Newsletter - FOR THE WEEK

OF September 9th, 2019

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Dia dhaoibh! A NEW SILENT AUCTION for patrons HERE. Another solid week of Blu-ray reviews in this newsletter of packages from Kino, Universal, Artificial Eye, Koch Media, Funimation of films by Cecil B. DeMille, Robert Altman, Edward Dmytryk, Jim Jarmusch, Henry King, Charles Crichton, Peter Strickland, Philip Dunne, Marvin J. Chomsky, Mick Garris, Burt Kennedy, Lewis Seiler etc. .Our Calendar has NEW updates of Blu-rays including by directors Carol Reed, John Huston, Don Siegel, Joseph Losey, Spike Lee, Julien Duvivier, Jean-Pierre Melville, Sergio Leone, Peter Collinson, Karel Zeman, Paul Verhoeven, Michael Cimino, Cy Endfield, Nathan Juran, Blake Edwards, Stanley Kubrick, Terry Gilliam, John Frankenheimer, John Badham and more. We also have our Feature Blu-ray and 4K UHD posted for SEPTEMBER 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 and 4K UHD chosen for the Month of SEPTEMBER!

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ONE VOICE (not Ellsworth Monkton Toohey): I've always been a big fan of The Lavender Hill Mob - possibly my favorite from Ealing Studios. Kino have brought it to Region 'A' Blu-ray with a an excellent audio commentary and other supplements. I was so pleased to finally get, one of my all-time favorite westerns, Henry King's The Gunfighter on Blu-ray. Jimmy Ringo immortalized as the fastest gun in the west by a remarkable performance from Gregory Peck. Speaking of Mr. Peck, Edward Dmytryk's Mirage is a brilliant psychological thriller on Blu-ray from Kino. It comes with a deeply probing analytical commentary. Must own, imo. Peter Strickland's In Fabric is both free-form 'Lynchian' and a Giallo-esque horror. It looks brilliant on Artificial Eye's Blu-ray. Support Your Local Sheriff! is a saddle full of fun starring James Garner. The new Blu-ray has plenty of re-watch value and sports a new commentary. Fans will be extremely pleased to see Stephen King's 1994 The Stand on Blu-ray - the 6-hour TV mini-series is in 1080P and also gets a commentary. Holocaust is also a mini-series - 7.5 hours worth of impacting storytelling with the likes of James Woods, Meryl Streep, Michael Moriarty and many others. Robert Altman's forgotten Kansas City comes to Blu-ray - it has a good crime-drama element to the film as well as the jazz music (in lossless.) I was keen. I seemed to be as lone voice in appreciating Jim Jarmusch's star-packed Zombie parody/homage The Dead Don't Die in a pristine new Blu-ray transfer. I loved Cecil B. DeMille's Reap the Wild Wind classic adventure with Ray Milland, John Wayne, Paulette Goddard, Raymond Massey, Robert Preston, Susan Hayward, Charles Bickford and more. Now on Blu-ray thanks to Kino. Pittsburgh is 1940's Hollywood's take on drama and conflict in the steel industry with Marlene Dietrich, Randolph Scott and John Wayne - now available on Blu-ray. Blindfolded is a a fun Charade-like thriller with always likeable Rock Hudson and always sexy Claudia Cardinale. Kino's Blu-ray supports the presentation well. Sekirei is more of the anime titillation with plenty of 'fan service'. I get the appeal but I am being not much of an aficionado - so, I would rather recommend the Blu-rays of High School of the Dead or Prison School - in my uninformed opinion.

 “Technical skill counts for nothing if it is used only to manufacture films which have little to do with humanity. With me it was that defending the Communist Party was something worse than naming the names..” ― Edward Dmytryk

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The Gunfighter BD - Henry King's The Gunfighter (1950) is the crown jewel--the film that deserves the credit (often awarded to High Noon) for ushering in the "adult Western," the '50s subgenre that emphasized psychological intensity over action and spectacle. Gregory Peck (topping his acclaimed performance in King's WWII drama Twelve O'Clock High) is excellent as Jimmy Ringo, a notorious shootist grown middle-aged and mortally weary of having to defend his legend. His trail takes him to a frontier town where an old comrade (the great Millard Mitchell) now serves as marshal, and where Ringo's estranged wife and the son he has never seen also reside, under an assumed name. Over one night and one day, Ringo dares to dream of a normal life. But there are avengers not far behind, and other threats yet to be counted. Although hailed by critics, The Gunfighter lost money for Fox; studio head Darryl F. Zanuck blamed the soup-strainer mustache--a stroke of period realism--director King ordered Peck to grow for the role. Well, a little red ink is a small price to pay for a masterpiece. Incidentally, the impeccable black-and-white cinematography is by three-time Oscar-winner Arthur Miller. Blu-ray Release Date: August 22nd, 2019

Holocaust BD - The now-legendary miniseries Holocaust first aired as a presentation in NBC's Big Event series. Written by Gerald Green, the story begins in the Germany of 1935. We are introduced to the family of Jewish doctor Joseph Weiss (Fritz Weaver) his wife Berta (Rosemary Harris), his brother Moses (Sam Wanamaker), his sons Rudi (Joseph Bottoms) and Karl (James Woods), and his daughter Anna (Blanche Baker). We also meet struggling lawyer Erik Dorf (Michael Moriarity), who is urged by his ambitious wife to join the SS. As the Nazis' persecution of the Jews is stepped up, most of the Weiss family is deported to the Polish ghetto--then to Auschwitz, which is overseen by Erik Dorf. Rudi and his Jewish girlfriend Helena (Tovah Feldsuh) witness the 1941 Baba Yar massacre, then join the Russian partisans in their battle against the Nazis. Also appearing in Holocaust is Meryl Streep as Karl Weiss' Christian wife Inga. The winner of eight Emmy awards, Holocaust was originally telecast in four parts on April 16, 17, 18, and 19, 1978. Blu-ray Release Date: September 24th, 2019

The Stand BD - Originally aired as a television mini-series, this all-star filmization of Stephen King's gripping epic of good versus evil chronicles the episodic adventures of a disparate group of people who struggle to reestablish civilization after a man-made catastrophe wipes out most of the world's population. The world abruptly ends when a deadly virus accidentally escapes from a government sponsored biological warfare laboratory. Soon people are dropping like flies from the plague, but a few survive and find themselves strangely compelled to head into the West. Good-hearted people follow the voice of an ancient black woman and head for Boulder, Colorado. Bad people follow the enigmatic Walkin' Dude to Las Vegas. It is only a matter of time before the two sides are forced into a climactic battle over the final fate of humanity. Blu-ray Release Date: September 24th, 2019

The Dead Don't Die BD - It's the greatest zombie cast ever disassembled starring Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Tilda Swinton, Chloë Sevigny, Steve Buscemi, Danny Glover, Caleb Landry Jones, Rosie Perez, Iggy Pop, Sara Driver, RZA, Selena Gomez, Carol Kane, Austin Butler, Luka Sabbat and Tom Waits. In the sleepy small town of Centerville, something is not quite right. The moon hangs large and low in the sky, the hours of daylight are becoming unpredictable and animals are beginning to exhibit unusual behavior. No one foresees the strangest and most dangerous repercussion that will soon start plaguing the town: The Dead Don't Die – they rise from their graves and savagely attack and feast on the living – and the citizens must battle for their survival. Blu-ray Release Date: September 10th, 2019

Blindfolded BD - When top-level scientist Arthur Vincenti (Alejandro Rey) suffers a nervous collapse, his military handlers fear he may be at risk of being kidnapped by a group of international terrorists who sell their victims to the governments of communist nations. Vincenti's psychiatrist, Dr. Bartholomew Snow (Rock Hudson), and fractious sister, Vicky (Claudia Cardinale), are drawn into a web of intrigue alongside the mysterious Fitzpatrick (Guy Stockwell), who claims Vincenti may already be an enemy agent. Kino Blu-ray Release Date: September 10th, 2019

The Lavender Hill Mob BD - Charles Crichton directed this Ealing caper comedy, with a witty script by T.E.B. Clarke that won an Academy Award. Alec Guinness is Henry Holland, an unassuming transporter of gold bullion who, after working for twenty years with no rewards in sight for his faithful service to his company, decides to reward himself by stealing one million pounds worth of gold. Calling on his old friend Pendlebury (Stanley Holloway), a manufacturer of paperweights and an amateur sculptor, and a couple of Cockney crooks, Lackery (Sidney James) and Shorty (Alfie Bass), they conspire to lift a gold shipment. After absconding with the gold, Henry melts the gold into a collection of souvenir Eiffel Towers, which he then ships off to Paris. But chaos reigns when a group of English schoolgirls purchase the gold towers, and the gang now become embroiled in a wild goose chase to recover their stolen gold. Blu-ray Release Date: September 3rd, 2019

Sekirei BD - Shy and awkward, but moral and caring late teenager Minato, after failing to get into college again, runs into Musubi, a girl his age who surprises him with her superhuman abilities. He's told by her that he's an ashikabi, a destined young man, meant to strengthen girls like her, a sekirei, through sexual contact. Blu-ray Release Date: April 10th, 2012

Kansas City BD - Robert Altman has often seemed impatient with the conventional ways of making a movie. At 71, he is still the most iconoclastic and experimental of major American filmmakers. Ambitious young directors want to make slick formula hits that mimic one another, but Altman tries to make it new every time. Sometimes he strikes out, but he always goes down swinging. His originality and invention pay off in “Kansas City,” his 31st film--a memory of the wide-open Depression era, circa 1934, when Boss Tom Pendergast ruled, jazz flourished, and the city boasted the largest red-light district in the country. Altman tells a fairly straightforward story about a gun moll who kidnaps a politician's wife, but there's a lot more to the film than its story. Altman grew up in Kansas City--he was 9 in 1934--and he has a lot of memories, first- and secondhand, about a colorful period that always seemed to have a jazz soundtrack. Blu-ray Release Date: June 13th, 2019

In Fabric BD - The latest from the unique imagination of Peter Strickland, In Fabric is a typically distinctive and haunting tale that blends Giallo-infused horror with absurdist dark humour, to ghostly effect. Set against the backdrop of a busy winter sales period at a mysterious Thames Valley department store, the film follows the journey of a cursed but strikingly beautiful blood-red dress as it passes from person to person, with devastating consequences. In Fabric also stars Hayley Squires, Gwendoline Christie, Julian Barratt, Steve Oram and regular collaborator Fatma Mohamed, and features an unforgettable score by Cavern of Anti-Matter. Blu-ray Release Date: August 4th, 2019

Support Your Local Sheriff! BD - Armed with a wry sense of humor and a straight-shooting sidearm, James Garner fights for peace, justice and fun in this outrageous, irreverent and very funny farce co-starring Joan Hackett (Will Penny), Walter Brennan, Harry Morgan, Bruce Dern, Gene Evans and Jack Elam. On his way to Australia, frontier opportunist Jason McCullough (Garner) stumbles into a small gold-rush town and decides to earn a little extra pocket money by accepting a temporary assignment as their sheriff. Happily applying himself to his new position, McCullough manages to turn the town derelict (Elam) into his deputy, outsmart the dreaded Danby clan (led by Brennan), and fend off the lusty advances of the mayor’s daughter (Hackett)—all without breaking a sweat or dirtying his shiny black boots! Directed by western legend Burt Kennedy, Support Your Local Sheriff is sheer entertainment from start to finish! Blu-ray Release Date: September 17th, 2019

Pittsburgh BD - Men of Steel! Women of Fire! The dream team of John Wayne, Marlene Dietrich and Randolph Scott co-star in this rags-to-riches tale of friendship, love and power. Beautiful Josie Winters (Dietrich) inspires coal-mining buddies Pittsburgh Markham (Wayne) and Cash Evans (Scott) to better their lots in life. Competing for Josie’s affection, the men rapidly climb to the top of their profession. After greed tears the two friends apart, it takes a world war to reunite them, as they refuse to let their patriotism be overshadowed by an age-old rift. The stellar cast includes legendary Stooge Sheep Howard, Thomas Gomez and western icon Paul Fix. Blu-ray Release Date: September 10th, 2019

Reap the Wild Wind BD - From Cecil B. DeMille comes this turbulent, swashbuckling tale with an all-star cast, set in 1840s Key West. Reap the Wild Wind stars Ray Millan, John Wayne, Paulette Goddard, Robert Preston, Susan Hayward, Raymond Massey and Charles Bickford. A potent combination of romance and adventure, the film centers on a headstrong independent woman played by Goddard. Along the seaboard of the American South, cut-throat salvagers who profit from the wrecks of transatlantic cargo ships move from exploiting shipwrecks to causing them. As the most dangerous of the salvagers, King Cutler (Massey), takes aim at the ships of the wealthy Devereaux Company, ambitious ship captain Jack Stuart (Wayne) and company lawyer Stephen Tolliver (Millan) vie for the hand of feisty Lexi Claiborne (Goddard). Blu-ray Release Date: September 10th, 2019

Mirage BD - A dazed man, David Stillwell (Gregory Peck), wanders down the stairs of a New York skyscraper during a power blackout, only vaguely aware of who he is, where he's been, and why he has this nagging feeling that danger lurks all about him. Stillwell does know that many of the people in the building are acquainted with him -- and that he is somehow linked with the death of wealthy philanthropist Charles Calvin (Walter Abel), who has fallen 27 floors to his death (a special effect that was remarkable for its time). From this point onward, everyone Stillwell meets is connected with Calvin's death, or is in some way threatening Stillwell's well-being. When he seeks the help of Dr. Pepper-imbibing private eye Ted Caselle (Walter Matthau), he is told that "you don't want to remember" -- shortly before Caselle is murdered by persons unknown. Only the enigmatic Sheila (Diane Baker) evinces any real sympathy, and she too is part of the conspiracy aimed at silencing and/or neutralizing the dumbfounded Stillwell. Blu-ray Release Date: September 10th, 2019
 

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