New remastered restorations of Val Lewton pictures? We’re there. This terrific double bill gives us two Lewton shockers that are in no way ‘lesser’. The progressive psycho killer picture The Ghost Ship suffered a legal setback and disappeared for almost fifty years; it’s a masterpiece of taste and tone. Bedlam is a costume picture with an ideal role for Boris Karloff, and multiple eerie moments worthy of Edgar Allan Poe. Both movies exhibit interesting storytelling techniques, too. Rko should have promoted Lewton to A pictures, as they did his collaborators Jacques Tourneur, Robert Wise and Mark Robson.
The Ghost Ship + Bedlam
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1943 + 1946 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / Available at Amazon.com / Street Date October 12, 2021 / 24.99
Starring: Richard Dix, Edith Barrett; Boris Karloff, Anna Lee.
Cinematography: Nicholas Musuraca
Art Directors: Albert S. D’Agostino, Walter E. Keller
Original Music: Roy Webb
Written by Donald Henderson Clarke; Carlos Keith & Mark Robson...
The Ghost Ship + Bedlam
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1943 + 1946 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / Available at Amazon.com / Street Date October 12, 2021 / 24.99
Starring: Richard Dix, Edith Barrett; Boris Karloff, Anna Lee.
Cinematography: Nicholas Musuraca
Art Directors: Albert S. D’Agostino, Walter E. Keller
Original Music: Roy Webb
Written by Donald Henderson Clarke; Carlos Keith & Mark Robson...
- 10/30/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
More or less ignored for 75 years, this curious ‘B’ program picture now finds its way directly to a Warner Archive Blu-ray release. Cult actor Lawrence Tierney has an atypical ‘swell guy’ role as a Marine veteran thrust into a murder mystery and made the fall guy for nefarious foreign spies. Anne Jeffreys becomes his co-fugitive when the villains frame him for murder. It’s like a fancy 1960s romantic thriller, except on a micro scale. Just the same, Phil Rosen’s movie crams a lot of incident into its brisk 62 minutes. Consider it a gift to Lawrence Tierney fans — they might like him in a role that Cary Grant could play.
Step by Step
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1946 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 62 min. / Street Date July 20, 2021 / 21.99
Starring: Lawrence Tierney, Anne Jeffreys, Lowell Gilmore, Myrna Dell, Harry Harvey, Addison Richards, Ray Walker, Jason Robards Sr., George Cleveland, Lee Bonnell, Robert Clarke,...
Step by Step
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1946 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 62 min. / Street Date July 20, 2021 / 21.99
Starring: Lawrence Tierney, Anne Jeffreys, Lowell Gilmore, Myrna Dell, Harry Harvey, Addison Richards, Ray Walker, Jason Robards Sr., George Cleveland, Lee Bonnell, Robert Clarke,...
- 7/27/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Isle of the Dead
Blu ray
Warner Archive
1945 / 1.33:1 / 72 min.
Starring Boris Karloff, Ellen Drew, Katherine Emery
Cinematography by Jack MacKenzie
Directed by Mark Robson
The Swiss symbolist Arnold Böcklin produced several versions of Isle of the Dead in the late 1800’s—none of them suggested a typical tourist attraction but more than a few artists used that gloomy seascape as a port of inspiration; Rachmaninov composed a symphony, Dalí produced a surrealist tribute, and Strindberg sketched the fragments of a play, Toten-Insel. There’s even a hint of the painting’s portentous cliffs in Welles’ Xanadu. In 1945, Val Lewton, Mr. Dark Shadows himself, conceived an entire film built around Böcklin’s haunted island.
Directed by Mark Robson, Isle of the Dead is thematically rich, even for a Lewton project; set in Greece at the end of the Balkan wars, a plague joins forces with the supernatural to wreak havoc...
Blu ray
Warner Archive
1945 / 1.33:1 / 72 min.
Starring Boris Karloff, Ellen Drew, Katherine Emery
Cinematography by Jack MacKenzie
Directed by Mark Robson
The Swiss symbolist Arnold Böcklin produced several versions of Isle of the Dead in the late 1800’s—none of them suggested a typical tourist attraction but more than a few artists used that gloomy seascape as a port of inspiration; Rachmaninov composed a symphony, Dalí produced a surrealist tribute, and Strindberg sketched the fragments of a play, Toten-Insel. There’s even a hint of the painting’s portentous cliffs in Welles’ Xanadu. In 1945, Val Lewton, Mr. Dark Shadows himself, conceived an entire film built around Böcklin’s haunted island.
Directed by Mark Robson, Isle of the Dead is thematically rich, even for a Lewton project; set in Greece at the end of the Balkan wars, a plague joins forces with the supernatural to wreak havoc...
- 3/30/2021
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
Hollywood learns to imbed a social message into a crime thriller. John Paxton’s adaptation of Richard Brooks’ neat murder tale is solid noir because it sheds light on the malaise of returning soldiers. No parades and confetti here: Robert Ryan is the hateful bigot but the other characters live amid equally shadowy values — laid-back Robert Mitchum, unhappy bar girl Gloria Grahame. Edward Dmytryk puts a polish on a fine screenplay with a fresh viewpoint, that avoids thriller clichés.
Crossfire
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1947 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 86 min. / Street Date , 2021 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Robert Young, Robert Mitchum, Robert Ryan, Gloria Grahame, Paul Kelly,
Sam Levene, George Cooper, Jacqueline White, Steve Brodie, William Phipps, Lex Barker, Marlo Dwyer.
Cinematography: J. Roy Hunt
Film Editor: Harry Gerstad
Art Direction: Albert S. D’Agostino, Alfred Herman
Original Music: Roy Webb
Written by John Paxton from the novel The Brick Foxhole by...
Crossfire
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1947 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 86 min. / Street Date , 2021 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Robert Young, Robert Mitchum, Robert Ryan, Gloria Grahame, Paul Kelly,
Sam Levene, George Cooper, Jacqueline White, Steve Brodie, William Phipps, Lex Barker, Marlo Dwyer.
Cinematography: J. Roy Hunt
Film Editor: Harry Gerstad
Art Direction: Albert S. D’Agostino, Alfred Herman
Original Music: Roy Webb
Written by John Paxton from the novel The Brick Foxhole by...
- 3/20/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Warners knocks us out with a beautifully remastered Rko noir. Nicholas Ray's crime tale is like no other, a meditation on human need and loneliness. It's a noir with a cautiously positive, hopeful twist. On Dangerous Ground Blu-ray Warner Archive Collection 1952 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 82 min. / Street Date October 11, 2016 / available through the WBshop / 21.99 Starring Ida Lupino, Robert Ryan, Ward Bond, Charles Kemper, Anthony Ross, Ed Begley, Ian Wolfe, Sumner Williams. Cinematography George E. Diskant Art Direction Ralph Berger, Albert S. D'Agostino Film Editor Roland Gross Original Music Bernard Herrmann Written by A.I. Bezzerides, Nicholas Ray from the novel Mad with Much Heart by Gerald Butler Produced by John Houseman, Sid Rogell Directed by Nicholas Ray
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
The Warner Archive is known for pleasant surprises, but this one is a real thrill -- one of the very best Rko films noir, reissued in a much-needed beautiful restoration.
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
The Warner Archive is known for pleasant surprises, but this one is a real thrill -- one of the very best Rko films noir, reissued in a much-needed beautiful restoration.
- 10/8/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
This kitty needs no introduction: Simone Simon is the purring-sweet immigrant with a dark atavistic secret. It's Val Lewton's debut smash hit. The real hero is director Jacques Tourneur, who conveys a feeling of real life being lived that won over audiences of 1942 and drew them into his web of fantasy. Cat People Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 833 1942 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 73 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date September 20, 2016 / 39.95 Starring Simone Simon, Kent Smith, Tom Conway, Jane Randolph, Jack Holt, Elizabeth Russell, Theresa Harris. Cinematography Nicholas Musuraca Art Direction Albert S. D'Agostino, Walter E. Keller Film Editor Mark Robson Original Music Roy Webb Written by De Witt Bodeen Directed by Jacques Tourneur
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Val Lewton never had to be 'discovered,' actually. Life magazine awarded him his own photo layout and the critics praised him as the maker of a new brand of psychologically based horror films.
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Val Lewton never had to be 'discovered,' actually. Life magazine awarded him his own photo layout and the critics praised him as the maker of a new brand of psychologically based horror films.
- 9/2/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
As far as Hollywood was concerned, hardboiled pulp author Raymond Chandler was big news in 1944 and 1945, working with Billy Wilder on the Production Code breakthrough hit Double Indemnity, and getting two of his popular Philip Marlowe books transposed to the screen -- and not completely shorn of their racy content. Savant Blu-ray Review The Warner Archive Collection Warner Archive Collection 1944 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 95 min. / Street Date September 15, 2015 / available through the WBshop / 21.99 Starring Dick Powell, Claire Trevor, Anne Shirley, Otto Kruger, Mike Mazurki. Cinematography Harry J. Wild Art Direction Carroll Clark, Albert S. D'Agostino Film Editor Joseph Noriega Original Music Roy Webb Written by John Paxton from Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler Produced by Sid Rogell, Adrian Scott Directed by Edward Dmytryk
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Many films noirs seem to come from the same stylistic universe, in terms of themes and visuals. But a few of the...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Many films noirs seem to come from the same stylistic universe, in terms of themes and visuals. But a few of the...
- 9/1/2015
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
In the spirit of the recent Academy Awards, Brian Solomon from The Vault of Horror blog put together The 2008 Cyber Horror Awards ballot, which was sent out to the usual group of horror bloggers as detailed here.
Out of all of the nominated films, the only one I haven't seen is Martyrs (and some of Repo! - more on that in a bit). From what I've heard, I may have voted very differently had I been able to see this film. With this in mind, I suggested that the French film Inside (with it's 2008 DVD release in the U.S.) should be on this year's ballot and Martyrs (with it's U.S. DVD release coming up in a few weeks) should be on next year's ballot, but I was overruled.
With that, here are my selections, the nominees and the winners from the 2008 Cyber Horror Awards Ballot.
Ray Harryhausen Award...
Out of all of the nominated films, the only one I haven't seen is Martyrs (and some of Repo! - more on that in a bit). From what I've heard, I may have voted very differently had I been able to see this film. With this in mind, I suggested that the French film Inside (with it's 2008 DVD release in the U.S.) should be on this year's ballot and Martyrs (with it's U.S. DVD release coming up in a few weeks) should be on next year's ballot, but I was overruled.
With that, here are my selections, the nominees and the winners from the 2008 Cyber Horror Awards Ballot.
Ray Harryhausen Award...
- 3/9/2009
- Fangoria
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