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Buffalo Bill and the Indians
BD - Altman's continuing
fascination with the lunatic reality underlying America's
popular myths finds an obvious subject in Buffalo Bill. William
F Cody was a nonentity who utilised the heroic Western image of
'Buffalo Bill' to create a capitalist showbiz enterprise
grossing a million a year. With typical fast-paced wit, Altman
focuses on Cody's blinkered, scatter-brained retinue,
contrasting their alcoholic self-deception with the mystical
reality and strength of the Indians destroyed in their grand
distortion of history. Some of it comes off well, and Newman is
superb. But the film shows tiresome signs of its origins as a
stage play (by Arthur Kopit), and the good moments aren't quite
enough to make up for its overall predictability.
Blu-ray Release date: December 9th,
2014
The Missouri Breaks
BD - A wonderfully quirky
Western, brilliantly scripted by Thomas McGuane, which strips
all the cute whimsy away from the Butch Cassidy theme (outlaws
on the run from a relentless lawman), replacing it with a kind
of pixillated terror. Playing the 'regulator' as a camp Buffalo
Bill with an Irish accent, Brando makes his entrance playing
peekaboo from behind his horse, and at one point even stalks his
prey in a dress and poke bonnet. But he is also a legalised
killer, expert with a rifle but preferring (as the flail of God)
to use a harpoon shaped like a crucifix. And as his gloating
sadism shades into hints of bizarre perversion when he dedicates
a love song and a kiss to his horse, the tone gradually darkens
to a kind of horror. It's one of the few truly major Westerns of
the '70s, with a very clear vision of the historical role played
by fear and violence in the taming of the wilderness.
Blu-ray Release date: December 9th,
2014
Slaughter Hotel
BD - Fernando DiLeo, best
known for a series of westerns and crime films, tried his hand
at horror with this extremely sick little item loaded with
nudity and violence. Set at a remote mental institution
inexplicably located in a castle, the film features Klaus Kinski
as a doctor whose mostly female patients are being brutally
dispatched by a psychopath. Margaret Lee and Rosalba Neri are
among the frequently unclothed cast, and there are
decapitations, crossbow bolts in the eye, and -- in some foreign
prints -- fairly explicit sex. Nothing in the film, however, is
as tasteless as its original ad campaign, which played up its
similarity to the crimes of Chicago mass-murderer Richard Speck
who actually killed student nurses and not patients.
Blu-ray Release Date: December 9th,
2014
Les Miserables
BD - Originally released in
quick succession as three separate features in 1934, Bernard's
film recounts the story of the ex-convict Jean Valjean (Harry
Baur) harried by the wicked Inspector Javert (Charles Vanel); of
the virtuous Fantine (Florelle, née Odette Rousseau) who sells
herself into prostitution for the welfare of her daughter
Cosette (Gaby Triquet as the young girl Cosette, and Josseline
Gaël as the young woman); and of intersections of these threads
and more in an impressive rendering of Hugo's stately tapestry.
Masters of Cinema Blu-ray
Release date: December 8th, 2014
The Quatermass Xperiment
BD - The Quatermass
Xperiment (US title: The Creeping Unknown) is a 1955
British Hammer science fiction horror film on
Blu-ray, based on the 1953 BBC
Television serial The Quatermass Experiment written by
Nigel Kneale. It is regarded as the first of the "Hammer
Horrors". Britain's first rocket has been successfully launched
and returns to Earth but communication has been severed. Only
one of the three spacemen (Wordsworth) remains on board whose
physical and mental health has been severely damaged. He is put
under strict observation but his wife smuggles him out of the
hospital only to unleash the biggest threat ever to
civilisation. For the survivor is being consumed by an alien
force, who gains strength from human flesh to multiple and grow,
threatening to engulf and kill all living organisms. Professor
Quatermass (Donlevy) must find a way to overcome the thing
before it becomes impossible. Kino Lorber
Blu-ray Release date: December 2nd,
2014
The Beast
BD - Originally turned down
flat by the British Board of Film Censors and initially released
exclusively in London in a version heavily cut by its nervous
distributor, The Beast is Walerian Borowczyk's most notorious
film, although it s much wittier and more playful than its
subject matter might suggest. Lucy Broadhurst (Lisbeth Hummel)
is due to inherit a substantial fortune, but on condition that
she marries the son of her late father s best friend. But
Mathurin de l Espérance (Pierre Benedetti) seems more interested
in his horses than in his bride-to-be, and when Lucy finds out
about the story of his 18th-century ancestor Romilda (Sirpa
Lane) and brings her to life in one of the most outrageous dream
sequences in cinema history, we begin to realise just how
bizarre Mathurin s bloodline truly is.
Blu-ray Release Date: August 18th, 2014
Cinerama: Search For Paradise
BD - Join Lowell Thomas and
follow in the footsteps of Marco Polo in this new, digital
restoration of Search for Paradise, the fourth of the original,
3-panel Cinerama travelogues. Released in 1957, the motion
picture takes you to the "Roof of the World," the
Himalayas and Karakoram mountains of Central Asia, the highest
region on Earth. You'll become part of the adventure as explorer
Lowell Thomas searches for paradise in ancient cities, wild
river rapids, and the lush gardens of mountaintops.
Blu-ray Release date: November
18th, 2014
Breaking the Waves
BD - Featuring an
astonishing Oscar-nominated performance by Emily Watson, Lars
von Trier's powerful Breaking the Waves tell the story of
Bess, a naive young woman who marries Jan, a handsome oil-rig
worker. Their martial bliss is cut when an accident on the rig
leaves Jan paralysed. Believing he will never make love to Bess
again, he tells her to take other lovers, convincing her that
this will help his recovery. Bess is sent spiralling into a
world of dark emotions she cannot understand. Artificial Eye
Blu-ray Release Date: November
10th, 2014
The Little Bedroom - When
Edmond (Michel Bouquet), a man quickly facing the loss of his
independence, is placed in a care facility after taking a bad
fall, he discovers that his son has sold his apartment.
Determined to reclaim his autonomy, he leaves the care facility
with Rose (Florence Loiret Caille), an empathetic nurse still
suffering from the loss of her unborn child. She takes him into
her home to allow him the measure of freedom he deserves.
Through this new living situation they develop a bond, which
helps them move forward with their lives. However, the unlikely
friends must face the consequences when Edmond is reported
missing. DVD Release Date: December 9th, 2014
French Affairs - When
Astrid, a professional therapist struggling to find meaningful
friendships, starts having an affair with her patient Céline s
husband, it puts a strain on an already difficult relationship
with her son, David. Meanwhile, Céline, a former prostitute
content with her domesticated life, befriends David when he
tries to run away from home by booking a flight through her
travel agency. When David discloses the affair to Céline, she
must decide how to deal with the betrayal and lies. DVD
Release Date: December 16th, 2014
The Girl on the Bridge -
Hugo Haas wrote, produced, directed and starred in the tawdry
but fascinating Girl on the Bridge. Like most of Haas'
films, this one deals with the ill-fated romance between a
middle-aged man and a much-younger woman. Saved from suicide by
kindly watchmaker David Haas, unwed mother Clara Beverly
Michaels takes a job at his store, and eventually accepts his
proposal of marriage. Their happiness is shattered by the
arrival of the girl's lover Mario Robert Dane, whose cousin
Harry John Close extorts a tidy sum of money from David. When he
can stand no more, David murders Harry, but the evidence points
to Mario. At first willing to allow Mario to fry for the crime,
David relents when he realizes that Mario has reformed and that
Clara is still in love with the younger man. However, David's
ultimate solution to set things straight is not one to be tried
out by the viewer at home! DVD Release Date: August 12th,
2014
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