Newsletter - FOR THE WEEK

OF April 1st, 2019

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Happy April Fool's Day! Another quality-filled week and we have reviews of Blu-rays by Indicator, Warner Archive, Second Run, Shout! Factory, Camera Obscura, Arrow, Second Sight, ViaVision ... of films directed by Michael Curtiz, Max Ophuls, Robert Wise, Robert Siodmak, Anatole Litvak, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Robert Rossen, Jindrich Polák, Jeff Nichols, Tim Hunter and others. Our Calendar has NEW updates of films-to-Blu-ray, including work by Carol Reed, Jacques Tourneur, William Wyler, Jacques Rivette, Henri-Georges Clouzot, Paul Leni, Terry Gilliam and more. We also have our Feature Blu-ray posted for APRIL Enjoy!!

LISTING PAGES:

Cinema of Japan, Discs of the Year for 2018, The TOP 100 DISCS, Ingmar Bergman's Cinema, HAGSPloitation, BLAXPloitation, OZPloitation, 'WOMEN IN PRISON' CINEMA, CREATURE-FEATURES (on Blu-ray!), PRE-CODE FILMs (on Blu-ray!), SILENT ERA FILMs (on Blu-ray!), HAMMER Studios (on Blu-ray!) The 100 BEST Neo-Noirs (on Blu-ray!), The GREATEST 100 Westerns (on Blu-ray!), Giallo on Blu-ray!, ESSENTIAL NOIR on Blu-ray!, Shopping Guide for Blu-rays at Amazon.FR (France), Shopping Guide for Blu-rays at Amazon.DE (Germany) and our LATEST ARTICLES: Movies From... the End of the World,  The Beauties of Star Trek (TOS)

Feature Blu-ray chosen for the Month of APRIL!

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ONE VOICE (not Ellsworth Monkton Toohey): It would be much easier to list the films, this past week, that I didn't enjoy. There are none. I was so pleased to finally have Robert Siodmak's Phantom Lady on Blu-ray - another must-own Noir in 1080P from Arrow. Staying in the cycle, Max Ophuls' The Reckless Moment comes to Region FREE Blu-ray from impeccable Indicator in the UK. A marvelous, tantalizing thriller that features excellent performances from Joan Bennett and James Mason. Anatole Litvak's The Snake Pit is an incredibly effective film containing many horrifically sad moments. This is enhanced by Indicator's brilliant 4K restored Blu-ray presentation. I'm a huge fan of Jeff Nichols' Take Shelter - a subtle pre-apocalypse film with Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain - now on a loaded Special Edition Blu-ray with 40 page booklet from Second Sight. A deeply engaging film. Ikarie XB 1 is a totally ambitious and underrated piece of pioneering piece sci-fi of cinema from Eastern Europe. Evocative of much that would follow in the genre - Second Run have a 4K restored Blu-ray transfer that amounts to a must-own. Val Lewton's produced The Body Snatcher directed by Robert Wise is a must-own for fans of the vintage horrors - a subtly stylish effort - brilliantly crafted and strongly recommended on the vastly improved Shout! Factory Blu-ray that towers over the past DVD edition. I loved re-watching three Tom Selleck films in ViaVision's Jesse Stone - Film Collection 1 Blu-ray set about a LAPD homicide detective who battles his drinking problem as sheriff is a not-so sleepy New England seaside town. Delicious Neo-Noir. Michael Curtiz's The Sea Wolf with a superb Edward G. Robinson, Ida Lupino and John Garfield is a hauntingly dark seafaring adventure with nefarious characters - looking amazing on Warner Archive Blu-ray. Tim Hunter's River's Edge centers on the naked body of a murdered girl and a disaffected, conflicted youth. Camera Obscura have produced the best Blu-ray to-date of the three compared. Joseph L. Mankiewicz's first film, Dragonwyck is a moody, gothic mystery-thriller with Gene Tierney and Vincent Price, Indicator have given it their usual stellar Blu-ray treatment. Lilith was the final film of Robert Rossen - it's a curious film of psychological obsessions, jealousy and desperation with Warren Beatty and hypnotic Jean Seberg.

"The highest reaches of the actor's art begin, I believe, at the point where words cease to play a part." Max Ophuls

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Lilith BD - Handsome young therapist Vincent Bruce (Warren Beatty) is a war veteran who works at a private sanitarium. Vincent's life gradually becomes unhinged as he falls for Lilith Arthur (Jean Seberg), an attractive, unstable and highly manipulative patient. When Stephen Evshevsky (Peter Fonda), another patient at the institution, also becomes enamored with Lilith, it triggers jealousy and desperation in Vincent, leading to a series of dramatic developments. Blu-ray Release Date: April 22nd, 2019

Dragonwyck BD - The directorial debut of the great Joseph L Mankiewicz, Dragonwyck is a glorious melding of Gothic chills and baroque melodrama. A beautiful Connecticut farm girl (Gene Tierney) finds herself embroiled in a conspiracy of madness, murder and intrigue after she agrees to become governess and nurse to the family of her distant cousin (Vincent Price). Indicator Blu-ray Release Date: April 22nd, 2019

The Reckless Moment BD - The legendary Max Ophuls directs this tense and stylish 1949 film noir melodrama. Joan Bennett stars as a suburban housewife who covers up a murder to protect her teenage daughter, only to find herself blackmailed by an immoral small-time crook, played by James Mason. Blu-ray Release Date: April 22nd, 2019

The Snake Pit BD - In this psychological drama, Virginia Cunningham (Olivia de Havilland) is confused upon finding herself in a mental hospital, with no memory of her arrival at the institution. Tormented by delusions and unable to even recognize her husband, Robert (Mark Stevens), she is treated by Dr. Mark Kik (Leo Genn), who is determined to get to the root of her mental illness. As her treatment progresses, flashbacks depict events in Virginia's life that may have contributed to her instability. Blu-ray Release Date: April 22nd, 2019

Take Shelter BD - When Curtis (Michael Shannon) begins having nightmares of an encroaching, apocalyptic storm, he refrains from telling his wife, Samantha (Jessica Chastain). To protect her and their six-year-old deaf daughter Hannah, Curtis starts focusing his anxiety and money into the obsessive building of a storm shelter. While Hannah's healthcare and special needs education has resulted in financial struggle, Curtis' seemingly inexplicable behavior concerns Samantha and provokes intolerance among co-workers, friends and neighbors. However, the resulting strain on his marriage and tension within the community doesn't compare to Curtis' private fear of what his disturbing dreams may truly signify. Second Sight Blu-ray Release date: September 3rd, 2018

Phantom Lady BD - Siodmak's first American success, a moody thriller from a Cornell Woolrich novel which set the mould for a string of dark classics. The wife of an engineer (Curtis) is murdered, his female alibi's very existence is denied by every witness, and he faces the chair. His secretary (Raines) and a curious off-duty cop (Gomez) investigate... Siodmak's angled compositions and dramatic lighting might be uncharitably ticked off as genre staples, but his manipulation of the film's key motif is masterly. He concentrates on the tangible and psychological evidence - the 'records' - of absence: the wife's portrait, the messages on the office dictaphone, the court transcript, the dead witness' typed address, the hat that recalls a dead fiancé. And the film's quest is for a woman who exists only in the memories of the condemned man and the audience. Blu-ray Release Date: March 5th, 2019

River's Edge BD - Based on the horrifying real-life murder of a young California girl, this powerful portrait of deadly, disaffected teens stars Keanu Reeves, Crispin Glover, lone Skye, Daniel Roebuck and Dennis Hopper. On the bank of a river lies the naked body of a brutally murdered young girl. At the nearby high school, Samson (Roebuck) brags to Matt (Reeves) and his friends about how he killed her. Drunk and stoned, the doubting teens trudge to the river and discover that he isn't lying. And oddly, they decide to protect Samson behind a loyal wall of secrecy. Tormented with guilt, Matt questions their silence... and suddenly finds himself in a troubling position: should he do what he thinks is right, or should he keep quiet and live with this demon for the rest of his life? Camera Obscura Blu-ray Release date: March 29th, 2019

The Body Snatcher BD - Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi were given top billing in the Val Lewton-produced The Body Snatcher, but the film's protagonist is played by Henry Daniell. A brilliant 18th century London surgeon, Daniell can only make his humanitarian medical advances by experimenting on cadavers, which is strictly illegal. Karloff plays a Uriah Heep-type cabman who is secretly a grave robber, providing corpses for Daniell's research. The low-born Karloff enjoys blackmailing the aristocratic Daniell into silence; the two actors' cat-and-mouse scenes are among the film's highlights. Eventually, Karloff turns to murder to supply fresh bodies to Daniell. Blu-ray Release Date: March 26th, 2019

Ikarie XB 1 BD - Adapted from Stanislaw Lem's novel The Magellanic Cloud , the film is set in 2163 and follows a mission deep into space in search of alien life. During their perilous journey the crew confront the effects of a malignant dark star, the destructive legacy of the 20th century and, ultimately, the limits of their own sanity. With outstanding design and cinematography, IKARIE XB 1 is imbued with a seriousness, intelligence and attention to detail rarely seen in science-fiction cinema of the period. Blu-ray Release Date: March 25th, 2019

The Sea Wolf BD - Jack London’s novel The Sea Wolf had it all: action, mystery and widespread popularity. But Jack Warner, claiming the title was too similar to the studio’s The Sea Hawk, wanted to give the 1941 film version something else: a new name. Producer Henry Blanke resisted, saying it would be “a detriment to the box office…(like changing) Gone With the Wind to Molly From the South.” As film fans know, Molly stayed in the South and the haunting nautical adventure took a big bite out of the box office, becoming one of the top moneymakers of 1940-41. Edward G. Robinson and a superb cast are the hands on deck for this voyage into nightmare. Blu-ray Release Date: October 10th, 2017

Jesse Stone - Film Collection 1 BD - Struggling to keep his demons under control, Stone exposes killers, cover-ups, dark secrets, and more in these hard-boiled thrillers, based on the bestselling novels by Robert B. Parker. This 3-disc Blu-ray collection features three acclaimed mystery movies including Innocents Lost, Benefit of Doubt and Lost in Paradise. Starring Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winner Tom Selleck as the tough and troubled chief of police of a small New England town. Blu-ray Release Date: March 6th, 2019

Next 2 weeks on the Calendar