Newsletter - FOR THE WEEK

OF June 10th, 2019

  This Week's Highlights
 
 

Podcast interview with Gary Tooze of DVDBeaver HERE.

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Kaixo! Another decent week of reviewed Blu-rays by Indicator, Kino, Twilight Time, Flicker Alley, Warner, Paramount (DE), Studio Hamburg Enterprises... of films directed by Stanley Kubrick, Robert Mulligan, Alan Clarke, Henry Hathaway, Martin Ritt, Rudolph Maté, Daniel Mann, Vadim Perelman, Bernhard Wicki, Andrew V. McLaglen and others. Our Calendar has new updates of films-to-Blu-ray by directors Josef von Sternberg, William Friedkin, Marcel L'Herbier, Sidney Salkow, King Hu, Buster Keaton, Roy Ward Baker, Jimmy Sangster, Sarah Jacobson, Erik Skjoldbjærg, Joe Dante and more. We also have our Feature Blu-ray and 4K UHD posted for JUNE 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' CINEMACREATURE-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 and 4K UHD chosen for the Month of JUNE!

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Gary at 2ze dot com

LATEST ADDITIONS TO THE RELEASE CALENDAR:

Marlene Dietrich & Josef von Sternberg at Paramount, 1930-1935 [Blu-ray] (Limited Edition - Dishonoured, Shanghai Express, Blonde Venus, The Scarlet Empress, The Devil Is a Woman and Morocco) RB Indicator

Cruising [Blu-ray] (William Friedkin, 1980) Arrow US

L'Argent [Blu-ray] (Marcel L'Herbier, 1928) Flicker Alley

Don't Look Now [4K UHD Blu-ray] (Nicolas Roeg, 1973) Region Free UK Studiocanal

Bulldog Drummond Double Bill (The Return of Bulldog Drummond, Bulldog Drummond at Bay) [Blu-ray] (Walter Summers, Sidney Salkow, 1934, 1947) RB UK Network

The Fate of Lee Khan [Blu-ray] (King Hu, 1973) Film Movement Classics

The Incident [Blu-ray] (Larry Peerce, 1967) RB UK Eureka

Buster Keaton: 3 Films (Sherlock Jr., The General, Steamboat Bill, Jr.) [Blu-ray] (Buster Keaton, Clyde Bruckman, Charles Reisner, 1924-1928) RB UK Eureka

The Night Has Eyes [Blu-ray] (Leslie Arliss, 1942) RB UK Network

Asylum [Blu-ray] (Roy Ward Baker, 1972) RB UK Second Sight

The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith [Blu-ray] (Fred Schepisi, 1978) RB UK Eureka

Lust for a Vampire [Blu-ray] (Jimmy Sangster, 1971) RB UK Studio Canal

Mystery Junction [Blu-ray] (Michael McCarthy, 1951) RB UK Network

Voodoo Man [Blu-ray] (William Beaudine, 1944) RB UK Fabulous Films

The House That Dripped Blood [Blu-ray] (Peter Duffell, 1971) RB UK Second Sight

The Films Of Sarah Jacobson: Mary Jane's Not a Virgin Anymore + I Was a Teenage Serial Killer [Blu-ray] (Sarah Jacobson, 1993, 1996) AGFA

Don't Look Now - Steelbook [Blu-ray] (Nicolas Roeg, 1973) RB UK Studiocanal (ALT-BEAVER REVIEW)

Don't Look Now [Blu-ray] (Nicolas Roeg, 1973) RB UK Studiocanal (ALT-BEAVER REVIEW)

The Mary Millington Movie Collection [Blu-ray] (Various, 1977-1979) RB UK Screenbound Pictures

Small Town Story [Blu-ray] (Montgomery Tully, 1953) RB UK Network

The Romance of Seville [Blu-ray] (Norman Walker, 1929) RB UK Network

Thursday's Child [Blu-ray] (Rodney Ackland, 1943) RB UK Network

Alice Sweet Alice [Blu-ray] (Alfred Sole, 1976) Arrow US

The Angel with the Trumpet [Blu-ray] (Anthony Bushell, 1950) RB UK Network

The Third Wife [Blu-ray] (Ash Mayfair, 2018) RB UK Eureka

Insomnia [Blu-ray] (Erik Skjoldbjærg, 1997) Criterion

Flesh Gordon [Blu-ray] (Michael Benveniste, Howard Ziehm, 1974) Henstooth Video

Gremlins [4K UHD Blu-ray] (Joe Dante, 1984) Region Free Warner Bros.

Murder! [Blu-ray] (Alfred Hitchcock, 1930) Kino Lorber

Blackmail [Blu-ray] (Alfred Hitchcock, 1929) Kino Lorber

Port of Shadows [Blu-ray] (Marcel Carné, 1938) Kino Lorber

Touchez Pas au Grisbi [Blu-ray] (Jacques Becker, 1954) Kino Lorber

Man Without a Star [Blu-ray] (King Vidor, 1955) Kino Lorber (ALT-BEAVER REVIEW)

Apocalypse Now - Final Cut [4K UHD Blu-ray] (Francis Ford Coppola, 1979) Region Free UK Studiocanal

ONE VOICE (not Ellsworth Monkton Toohey): While we have only added 3840 X 2160 captures to our 4K UHD review, the verdict is the same and Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey and it deservedly gets top nod this week. A must own that validates the reason to upgrade your system to 4K. Alan Clarke's intensely uncompromising and impacting film experience; Scum gets the Indicator treatment - advancing over the previous Blu-ray in every area. Paul Leni's The Last Warning gets a 4K restoration Blu-ray from Flicker Alley and the director's style with superimpositions and kaleidoscopic images makes the viewing a fascinating and engaging experience. Certainly recommended! Baby the Rain Must Fall is a multi-layered drama with strong characterizations. It stars Steve McQueen and Lee Remick. Twilight Time have brought it to another impressive Blu-ray transfer. Daniel Mann's Lost in the Stars, rarely seen film, is a dramatic, almost operatic, musical dealing with racial oppression. Kino has brought it to Blu-ray. I'm a huge fan of Vadim Perelman's 2003 film House of Sand and Fog with brilliant performances from Ben Kingsley and Jennifer Connelly although the new Blu-ray is bare-bones it still advances on the old DVD. A gripping, affecting film. I also love Martin Ritt's Hud, and it deserves better than the new 9-western film Blu-ray package offers. Morituri is a dark and suspenseful war drama with Marlon Brando as a Nazi, and is on a new stunning Blu-ray from Twilight Time - who also bring Bandolero! - a late 60s western with James Stewart, Dean Martin and Raquel Welch - to improved 1080P. More western genre with The Sons of Katie Elder (and excellent film) and Three Violent People (worthy but less-so) as part of Paramount's new 9-western film Blu-ray package. However the transfers require more robust renderings. .

"A film can never be totally successful if it doesn't upset anyone." Martin Ritt

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  THIS WEEK's REVIEWS / COMPARISONS
 

Scum BD - This is the hard and shocking story of life in a British Borstal for young offenders. Luckily the regime has changed since this film was made. The brutal regime made no attempt to reform or improve the inmates and actively encouraged a power struggle between the 'tough' new inmate and the 'old hands'. The film was originally made as a BBC play but it was banned before ever being shown. So 'Alan Clarke' and Roy Minton got it re-made as a film. This is a tough and brutal film and should not be viewed lightly. Indicator Blu-ray Release Date: June 24th, 2019

Bandolero! BD - James Stewart and Dean Martin are atypically cast as outlaws in Bandolero! The film begins as Dee Bishop (Martin) and... his gang are about to be hanged. The Scripture-spouting executioner turns out to be Dee's brother Mace (Stewart), who helps the desperadoes escape. They are pursued by a sheriff (George Kennedy), whose lady friend (Raquel Welch) has the hots for Dee. The brothers try to go straight, but before they can make up their mind they find themselves surrounded by Mexican bandidos and are forced to team up with the sheriff to fight them off. Twilight Time Blu-ray Release Date: February 14th, 2012

The Sons of Katie Elder BD - The Elder boys return to Clearwater, Texas for their Mother's funeral. John the eldest is a well known gunfighter and trouble follows him wherever he goes. The boys try to get back their ranch from the towns gunsmith who won it from their father in a card game with which he was shortly murdered there after but not before getting through the troubles that come with the Elders name. Blu-ray Release Date: May 23rd, 2019

Lost in the Stars BD - Lost in the Stars was an American Film Theatre adaptation of the musical play by Maxwell Anderson and Kurt Weill--which in turn was based on the Alain Paton novel Cry the Beloved Country. Brock Peters portrays a South African minister who goes to the Big City to locate his son Raymond St. Jacques, who is now a criminal in the eyes of the white rulers. The minister forges a curious, foredoomed friendship with a white farmer (Paul Rogers). Lost in the Stars has sometimes been accused of blunting the edge of Paton's angry study of the cruelties of Apartheid; fans of musical theatre will be more politely inclined to this loving filmization of the Broadway play. Blu-ray Release Date: June 25th, 2019

Three Violent People BD - Charlton Heston, Anne Baxter and Gilbert Roland portray the title characters in this unusual western set during Reconstruction. A battalion of Confederate soldiers live in Texas under Union rule. Their forces maimed by insulting northerners and abusive carpetbaggers, these men-in-gray still follow the guidance of a fiercely proud captain. Aside from military obligations, this officer plans to wed a strong-willed lady named Lorna. She, however, withholds a damaging secret about where she used to work during the Civil War. Blu-ray Release Date: May 23rd, 2019

House of Sand and Fog BD - For those unfamiliar with Andre Dubus III's heartbreaking novel House of Sand and Fog, it is probably hard to imagine how the fate of a modest house can be riveting. But the conceit is ineluctably compelling, centering on the stubborn determination of a man and a woman from vastly different backgrounds, both dead set on owning the same humble ranch-style house with a partial ocean view. Blu-ray Release Date: May 23rd, 2019

Morituri BD - Fabulous suspense atmosphere with Marlon Brando playing a 'bon vivont' conscientious objector, named Robert Crain, who is blackmailed into a mission to divert a cargo ship, with 7,000 tons of valuable wartime rubber out of German hands and toward the Allies. He poses as an SS officer taking passage on the discreetly camouflaged German ship which is helmed by Capt. Rolf Mueller (Yul Brenner). The dramatic irony in this film by German actor-director Bernhard Wicki is that Crain (Brando), who exudes pride at professing pacifism, goes to extremes to personally sacrifice for the moral betterment. Perhaps unduly affected by a speech by prisoner Esther Levy (Janet Margolin) he obviously succumbs to his own masked principles. This is a beautiful atmospheric war drama hinting at morality and driven by amazing performances. One of the best of its kind that I have ever seen. Twilight Time Blu-ray Release Date: May, 2019

Hud BD - Hard-drinking, arrogant, womanizing Hud Bannon (Paul Newman) lives a self-centered, indolent life supported by his hard-working and morally upstanding father, Homer (Melvyn Douglas), on the family cattle ranch in Texas. Hud's teenage nephew, Lonnie (Brandon de Wilde), blames Hud for the car crash that took the life of his father, Hud's older brother Norman, but shows hints of following in his ne'er-do-well uncle's footsteps when both men pursue family housekeeper Alma (Patricia Neal.) Blu-ray Release Date: May 23rd, 2019

Baby the Rain Must Fall BD - Henry Thomas (Steve McQueen), a singer and guitarist in a rock band, is on parole for a violent crime. Henry's wife, Georgette (Lee Remick), and daughter, Margaret Rose (Kimberly Block), travel to Texas to be with him as he attempts to repair his relationships and put his life back together. Henry's overbearing foster mother, Kate Dawson, doesn't approve of Henry's musical aspirations and uses the terms of his parole to force him to comply with her wishes. Blu-ray Release Date: May, 2019

2001: A Space Odyssey (3840 X 2160 captures added) 4K UHD - Director Stanley Kubrick's heralded masterpiece '2001: A Space Odyssey' immediately informs the viewers of its grandeur with a realistically derived vision of human evolution. The first segment entitled "The Dawn of Man" documents our ancestors maintaining sustenance through clan support, and food foraging. The story, based on the Arthur C. Clarke novel, naturally includes a strong fictional element proposing a single event that initiated the turning point of the ascension of humankind. 4K UHD Release Date: October 29th, 2018

The Last Warning BD - The Last Warning was Paul Leni's final film before his untimely death, and a prime showcase for Universal's 1920s leading lady, Laura La Plante. A visual artist at the peak of his career, Leni s camera never stops shifting, offering cutaways and trick shots involving nervous could-be culprits, a highly suspicious sleuth, and cast members who suddenly disappear in the darkened theater. The result is a cinematic funhouse that restlessly cross-examines the suspense of the story s stage play against the real murder mystery saga, all unfolding amid the outstanding production design of Charles D. Hall. Blu-ray Release Date: June 4th, 2019
 

Next 2 weeks on the Calendar

June 10th, 2019

 

 

Agnes of God [Blu-ray] (Norman Jewison, 1985) UK Infinity Video

The Blood on Satan's Claw [Blu-ray] (Piers Haggard, 1971) RB UK Screenbound

Candyman [Blu-ray] (Bernard Rose, 1992) Arrow UK

Creature from the Black Lagoon: Complete Legacy Collection: Complete Legacy Collection (All 3 Films) [Blu-ray] (Various, 1954-1956) Region Free UK Universal

Dazed and Confused [Blu-ray] (Richard Linklater, 1993) RB UK Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

Def-Con 4 [Blu-ray] (Paul Donovan, Digby Cook, 1985) UK Arrow

Devil's Kiss [Blu-ray] (Jordi Gigó, 1976) Redemption

Doris Day Box Set (Pillow Talk, Lover Come Back, Send Me No Flowers) [Blu-ray] (Various, 1959-1964) Region Free UK Universal

The Entity [Blu-ray] (Sidney J. Furie, 1982) Shout! Factory (ALT-BEAVER REVIEW)
Frankenstein Created Woman [
Blu-ray] (Terence Fisher, 1967) Shout! Factory (ALT-BEAVER REVIEW)

The Girl Most Likely to... [Blu-ray] (Lee Philips, 1973) Kino Lorber

Ghostbusters/Ghostbusters II 35th Anniversary Steelbook [4K UHD Blu-ray] (Ivan Reitman, 1984, 1989) Region Free Sony

The Godfather Collection [Blu-ray] (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972, 1974, 1990) Paramount (ALT-BEAVER REVIEW)

House: The Collection (House, House II: The Second Story, House III: The Horror Show, House IV: The Repossesion) [Blu-ray] (Various, 1985-1992) Arrow UK

I Was Monty's Double (aka Hell, Heaven or Hoboken) [Blu-ray] (John Guillermin, 1958) RB UK Studiocanal

Invisible Man: Complete Legacy Collection (All 6 Films) [Blu-ray] (Various, 1933-1951) Region Free UK Universal

Jonny Quest: The Complete Original Series [Blu-ray] - Warner Archive

Kidnapped [Blu-ray] (Delbert Mann, 1971) Kino Lorber

Lifeforce [Blu-ray] (Tobe Hooper, 1985) Arrow UK (BEAVER REVIEW)

My Nights with Susan, Sandra, Olga & Julie [Blu-ray] (Pim de la Parra, 1975) Cult Epics

None But the Brave [Blu-ray] (Frank Sinatra, 1965) Warner Archive

Odette [Blu-ray] (Herbert Wilcox, 1950) RB UK Studiocanal

Out 1 [Blu-ray] (Jacques Rivette, Suzanne Schiffman, 1971) RB UK Arrow Academy (ALT-BEAVER REVIEW)

Piranha - Steelbook [Blu-ray] (Joe Dante, 1978) Shout! Factory

Pursuit [Blu-ray] (Michael Crichton, 1972) Kino

The Ring Collection (Ring, Ring 2, Ring 0) [Blu-ray] (Hideo Nakata, Norio Tsuruta, 1998-2000) Arrow UK

Swing Time [Blu-ray] (George Stevens, 1936) Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

They Might Be Giants [Blu-ray] (Anthony Harvey, 1971) Kino Lorber (BEAVER REVIEW)

Three Identical Strangers [Blu-ray] (Tim Wardle, 2018) RB UK Dogwoof

Waterworld [Blu-ray] (Kevin Reynolds, 1995) Arrow UK (BEAVER REVIEW)

 

June 17th, 2019

 

 

The Beach Bum [Blu-ray] (Harmony Korine, 2019) Universal

Between the Lines [Blu-ray] (Joan Micklin Silver, 1977) Universal

The Border [Blu-ray] (Tony Richardson, 1982) Kino Lorber

The Brink's Job [Blu-ray] (William Friedkin, 1978) Kino Lorber

Caravaggio [Blu-ray] (Derek Jarman, 1986) RB UK BFI

The Crest [Blu-ray] (Mark Christopher Covino, 2017) Gravitas Ventures

Détective [Blu-ray] (Jean-Luc Godard, 1985) Kino Lorber

L'eau à la bouche (aka A Game for Six Lovers) [Blu-ray] (Jacques Doniol-Valcroze, 1960) Cinetrove

Far and Away [Blu-ray] (Ron Howard, 1992) RB UK Fabulous Films

First Name: Carmen [Blu-ray] (Jean-Luc Godard, 1983) Kino Lorber

Flying Tigers [Blu-ray] (David Miller, 1942) RB UK Fabulous Films

The Heiress [Blu-ray] (William Wyler, 1949) RB UK Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

Hélas pour moi (aka Oh, Woe Is Me) [Blu-ray] (Jean-Luc Godard, 1993) Kino Lorber

The Holy Mountain [Blu-ray] (Arnold Fanck, 1926) RB UK Eureka (ALT-BEAVER REVIEW)

L'Humanité [Blu-ray] (Bruno Dumont, 1999) Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

If Beale Street Could Talk [Blu-ray] (Barry Jenkins, 2018) RB UK Entertainment One

Mississippi Burning [Blu-ray] (Alan Parker, 1988) Kino Lorber

The Monolith Monsters [Blu-ray] (John Sherwood, 1957) Shout! Factory

Ordeal by Innocence [Blu-ray] (Desmond Davis, 1984) Kino Lorber

People on Sunday [Blu-ray] (Robert Siodmak, Edgar G. Ulmer, 1930) RB UK BFI

The Running Man [Blu-ray] (Carol Reed, 1963) RB UK Arrow Academy

The Running Man [Blu-ray] (Carol Reed, 1963) Arrow Academy

The Sender [Blu-ray] (Roger Christian, 1982) UK Arrow Video

The Silent Partner [Blu-ray] (Daryl Duke, 1978) Kino Lorber

Slayground [Blu-ray] (Terry Bedford, 1983) Kino Lorber

Snow Falling on Cedars [Blu-ray] (Scott Hicks, 1999) Shout! Factory

Tokyo Gore Police [Blu-ray] (Yoshihiro Nishimura, 2008) UK Yume Pictures

Under Fire [Blu-ray] (Roger Spottiswoode, 1983) RB UK Eureka

Under the Silver Lake [Blu-ray] (David Robert Mitchell, 2018) A24

Universal Horror Collection: Vol.1 [Blu-ray] (The Black Cat, The Raven, The Invisible Ray, Black Friday) - Universal

Us [4K UHD Blu-ray] (Jordan Peele, 2019) Region Free Universal
Us [
Blu-ray] (Jordan Peele, 2019) Universal

Vanishing Point [Blu-ray] (Richard C. Sarafian, 1971) RB UK Fabulous Films

La vie de Jésus (The Life of Jesus) [Blu-ray] (Bruno Dumont, 1997) Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)