of human taxidermy, bodily mutilation and cannibalism - this crimson-ridden splatter caper might just be D'Amato's crowning achievement. Starring the legendary Cinzea Monreale (THE BEYOND) as a beautiful blonde who is lured into the killer's premises, BEYOND THE DARKNESS also features a sublime score from prog-rockers Goblin (TENEBRAE) and a sick, but nonetheless satisfying, sense of humour. Blu-ray Release Date: February 13th, 2017

The Delinquents BD - The Delinquents, maverick filmmaker Robert Altman’s feature film debut, is the ultimate in the kids-gone-bad film genre. Pre-Billy Jack actor Tom Laughlin stars as Scotty, a young man drawn into a potentially deadly friendship when he inadvertently becomes involved with “the wrong crowd.” Naiveté will lead Scotty and his girlfriend, Janice (Rosemary Howard) into dangerous waters when adolescent fun escalates into robbery, assault and kidnapping. Blu-ray Release date: March 21st, 2017

Short Night of Glass Dolls BD - "The corpse of reporter Gregory Moore (Jean Sorel) is found in a Prague plaza and brought to the local morgue. But Moore is actually alive, trapped inside his dead body and desperately recalling how the mysterious disappearance of his beautiful girlfriend (Barbara Bach) led to a terrifying conspiracy of depravity. Can a reporter with no visible signs of life solve this perverse puzzle before he meets his ultimate deadline?" Blu-ray Release Date: November 21sr, 2016

Massacre in Dinosaur Valley BD - When their plane crashes in the dense Amazon jungle, anthropologist, and all-round ladies man, Kevin Hall (Michael Sopkiw, Blastfighter), is left to protect a bevy of model bombshells who were along for the ride; including the gorgeous Eva (Suzane Carvalho, Women in Fury). On their journey back to civilization, they battle the harsh elements of the Amazon and clash with terrifying jungle creatures, not to mention a run in with local slave traders. They eventually find themselves deep in cannibal territory and fighting to save their skins. Blu-ray Release Date: March 13th, 2017

Taxi Driver (4K Remastered) BD - Travis' state of mind and his work allow Scorsese to show a side of New York that's progressively darker and darker, with the help of Michael Chapman's gorgeous photography and Bernard Hermann's haunting last score, from the classy campaign HQ to the dirty streets where 12-year-old hookers (young Jodie Foster, incredible) are beaten up by their pimp (Harvey Keitel, amost unrecognizable). Travis becomes more and more self-centered, destructive and mad (the famous "You talking to me ?" scene is a powerful example of it) and finally decides to act and to kill the ones that prevent him from being happy with the girls of his life. Sony (4K Remastered) Blu-ray Release Date: May 14th, 2013

Into the Night BD - - Besides Ron Koslow’s deceptively brilliant script, the two lead performances are outstanding. Goldblum’s regular guy insomniac is fantastic. He’s so good, it’s hard to believe Michelle Pfeiffer is even better as the sort of mystery woman who takes over his life. Koslow never gives pay-off scenes showing how Goldblum’s life has changed because of the encounter because there’s just no time for it. A pay-off scene would break the realism of the timeline Koslow and Landis create. Into the Night’s not real time and doesn’t attempt it. Blu-ray Release date: June 1st, 2016

Claire in Motion - Three weeks after Claire's husband has mysteriously disappeared, the police have ended their investigation and her son is beginning to grieve. The only person who hasn't given up is Claire. Soon she discovers his troubling secrets, including an alluring-yet-manipulative graduate student with whom he had formed a close bond. As she digs deeper, Claire begins to lose her grip on how well she truly knew her husband, and questions her own identity in the process. Claire In Motion twists the missing person thriller into an emotional take on uncertainty and loss. DVD Release Date: April 11th, 2017

Death Passage - A couple of Australians introduce three American backpackers to the local legend of Lemon Tree Passage, where the ghost of a motorcyclist warns young drivers to slow down. After seeing the ghost firsthand, they uncover a malevolent force that possesses the area, and threatens to wreck havoc on the final days of their vacation. Isolated and ten thousand miles from home, the tourists find themselves caught in the clutches of an evil force much more heinous than that of local myth. DVD Release Date: March 21st, 2017

Somewhere in the Middle - Four lovers collide into each others' lives as one marriage morphs into several intertwining affairs. SOMEWHERE IN THE MIDDLE was born out of a year long improvisational process in which the actors and director mutually crafted an ensemble drama. Structured like a jigsaw puzzle, no character fully grasps their current dilemma as interwoven stories are retold from varying viewpoints. DVD Release Date: February 14th, 2017

 Next 4 weeks on the Calendar

March 27th, 2017

 

 

20th Century Women [Blu-ray] (Mike Mills, 2016) Lionsgate

Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (Martin Scorsese, 1974) RB UK BFI

The Alligator People [Blu-ray] (Roy Del Ruth, 1959) RB UK 101 Films

Another Man's Poison [Blu-ray] (Irving Rapper, 1951) Classic Flix (BEAVER REVIEW)

Arsenal [Blu-ray] (Steven C. Miller, 2017) Lions Gate

The Big Heat [Blu-ray] (Fritz Lang, 1953) - UK Powerhouse Films

Blow-Up [Blu-ray] (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1966) Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

Coal Miner's Daughter [Blu-ray] (Michael Apted, 1980) RB UK Final Cut

Colossus: The Forbin Project [Blu-ray] (Joseph Sargent, 1970) RB UK Medium Rare

Dakota [Blu-ray] (Joseph Kane, 1945) - Kino

Die Screaming Marianne [Blu-ray] (Pete Walker, 1971) RB UK Screenbound Pictures

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them [Blu-ray] (David Yates, 2016) Warner

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them [4K UHD Blu-ray] (David Yates, 2016) Warner

Fantômas contre Scotland Yard (aka Fantomas Against Scotland Yard) [Blu-ray] (André Hunebelle, 1967) RB FR Gaumont
Fantômas se déchaîne (aka Fantomas Strikes Back) [Blu-ray
] (André Hunebelle, 1965) RB FR Gaumont

Fat City [Blu-ray] (John Huston, 1972) - UK Powerhouse Films

Frantz Fanon: Black Skin, White Mask [Blu-ray] (Isaac Julien, 1995) RB UK BFI

The Front [Blu-ray] (Martin Ritt, 1976) - UK Powerhouse Films

The Handmaiden [Blu-ray] (Chan-wook Park, 2016) Sony (BEAVER REVIEW)

House: The Complete Collection [Blu-ray] (House I - IV) Arrow UK

Jack the Ripper [Blu-ray] (David Wickes, 1988) RB UK Network

Killer Constable [Blu-ray] (Chin Hung Kuei, 1981) RB UK 88 Films

Killer's Moon [Blu-ray] (Alan Birkinshaw, 1978) RB UK Screenbound Pictures

Lone Wolf and Cub - The Complete Babycart Series [Blu-ray] - Criterion UK (BEAVER REVIEW)

Ludwig (4-Disc Limited Edition) [Blu-ray] (Luchino Visconti, 1973) Arrow Video US

Ludwig (4-Disc Limited Edition) [Blu-ray] (Luchino Visconti, 1973) RB Arrow UK

Medal of Victory [Blu-ray] (Joshua Moise, 2016) Gravitas Ventures

A Monster Calls [Blu-ray] (J.A. Bayona, 2016) Universal

Multiple Maniacs [Blu-ray] (John Waters, 1970) Criterion UK (BEAVER REVIEW)

Paterson [Blu-ray] (Jim Jarmusch, 2016) RB UK Soda

Patriots Day [Blu-ray] (Peter Berg, 2016) Lionsgate

Pieces [Blu-ray] (Juan Piquer Simón, 1982) RB UK Arrow (BEAVER REVIEW)

Planet Earth II [Blu-ray] - BBC Home Entertainment

Planet Earth II [4K UHD Blu-ray] - BBC Home Entertainment

Les Portes de la nuit (aka Gates of the Night) [Blu-ray] (Marcel Carné, 1946) RB FR Pathé Distribution

The Proud Valley [Blu-ray] (Pen Tennyson, 1940) RB UK Studiocanal

September Storm 3D [Blu-ray] (Byron Haskin, 1960) - Kino (BEAVER REVIEW)

Sherlock - Series 4 [Blu-ray] Steelbook (Mark Gatiss, Steven Moffat, 2010) RB UK 2entertain

Silence [Blu-ray] (Martin Scorsese, 2016) Paramount

Les Sorcières de Salem (aka The Crucible) [Blu-ray] (Raymond Rouleau, 1957) RB FR Pathé Distribution

Stagecoach [Blu-ray] (Gordon Douglas, 1966) RB UK Signal One

Venom [Blu-ray] (Piers Haggard, 1981) Blue Underground (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Wanderers [Blu-ray] (Philip Kaufman, 1979) - Kino

What's the Matter with Helen? [Blu-ray] (Curtis Harrington, 1971) Shout! Factory (BEAVER REVIEW)

Who's That Knocking at My Door (Martin Scorsese, 1967) R2 UK BFI

Why Him? [4K UHD Blu-ray] (John Hamburg, 2016) 20th Century Fox

Wishmaster Collection (4 films) [Blu-ray] - Lionsgate

Witchtrap [Blu-ray] (Kevin Tenney, 1989) Vinegar Syndrome (BEAVER REVIEW)

World Without End [Blu-ray] (Edward Bernds, 1956) Warner Archive

Z.P.G. [Blu-ray] (Michael Campus, 1972) Kino (BEAVER REVIEW)

 

April 3rd, 2017

 

 

Alice [Blu-ray] (Woody Allen, 1990) Arrow Academy (BEAVER REVIEW)

Antropophagus [Blu-ray] (Joe D'Amato, 1980) RB UK 88 Films

The Bigfoot Project [Blu-ray] (Ricardo Herrera, 2017) Gravitas Ventures

Captain Lightfoot [Blu-ray] (Douglas Sirk, 1955) RB FR Elephant Films

Crimes and Misdemeanors [Blu-ray] (Woody Allen, 1989) Arrow Academy (BEAVER REVIEW)

Interlude [Blu-ray] (Douglas Sirk, 1957) RB FR Elephant Films

Invasion of the Bee Girls [Blu-ray] (Denis Sanders, 1973) Shout! Factory (BEAVER REVIEW)

Kill, Baby Kill [Blu-ray] (Mario Bava, 1970) RB DE Koch Media

Little Nikita [Blu-ray] (Richard Benjamin, 1988) Mill Creek

Magnificent Obsession [Blu-ray] (Douglas Sirk, 1954) RB FR Elephant Films

Miss Annie Rooney [Blu-ray] (Edwin L. Marin, 1942) Classic Flix

Paterson [Blu-ray] (Jim Jarmusch, 2016) Universal

Psycho Circus - 3 Rings of Terror Triple Feature [Blu-ray] (Brotherhood of Satan, Torture Garden, Creeping Flesh) - Mill Creek

Punchline [Blu-ray] (David Seltzer, 1988) Mill Creek

Ride the High Country [Blu-ray] (Sam Peckinpah, 1962) Warner Archive

Shadows and Fog [Blu-ray] (Woody Allen, 1992) Arrow Academy (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Survivor [Blu-ray] (David Hemmings, 1981) Severin Films UK (BEAVER REVIEW)

Solaris [Blu-ray] (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1972) Criterion UK (BEAVER REVIEW)

Three [Blu-ray] (Johnnie To, 2016) Well Go USA

We Go On [Blu-ray] (Jesse Holland, Andy Mitton, 2016) Sony Pictures

 

April 10th, 2017

 

 

 

21 Days [Blu-ray] (Kathleen Behun, 2014) Gravitas Ventures

36 Hours [Blu-ray] (George Seaton, 1965) Warner Archive

100 Girls By Bunny Yeager [Blu-ray] (Nico B., 2016) Cult Epics

2019: After the Fall of New York [Blu-ray] (Sergio Martino, 1983) RB UK 88 Films

Adventure Club [Blu-ray] (Geoff Anderson, 2017) Gravitas Ventures

Arlington Road [Blu-ray] (Mark Pellington, 1999) RB UK Fabulous Films

Bird on a Wire [Blu-ray] (John Badham, 1990) RB UK Fabulous Films

The Blue Lagoon [Blu-ray] (Randal Kleiser, 1980) - RB UK Eureka

Buena Vista Social Club [Blu-ray] (Wim Wenders, 1999) Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

Caltiki, the Immortal Monster [Blu-ray] (Riccardo Freda, 1959) RB UK Arrow

Cathy's Curse [Blu-ray] (Eddy Matalon, 1977) Severin

The Crucible [Blu-ray] (Nicholas Hytner, 1996) Kino

Dark Waters [Blu-ray] (Mariano Baino, 1993) Severin Films

Daughters of the Dust [Blu-ray] (Julie Dash, 1991) Cohen Media

Day of The Triffids (Steve Sekely, 1962) R2 UK Screenbound Pictures

Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid [Blu-ray] (Carl Reiner, 1982) RB UK Fabulous Films

Dead Or Alive Trilogy [Blu-ray] (Dead or Alive, Dead or Alive 2: Birds, Dead or Alive: Final) (2-Disc Special Edition) Arrow Video US

Demented [Blu-ray] (Arthur Jeffreys, 1980) Shout! Factory
Destruction Babies
[Blu-ray] (Tetsuya Mariko, 2016) RB UK Third Window Films

House: Two Stories (House I-II) [Blu-ray] (Steve Miner, Ethan Wiley, 1986-1987) Arrow US

L'innocente [Blu-ray] (Luchino Visconti, 1976) RB UK Cult Films (BEAVER REVIEW)

Ironmaster [Blu-ray] (Umberto Lenzi, 1983) RB UK 88 Films

Lion [Blu-ray] (Garth Davis, 2016) Lionsgate

Lurking Fear (Remastered) [Blu-ray] (C. Courtney Joyner, 1994) Full Moon Features

Never Too Young to Die [Blu-ray] (Director: Gil Bettman, 1986) Shout! Factory

The Other Hell [Blu-ray] (Bruno Mattei, 1981) Severin Films

Phantasm Special Edition Boxset [Blu-ray] (Phantasm, Phantasm II, Phantasm III - Lord of the Dead, Phantasm IV Oblivion, Phantasm V Ravager) Well Go USA

Shut In [Blu-ray] (Farren Blackburn, 2016) RB UK Arrow

Star Raiders: The Adventures of Saber Raine [Blu-ray] (Mark Steven Grove, 2016) Gravitas Ventures

Sword Master [Blu-ray] (Derek Yee, 2016) Well Go USA

Tristan + Isolde [Blu-ray] (Kevin Reynolds, 2006) Kino

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg [Blu-ray] (Jacques Demy, 1964) Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Vampire [Blu-ray] (Paul Landres, 1957) Shout! Factory

Veep - Season 5 [Blu-ray] - UK Warner

The Young Girls of Rochefort [Blu-ray] (Jacques Demy, 1967) Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

 

April 17th, 2017

 

 

L'Assassino aka The Assassin [Blu-ray] (Elio Petri, 1961) - Arrow US (BEAVER REVIEW)

Broken Arrow [Blu-ray] (Delmer Daves, 1950) Kino Lorber

Contamination .7 [Blu-ray] (Joe D'Amato, 1993) Shout! Factory

Donnie Darko [Blu-ray] (Richard Kelly, 2001) 4-Disc Limited Edition, Limited Edition - Arrow US (BEAVER REVIEW)

A Farewell to Arms [Blu-ray] (Charles Vidor, John Huston, 1957) Kino

German Concentration Camps Factual Survey [Blu-ray] - RB UK BFI

Guns at Batasi [Blu-ray] (John Guillermin, 1964) RB UK Signal One

The Handmaids Tale [Blu-ray] (Volker Schlöndorff, 1990) Shout! Factory

The Life of Oharu [Blu-ray] (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1952) Criterion UK (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Magus [Blu-ray] (Guy Green, 1968) RB UK Signal One

The Mephisto Waltz [Blu-ray] (Paul Wendkos, 1971) Kino

The Night Evelyn Came Out Of The Grave [Blu-ray] (Emilio Miraglia, 1971) Arrow UK (BEAVER REVIEW)

O.J.: Made in America [Blu-ray] (Ezra Edelman, 2016) RB UK Dogwoof

Ocean Waves [Blu-ray] (Tomomichi Mochizuki, 1993) Universal

Panic in the Streets [Blu-ray] (Elia Kazan, 1950) RB UK Signal One

Paris 05:59: Théo & Hugo [Blu-ray] (Olivier Ducastel, Jacques Martineau, 2016) Wolfe Video

The Red Queen Kills Seven Times [Blu-ray] (Emilio Miraglia, 1972) Arrow UK (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Rounders [Blu-ray] (Burt Kennedy, 1965) Warner Archive

The Scar aka Hollow Triumph [Blu-ray] (Steve Sekely, 1948) Kino

Sleepless [Blu-ray] (Baran bo Odar, 2017) Universal

Spencer's Mountain [Blu-ray] (Delmer Daves, 1963) Warner Archive

Split [Blu-ray] (M. Night Shyamalan, 2016) Universal

Sunset in the West [Blu-ray] (William Witney, 1950) Kino

Tales from the Hood [Blu-ray] (Rusty Cundieff, 1995) Shout! Factory

Two-Minute Warning [Blu-ray] (Larry Peerce, 1976) RB UK 101 Films

Woman of the Year [Blu-ray] (George Stevens, 1942) Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

Contact Us   Weekly Newsletter Archive
To unsubscribe send a message to DVDBeaver-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com