Newsletter - FOR THE WEEK

OF December 10th, 2018

  This Week's Highlights
 
 

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This week we updated our DESERT ISLAND DISCS page and have Blu-ray reviews by Indicator, Kino, Koch, Warner Archive, Network of Hammer Studios, classic TV Science-fiction, sword-and-sandal, noir, shorts etc. directed by Jacques Tourneur, Howard Hawks, Robert Aldrich, Mario Bava, Henri-Georges Clouzot, Nunzio Malasomma plus our Calendar has previous updates of films-to-Blu-ray, including February plus UK Criterions of films by Abbas Kiarostami, Seijun Suzuki, Burnett Charles Burnett, Henri-Georges Clouzot, Luchino Visconti, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Georges Méliès, Bob Fosse, Joseph H. Lewis, Desmond Davis, Tony Richardson, Julien Duvivier, Otto Preminger, Robert Aldrich, Jean Cocteau, Ingmar Bergman, Dennis Hopper, Francis Ford Coppola, Stanley Kramer, David Byrne and more. We have our Feature Blu-ray is posted for DECEMBER Enjoy!!

STILL ON 50% OFF Arrow US titles HERE - treat yourself and save! at Barnes + Noble.

LISTING PAGES:

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-rays chosen for the Month of DECEMBER!

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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:

 

La vérité [Blu-ray] (Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1960) Criterion UK

24 Frames [Blu-ray] (Abbas Kiarostami, 2017) Criterion UK

Tokyo Drifter [Blu-ray] (Seijun Suzuki, 1966) Criterion UK (BEAVER REVIEW)

To Sleep with Anger [Blu-ray] (Charles Burnett, 1990) Criterion
La vérité [Blu-ray] (Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1960) Criterion

Death in Venice [Blu-ray] (Luchino Visconti, 1971) Criterion

Shame [Blu-ray] (Ingmar Bergman, 1968) Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

Berlin Alexanderplatz [Blu-ray] (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1980) Criterion

Méliès: Fairy Tales in Color [Blu-ray] (Georges Méliès, 1899-1909) Flicker Alley

The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach [Blu-ray] (Danièle Huillet, Jean-Marie Straub, 1968) Grasshopper

All That Jazz [Blu-ray] (Bob Fosse, 1979) Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

My Name Is Julia Ross [Blu-ray] (Joseph H. Lewis, 1945) UK Arrow

My Name Is Julia Ross [Blu-ray] (Joseph H. Lewis, 1945) Arrow

So Dark the Night [Blu-ray] (Joseph H. Lewis, 1946) Arrow UK

So Dark the Night [Blu-ray] (Joseph H. Lewis, 1946) Arrow US

Atoll K (a.k.a. Robinson Crusoeland) [Blu-ray] (Léo Joannon, 1951) RB UK BFI

Red, White and Zero (a.k.a. The White Bus) [Blu-ray] (Lindsay Anderson, 1967) RB UK BFI

Girl with Green Eyes [Blu-ray] (Desmond Davis, 1964) RB UK BFI

A Taste of Honey [Blu-ray] (Tony Richardson, 1961) RB UK BFI

Threads [Blu-ray] (Mick Jackson, 1984) RB UK BBC

The Mighty Peking Man [Blu-ray] (Meng Hua Ho, 1977) RB UK 88 Films (BEAVER REVIEW)

Panique [Blu-ray] (Julien Duvivier, 1946) RB UK Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

Under the Tree [Blu-ray] (Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson, 2017) RB UK Eureka

Laura [Blu-ray] (Otto Preminger, 1944) RB UK Eureka

Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte [Blu-ray] (Robert Aldrich, 1964) RB UK Eureka

Rogue Male [Blu-ray] (Clive Donner, 1976) RB UK BFI

Orphée [Blu-ray] (Jean Cocteau, 1950) RB UK BFI

Sawdust and Tinsel [Blu-ray] (Ingmar Bergman, 1953) Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

Sawdust and Tinsel [Blu-ray] (Ingmar Bergman, 1953) RB UK Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

ONE VOICE (not Ellsworth Monkton Toohey): Jacques Tourneur's Night of the Demon get top spot this week - an easy choice actually with Indicator's complete Blu-ray package gaining immediate induction into our Top 100 discs page. A brilliant British horror set in the dank, foggy countryside looking as unchanged for the past 1000 years. Another Desert Island selection is Howard Hawks' The Thing From Another World on Warner Archive Blu-ray. Scientists and American Air Force officials fend off a murderous alien organism while at a remote arctic outpost. I loved Kino's The Outer Limits - Season Two on Blu-ray starring keen episodes with William Shatner, Adam West, Leonard Nimoy, Robert Duvall, Robert Culp and many other favorites (NOTE: the tiny audio glitch in one of the episodes mentioned in the review.) Kino also brings us Robert Aldrich's The Killing of Sister George to Blu-ray. Unconventional cinema with magnificent performances - a gritty, clever drama. The Mamie Van Doren Film Noir Collection Blu-ray offers the cheesecake on the sleazier side of the 'dark cinema'. Very cool! One of the campiest titles, the rarely seen, Mario Bava's Hercules vs. the Vampires comes to 2K-restored Blu-ray in a 3-disc package from Koch out of Germany. The last Hammer Studios' with the pairing of Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing in their respective - vampire vs. Van Helsing roles - The Satanic Rite of Dracula is on bare-bones Blu-ray from Warner Archive - much of the studio's charms remain to delight fans. I'll admit to enjoying the 'poor cousin' Epic wannabe feel of the Italian / German production of Revolt of the Slaves with Rhonda Fleming - now available on Blu-ray. Clouzot: Early Works includes interesting short and feature work from Henri-Georges Clouzot in a new double Blu-ray release. Space Patrol has an asteroid collision course, robot rebellion, lost scientists on Jupiter, a shrinking disease, controlled weather, invisibility, a race of giants and they're puppets too! on Blu-ray from Network.

"Animals are ever so psychic. There are some people who just can't come in here...The cats particularly, they seem to know. You can fool everybody, but laudy dearie me, you can't fool a cat. They seem to know who's not right, if you know what I mean." - Pet Shop Owner in Jacques Tourneur's Cat People

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  THIS WEEK's REVIEWS / COMPARISONS
 

Night of the Demon BD - Tourneur had used M R James's short story Casting the Runes as the basis for a marvelous cinematic dialogue between belief and skepticism, fantasy and reality. Jacques Tourneur's Night of the Demon is considered to be one of the seminal horror films of Twentieth-Century cinema. Blu-ray Release Date: October 22nd, 2018

The Mamie Van Doren Film Noir Collection BD - This collection includes three film noir classics starring the voluptuous screen goddess Mamie Van Doren. The Girl in Black Stockings – A party girl is murdered, and everyone in a Utah motel is a suspect. Directed by Howard W. Koch and co-starring Anne Bancroft; Guns, Girls and Gangsters – In Las Vegas, a group of criminals plan to rob an armored truck hauling casino loot to the bank. Vice Raid – A prostitution syndicate sends one of their callgirls (Van Doren) to New York City to frame a police officer. Blu-ray Release Date: November 20th, 2018

The Satanic Rite of Dracula BD - A dying man’s report of a ritual black mass stirs Britain’s security chief into action, and a mansion filled with young vampire girls is soon discovered. And this is but the first twist in a labyrinth of horror. Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee pair up for the final Hammer Dracula in this follow-up to Dracula A.D. 1972. In this go-round, the Count (Christopher Lee, naturally) follows a more pulpish, super-villainous playbook, posing as a millionaire industrialist alive and well and living in London while secretly brewing up a batch of super-plague in a quest to destroy the world. Mixing Satanists, spies and sci-fi, the film makes viewers glad that Peter Cushing is on hand to solidly anchor the more outré elements as the effortlessly expositioning Dr. Van Helsing. Blu-ray Release Date: November 13th, 2018

Revolt of the Slaves BD - THE REVELS... THE RAVAGES... THE REVOLT OF THE AGES! In this biblical action-adventure, set during the waning years of the Roman Empire, Fabiola (Rhonda Fleming), the beautiful daughter of a wealthy patrician, falls in love with a Christian slave, Vibio (Lang Jeffries). Veteran writer/director Nunzio Malasomma directed this epic international hit featuring early performances by Fernando Rey and Serge Gainsbourg. Blu-ray Release Date: December 4th, 2018

The Thing From Another World BD - The scene is a distant Arctic research station, where a UFO has crashed. The investigating scientists discover that the circular craft has melted its way into the ice, which has frozen up again. While attempting to recover the ship, Captain Patrick Hendry (Kenneth Tobey) accidentally explodes the vessel, but the pilot -- at least, what seems to be the pilot -- remains frozen in a block of ice. A superior blend of science fiction, horror, naturalistic dialogue, and flesh-and-blood characterizations, The Thing From Another World is a model of its kind. Blu-ray Release Date: November, 2018

The Outer Limits - Season Two BD - There Is Nothing Wrong With Your Television Set... Do Not Attempt To Adjust The Picture... We Are Controlling Transmission... The entire second season 17 Episodes and 2 Alternates Episodes! You hold in your hands an artifact from a time now vanished forever; a compendium of portals into worlds unknown. A four-disc set that controls over 15 hours of transmission from the 1964-1965 series, this vessel has sought you out for one specific purpose: to expand your mind to The Outer Limits! Blu-ray Release Date: March 27th, 2018

The Killing of Sister George BD - Legendary director Robert Aldrich turns up the heat in this steamy, provocative and expertly executed movie starring Beryl Reid and Susannah York. Sexy, sensitive and darkly humorous, The Killing of Sister George is a racy romp that's entertaining, explicit and sensational. June (Reid) is the star of a TV soap opera... and she has the ego to prove it. But when she begins to suspect that the network is planning to kill off her character預nd that her boss is out to seduce her beautiful young lover (York) June spirals out of control. Blu-ray Release Date: November 27th, 2018

Hercules vs. the Vampires BD - Upon his return from battle in the previous film, the great warrior Hercules learns that his lover, Daianara, has lost her senses. According to the oracle Medea, Dianara's only hope is the Stone of Forgetfulness which lies deep in the realm of Hades. Hercules, with two companions, Theseus and Telemachus, embarks on a dangerous quest for the stone, while he is unaware that Dianara's guardian, King Lico, is the one responsible for her condition and plots to have the girl for himself as his bride upon her revival. Blu-ray Release Date: November 8th, 2018

Clouzot: Early Works BD - Before directing his first feature, Henri-Georges Clouzot (The Wages of Fear, Diabolique) spent ten years learning the ropes. During this prolific period as a screenwriter he learned cinematic grammar and began to forge his style. To better know and understand Henri-Georges Clouzot, you have to discover these rare films, of which he was one of the principal architects. Kino Classics is proud to present CLOUZOT: THE EARLY WORKS, which collects six varied features he worked on from 1931-1933: frothy comedies, boxing dramas, musicals and melodramas. The set includes his directorial debut – the short film The Terror of Batignolles (1931), which anticipates his canonical thrillers to come. Blu-ray Release Date: November 20th, 2018

Space Patrol BD - Remember the 1960s? Programs like Supercar and Fireball XL-5 created a huge market for children's SF, and even Gerry Anderson couldn't fill it. One of the programs that tried to bridge the gap was Space Patrol, a puppet show made by Frank Goulding, Roberta Leigh, and other defectors from the Anderson empire. Filmed on a shoestring in black and white, it had some interesting ideas that could have usefully been transferred to later series; spaceships used antigravity, not rockets, and took weeks to reach the outer planets, aliens weren't always humanoid and had their own languages and customs (and it took several days to program the translating computers), and gadgets took time to develop and tended to be reused once they'd appeared. Blu-ray Release Date: October 8th, 2018
 

Next 2 weeks on the Calendar

December 10th, 2018

 

 

 

The Apartment [Blu-ray] (Billy Wilder, 1960) Arrow Academy (BEAVER REVIEW)

Await Further Instructions [Blu-ray] (Johnny Kevorkian, 2018) Mpi Home Video

A Beautiful Planet [4k UHD Blu-ray] (Toni Myers, 2016) Mill Creek

Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice [Blu-ray(Paul Mazursky, 1969) RB UK Arrow Video

Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice [Blu-ray] (Paul Mazursky, 1969) Arrow UK

Brutal [Blu-ray] (Takashi Hirose, 2018) Unearthed Films

De Palma & De Niro: The Early Films [Blu-ray] (The Wedding Party, Greetings, Hi, Mom!) Arrow US

Death Ship [Blu-ray] (Alvin Rakoff, 1980) Scorpion Releasing

Double Dragon [Blu-ray] (James Yukich, 1994) MVD Rewind Collection

Dragon Fist [Blu-ray] (Wei Lo, 1979) RB UK 88 Films

A Dry White Season [Blu-ray] (Euzhan Palcy, 1989) Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

Elvira: Mistress of the Dark [Blu-ray] (James Signorelli, 1988) UK Arrow Video

The Equalizer 2 [Blu-ray(Antoine Fuqua, 2018) RB UK Sony

The Equalizer 2 [4K UHD Blu-rayy] (Antoine Fuqua, 2018) Region Free Sony

Female on the Beach [Blu-ray] (Joseph Pevney, 1955) Kino

Forty Guns [Blu-ray] (Samuel Fuller, 1957) Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

Foxfire [Blu-ray] (Joseph Pevney, 1955) Kino

Informer - TV Series [Blu-ray] (Jonny Campbell, 2018) RB UK Spirit Entertainment

Journey to the South Pacific [4k UHD Blu-ray] (Stephen Judson, Greg MacGillivray, 2013) Mill Creek

The Last Command [Blu-ray] (Frank Lloyd, 1955) Kino

The Magnificent Ambersons [Blu-ray] (Orson Welles, 1942) Criterion UK (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Mangler [Blu-ray(Tobe Hooper, 1995) Shout! Factory

Maniac [Blu-ray] (William Lustig, 1980) Blue Underground

The Mighty Peking Man [Blu-ray] (Meng Hua Ho, 1977) RB UK 88 Films (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Miracle Worker [Blu-ray] (Paul Aaron, 1979) Vci Entertainment

My Neighbor Totoro - 30th Anniversary Edition [Blu-ray(Hayao Miyazaki, 1988) GKids

Nemesis [Blu-ray(Albert Pyun, 1992) MVD Rewind Collection

Not Without My Daughter [Blu-ray] (Brian Gilbert, 1991) MVD Rewind Collection

Once Upon A Time In China Trilogy [Blu-ray] (Tsui Hark, 1991-1997) RB UK Eureka Entertainment

Othello [Blu-ray(Orson Welles, 1951) RB UK Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

Pet Shop [Blu-ray] (Hope Perello, 1994) Full Moon Features

Raven [Blu-ray] (Russell Solberg, 1996) MVD Marquee Collection

Red, White and Zero (a.k.a. The White Bus) [Blu-ray] (Lindsay Anderson, 1967) RB UK BFI

River Runs Red [4K UHD Blu-ray] (Wes Miller, 2018) Cinedigm

Silent Night, Deadly Night 2 [Blu-ray(Lee Harry, 1987) Shout! Factory

Sleepover [Blu-ray] (Joe Nussbaum, 2004) MVD Rewind Collection

Sudden Fury [Blu-ray] (Brian Damude, 1975) Vinegar Syndrome

Tailspin Tommy In The Great Air Mystery [Blu-ray] (Ray Taylor, 1935) Vci Entertainment

A Taste of Honey [Blu-ray] (Tony Richardson, 1961) RB UK BFI

To Kill with Intrigue [Blu-ray] (Wei Lo, 1977) RB UK 88 Films

The Very Best Of Laurel & Hardy: 5-Film Collection [Blu-ray] ( Block-Heads, Our Relations, Pardon Us, Sons of the Desert and Way Out West) R0 Uk Universal

The Wild Boys [Blu-ray] (Bertrand Mandico, 2017) Altered Innocence

Wild Women [Blu-ray] (Don Taylor, 1970) Kino

 

December 17th, 2018

 

 

Bloody Birthday [Blu-ray(Ed Hunt, 1981) Arrow Video

Dark Highlands [Blu-ray(Mark Stirton, 2018) Gravitas Ventures

Deep Throat [Blu-ray] (Gerard Damiano, 1972) VMI

Dracula: Prince of Darkness [Blu-ray] (Terence Fisher, 1966) Shout! Factory

En el Séptimo Día (aka On the Seventh Day) [Blu-ray] (Jim McKay, 2017) Cinema Guild

Girl with Green Eyes [Blu-ray] (Desmond Davis, 1964) RB UK BFI

The Jerk [Blu-ray] (Carl Reiner, 1979) Shout! Factory

Marwencol [Blu-ray] (Jeff Malmberg, 2010) Cinema Guild

Méliès: Fairy Tales in Color [Blu-ray] (Georges Méliès, 1899-1909) Flicker Alley

Murder by Death [Blu-ray(Robert Moore, 1976) Shout! Factory

Panique [Blu-ray] (Julien Duvivier, 1946) Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Predator [Blu-ray] (Shane Black, 2018) 20th Century Fox
The Predator [4k UHD
Blu-ray] (Shane Black, 2018) 20th Century Fox

Sawdust and Tinsel [Blu-ray] (Ingmar Bergman, 1953) Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

Schindler's List [Blu-ray] (Steven Spielberg, 1993) Universal
Schindler's List [4k UHD
Blu-ray] (Steven Spielberg, 1993) Universal

The Secret of Dorian Gray [Blu-ray] (Massimo Dallamano, 1970) Raro Video

Starman [Blu-ray(John Carpenter, 1984) Shout! Factory

Threads [Blu-ray] (Mick Jackson, 1984) RB UK BBC

Topper Takes a Trip [Blu-ray] (Norman Z. McLeod, 1938) VCI

When a Stranger Calls [Blu-ray] (Fred Walton, 1979) RB UK Second Sight

When A Stranger Calls / When A Stranger Calls Back: Limited Edition [Blu-ray] - RB UK Second Sight

William Castle Box Set Volume Two [Blu-ray] (ZOTZ!, 13 FRIGHTENED GIRLS, THE OLD DARK HOUSE and STRAIT-JACKET) UK Indicator