The Lady Vanishes

A Perfect Lady
This 1937 comic thriller is one of the first great masterpieces of Alfred Hitchcock. Based on Ethel Lina White's novel, THE WHEEL SPINS, it mixes laughs and chills better than just about any other film, before or since. A nervous bride-to-be (beautiful Margaret Lockwood) meets a sweet elderly woman (the magnificent Dame May Whitty) on a train bound through Europe to London just before WWII. Also aboard: a roguish musicologist (Michael Redgrave), a pair of adulterers (Cecil Parker and Linden Travers), a smooth German doctor (Paul Lukas), two delightfully fussy cricket fans (Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne), and a mysterious nun (Catherine Lacy) wearing sexy high heels under her habit. When the old lady disappears from the moving train, the young heroine investigates, and everyone else aboard insists that she is mistaken--there never was any old lady....

I can think of no higher tribute to Hitchcock than the fact that so many recent hit films are virtual remakes of his...

Budget Release Meets/Exceeds Expectations
First the usual warnings: caveat emptor, you get what you pay for, etc. etc. etc., yadda yadda yadda, blah blah blah. With that out of the way, let me say that getting these three early Hitchcock films at such a low price is an extremely good deal. Sure they're blurry in parts and there are occasional picture/sound glitches, but nothing really interferes with either the storytelling or the suspense, which is really why you're watching them in the first place.

Let me add that the four-star rating is for the DVD as a whole. None of the films are presented at four-star quality (The Lady Vanishes is maybe three-and-a-half), but the fact that you get three movies instead of one or two bumps the score from average to slightly-above.

The Man Who Knew Too Much is the oldest of the three movies and its print and sound quality are the most deteriorated. Nevertheless, the symphony scene and the final gunfight retain their suspensefulness. The movie holds its own against...

A Cinematic Masterpiece
There's one thing that movies can do better than any other artistic medium. It's having you experience something from a character's point of view, and then having every other character in the movie say it never happened. Your empathy as a viewer is at its highest pitch: you saw what happened with your own eyes, and so you see it through the character's eyes as well, but then everyone denies it. This is the central scene on the train in THE LADY VANISHES. Nothing, absolutely nothing, in my opinion, is more cinematic than this. When the idea is used to trick the viewer (as in THE USUAL SUSPECTS), it's not as good (although still it's pretty good, because again it uses film in the most empathetic way possible). And when the trickery is fair--as in THE SIXTH SENSE--it can be superb. I rank THE LADY VANISHES right up there with VERTIGO, PSYCHO, and REAR WINDOW, as Hitchcock's greatest gifts to us, the moviegoers of the world. I would even add SHADOW OF A DOUBT to this...

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The Red Shoes

The dangerous power of art
Many of Powell and Pressburger's films explore the life of the artist and the power of the artistic imagination. In THE RED SHOES and PEEPING TOM, most notably, the writer-directors reveal the sacrifices that art sometimes demands from its acolytes.

Balletophiles often praise THE RED SHOES, but one need not be a fan of ballet to be amazed by the film's emotional power and extraordinary staging. On the Criterion DVD, the saturated reds that represent the artist's blood sacrifice, and the cool aqua-blues that represent the (false) promise of life and romance outside of art, appear with unmatched vividness. Powell is a master of color, and has influenced a generation of filmmakers (through the advocacy of his admirer Martin Scorcese) with his theories about how color and music contribute to the thematic impact of a film.

Anton Walbrook, who plays the impressario Lermontov in THE RED SHOES, is one of Powell and Pressburger's favorite actors, appearing to stunning effect...

Except for the Original Film, this DVD is the Best Release
I've seen the original film of "The Red Shoes" a number of times over the years and just loved it. The story, ballet, music, color, actors, and the whole production are superb!

Later I acquired the RCA SelectaVision CED video disc edition (two parts) in the early 1980s. The CED issue unfortunately was prone to frame skipping, occasionally syncopating the ballet sequences. Still later, I obtained the Paramount VHS hi-fi release (1987). There was no frame skipping with the VHS tape, but the tops of all the frames tended to be somewhat bent and fluttery. Alas, I found no remedies for these problems.

Without question, this DVD release is the best of the lot, technically. And, I liked the additional background material contributed to this DVD edition. The DVD has great color with clear, well focused images. The only deficiency, in my opinion, is the movie sound track which sounds dated (1947), however it's on par or better than the forementioned VHS...

An Absolutely Magnificent Movie
This is a magnificent movie, one of the most voluptuous ever filmed (in Technicolor), one of the most influential, and one of the most satisfyingly melodramatic. Every bit of it works. At the most simplistic, it's a fairy tale, Hans Christian Andersen's The Red Shoes, that takes place in a ballet, which is repeated in real life.

At the heart of the movie is Boris Lermontov (Anton Walbrook), the imperious impresario of The Ballet Lermontov. He can be cold, charming, ruthless. At a party he says, "If some fat harriden is going to sing, I must go. I can't stand amateurs." He's enigmatic except for his dedication to ballet. At that same party he meets Victoria Page (Moira Shearer), a young ballet dancer, and is intrigued by her.
"Why do you want to dance?" he asks her.
"Why do you want to live?"
"I don't know exactly why, but I must," he says.
"That's my answer, too."

He brings her into his ballet company and also hires Julian Craster, a young...

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The Five Man Army

Missione: Impossibile
Warner Archive delivers a solid Action yarn posing as a Spaghetti Western in Director Don Taylor's 'THE FIVE MAN ARMY- aka 'UN ESERCITO DI CINQUE UOMINI'- 1969. Released over a decade ago by the Shaorma Digital label in a hazy transfer which is now discontinued and going for big bucks on the collectors market, you can be rest assured that this release is the real deal so you can save your money. Americano Peter Graves in between his 'MISSION:IMPOSSIBLE' series leads a band of men with special talents including James Daly, burly Bud Spencer right before his mega hit Director Enzo Barboni's 'THEY CALL ME TRINITY' aka 'LO CHIAMAVANO TRINITA'- 1970 of which Barboni does the wonderful photography in this film , Tesuro Tamba coming off his role of Tiger Tanaka in Director Lewis Gilbert's 'YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE'- 1967 , Nino Castelnuovo, and Claudio Gora. The film also has the great Piero Lulli, the beautiful Daniela Giordano and genre great Giacomo Rossi Stuart holding down the fort. The...

Benedictus
- I'm a fan of westerns concerning the Mexican revolution made in the sixties, and the "Five man army" is one of them.
- I saw this movie in the early seventies, and remenbered parts of it.
- Predictable but good story, performed bij exellent actors like Peter Graves.
- Good dialogs witch are not too long, and good action scenes (for me that is).
- It's a movie that belongs in the past (end of the sixties) for people of my generation.
- I don't think that the young generation of today will buy this item, because violent acts and the special effects of today are much
better and more realistic.

Drifter 8
Never had seen or heard of this movie and bought it based on reviews here. Rest of reviewers were spot on as movie was highly entertaining with twists here and there. Great transfer, 1 of the best looking older movies i've seen. Beautiful scenery, good acting, lots of action on the train and Ennio Morricones outstanding score equals a 5 star rating in my book.

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Green for Danger

Star vehicle for a tragically forgotten star
Alastair Sim is tragically remembered today for only one role: he was without any question the definitive Ebenezer Scrooge, and usually the only film that anyone today has seen featuring Sim is his 1951 turn in A CHRISTMAS CAROL. In fact, Sim starred in a wide range of comedic and dramatic roles in the 1940s and 1950s. He was a familiar enough presence that Alec Guinness paid homage to him by doing a straightforward imitation of Sim in the 1955 film THE LADYKILLERS, evening wearing false teeth to look more like Sim.

Sim managed to play in a large number of comedic suspense and mystery films. He starred in a series of Inspector Hornleigh films in the early forties, he went on to play memorable roles in wartime mysteries such as COTTAGE TO LET (with a very young John Mills in a key role), GREEN FOR DANGER, AN INSPECTOR CALLS (in which he plays a ghostly police inspector), and THE GREEN MAN, in which Sim plays a congenial assassin. But Sim also excelled in pure farce, and was...

Go For The Green!
I was absolutely thrilled to see that "Green For Danger" is finally being released on DVD. This is without a doubt one of the very best murder mysteries ever put onto film. Everything about this film, the acting, the writing, the direction, the photography - everything is world class. And Alastair Sim as Inspector Cockrill is the icing on the cake. If I had any complaint to make against this film it would be this - Why didn't this film lead to a whole series of Inspector Cockrill films? This is a wonderful piece of entertainment and I would urge any film fan not to miss it.

thanks, Criterion
I've seen the Criterion dvd of GREEN FOR DANGER and all I can say is "thank you" to Criterion for the care they lavished on it. It is, without question, the finest video presentation ever seen of this brilliant film. After years of watching dark, grainy 16mm prints on TV (and dark, grainy vhs copies and laserdiscs) it is truly wonderful to see this top-flight dvd.

The film is, of course, the penultimate British murder mystery, the best that has ever been done. Let's face it: no movie that rates an entire chapter in a book ("The Detective Film" by Everson) can be dismissed lightly. Just get the disc and enjoy it. Those reviewers who recommended you curl up on a cold and windy night with a cup of warm liquid and watch it have given you sage advice.

At last GREEN FOR DANGER's gorgeous cinematography by Wilkie Cooper can be appreciated for the thing of beauty that it is. It is not for nothing that the American Society of Cinematographers included this picture in...

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Seduced and Abandoned

Battling For Honor--A Classic Italian Comedy Takes No Prisoners
Pietro Germi, fresh from the success of his "Divorce Italian Style" (which won a Screenplay Oscar), returns with another slapstick slice of Sicilian life. Those familiar with the genre, and particularly Germi, will recognize the same black humor and macabre sensibilities that fashioned many pictures of the day. There is the requisite machismo, the sexual double standards, the wild gesticulating, and the need to preserve family honor at all cost. Wait a minute--maybe those are the same qualities employed in many films today!

I'll be frank, if you don't know what you're getting into, "Seduced and Abandoned" may seem a bit misogynistic. There is definitely a strong division of the sexes which we're not as accustomed to seeing in modern films. However, much of the sexual warfare plays as satire--so even though the stereotypes can be somewhat dismaying, none of the characters escape unscathed. Basically, Germi sets an environment where everyone is despicable. It's the...

Hilarious!
This movie is hilarious and entertaining as can be! I loved "Divorce Italian Style" by Pietro Germi so I took the risk of buying "Seduced and Abandoned" from Criterion without ever seeing it. In my opinion I actually enjoyed it more than Divorce Italian Style! I won't repeat the plot again but the movie definitly brings you into their family. Once your sucked in it turns into a hilarious nail biter taking unexpected turns and twists. Very memorable movie I highly recommend purchasing for repeated viewings!

a nice Italian comedy
This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD edition of the film.

"Seduced and Abandoned" known in Italy as "Sedotta e abbandonata" is about a family and the teenage daughter becomes pregnant. Her father is outraged and tries to exact revenge on the man who impregnated her.

The DVD contains a theatrical trailer, interviews with Stefania Sandrelli and Lando Buzzanca, Stefania Sandrelli's screen test and Commedia all'italiana, Germi Style, a special with interviews with cast and crew.

This is a really humorous film and I recommend it.

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Man-Trap

Interesting noir never quite achieves what it sets out to do
Stuck in an unhappy marriage to a shrewish, boozed up nymphomaniac (Stella Stevens), a housing developer (Jeffrey Hunter) receives a visit from an old Korean war buddy (David Janssen) who lures him into helping rob a South American dictator of three million dollars. But they're both amateurs, dangerously out of their element and, of course, everything goes horribly wrong. Directed by the actor Edmond O'Brien (THE BAREFOOT CONTESSA), this should be better than it is. It has all the elements of a classic film noir but O'Brien can't seem to combine all the ingredients into a satisfying whole. It has an almost surreal quality to it like Hunter's neighborhood which seems populated entirely of alcoholic wife swappers. The film has a killer twist Hitchcockian ending just waiting to happen that I saw coming but it doesn't!!! To be fair, some of the problems may be inherent in the source material by John D. MacDonald (CAPE FEAR) but I haven't read the novel it's based on, TAINT OF THE TIGER...

Tennessee Williams meets Robert Aldrich?
Actor Edmond O'Brien takes a respectable directorial turn with this soapy but vicious heist flick from Paramount, 1961. While the plot is a little too convoluted for its own good (lots of moving parts detract from the film's narrative and dramatic impact in such a tight running time), and there is no shortage of hammy lines (compliments of prolific TV writer Ed Waters) delivered with Sophoclean seriousness by leads Hunter and Janssen, this post-noir crime thriller/domestic melodrama is nonetheless entertaining (martini gun, anyone?). A twentysomething Stella Stevens is notable as Hunter's cruel wife, who eventually meets her just-- though rather unintentionally comical-- fate. 3-plus stars.

above average film noir
Edmond O'Brien delivers the goods in interesting and suspenseful above average film noir starring Jeffrey Hunter,David Janssen & Stella Stevens

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Southern Ethiopia - Tribal Lands and Primeval People

Fun to watch
Light hearted and easy to follow the host as he traveled through Southern Ethiopia interacting with the natives! I recommend this video.

What an unfortunate name.
Does this video really need to refer to the residents of Southern Ethiopia as "Primeval People"? I understand that the director was trying to highlight the location's supposed importance to the origins of human development, but couldn't there have been a less crass way? I thought the time was over when we treated the people living on the continent of Africa as if they're mystical or, even worse, more like animals than the rest of the world, as the use of the word "primeval" suggests.



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