As Warner Bros. celebrates its first century, the studio has given 4K HD upgrades to 3 of its most iconic films: John Huston’s 1941 noir ‘The Maltese Falcon’ (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital Code, WB, Not Rated), Nicholas Ray’s 1955 portrait of postwar teenage angst, ‘Rebel Without a Cause’ (same, except PG-13) and Stuart Rosenberg’s 1967 anti-Vietnam era ‘fight the Man’ tragedy, ‘Cool Hand Luke’ (same, except GP rating). ‘Falcon,’ screenwriter Huston’s directing debut, made Humphrey Bogart a star in Warner’s 3rd adaptation of Dashiell Hammett’s celebrated novel. What’s striking is how ‘adult’ ‘Falcon’ remains with its queer gangsters (fragrant Peter Lorre, jolly Sidney Greenstreet and his ‘gunsel’ Elisha Cook, Jr.), randy detectives and the brilliantly dissembling Brigid O’Shaughnessy of Mary Astor who remains among cinema’s most fabulous femme fatales. Bonus: Bogart biographer Erix Lax’s commentary, docs on the film, a blooper reel, makeup tests. Plus a musical short, 2 cartoons and trailers for the ’31 and ’35 WB adaptations and, audio only, 3 radio adaptations.
James Dean had died in an auto accident just a month earlier when WB released ‘Rebel’ in October 1955. It’s so revered today, beginning of course with Dean’s performance, the defining role of his brief 3-picture career, that’s it’s almost shocking to realize how critically drubbed it was when first released – and what a cultural flashpoint it was. Censored (the Brits cut the knife fight, gave it an X rating) and banned (it was not seen in Spain until ’64 and not released in the UK until ’67). Bonus: Expert commentary, 3 short docs.
‘Luke” was a major hit for Paul Newman whose box-office appeal peaked in the ‘60s. Any nonconformist was an ideal role in the mid-60s and Newman’s Luke practically defines rebellious nonconformity when he is sentenced without cause to a Florida chain gang – a situation many then saw as parallel for the draft with the unpopular Vietnam War. Newman, after hits as ‘Hud,’ ‘The Hustler’ and ‘Harper’ won his 4th Best Actor Oscar nomination (he would not win the Best Actor Oscar until the 1986 ‘The Color of Money’). ‘Cool Hand Luke’ did win Oscars for co-star George Kennedy as Best Supporting Actor; the script and score were also nominated. Jo Van Fleet, so memorable as the whore who is James Dean’s mother in ‘East of Eden,’ scored as Luke’s mother – a role offered to and rejected by Bette Davis. Eric Lax offers the Bonus commentary and there’s a Making of documentary.
BOOKS ON CINEMA: Catherine Russell’s ‘The Cinema of Barbara Stanwyck: Twenty-Six Short Essays on a Working Star’ (University of Illinois Press, paper $29.95) is, as the title explains, a multi-faceted look at one of Golden Age Hollywood’s most versatile and beloved stars. Stanwyck, the Introduction notes, ‘made her own world, her own cinema in her own image, a world and an image full of contradictions.’ Lavishly illustrated, publishes May 2.
NEW DVDs:
WHAT A FEELING A landmark of ‘80s pop culture, ‘Flashdance’ (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital Code, Paramount, R) was propelled by its pop score and director Adrian Lyne’s cinematic verve in an underdog story that earned its triumph. This 4K upgrade confirms Jennifer Beals’ star-making ability to makes her welder-wants-to-be-a-dancer someone everyone would root for. An Oscar winner for Irene Cara’s song ‘Flashdance…What a Feeling’ there’s a bonus ‘Focus on Adrian Lyne.’
HOLLYWOOD’S INFIDELS Cecil B. DeMille’s 1935 ‘The Crusades’ (Blu-ray, KL Studio Classics, Not Rated) may be a war story, told as the world prepared for war, but it was influential in setting the template for how Hollywood would treat Muslims – or as they’re called here ‘Infidels’ – thru the next century. Inspired by the 3rd Crusade, DeMille packs England’s King Richard the Lion-hearted off to reclaim Jerusalem from the Saracen “infidels” led by Saladin. While the ferocious, frenzied battles are the filmmaker’s drawing card, the focus is Richard’s troubled romance with the French Princess (a blonde Loretta Young) he must marry. As ‘Crusades’ begins, DeMille offers a pageant illustrating the Muslim’s destruction of Christian icons and a huge cross, tossed into a bonfire. You wonder today if this was to invoke the Nazis’ notorious 1933 book burning of ‘un-German’ (read Jewish) writers.
BERGMAN’S MEDIEVAL KNIGHT There’s a very different take on the Crusades in Ingmar Bergman’s now-classic 1957 ‘The Seventh Seal’ (4K HD + Blu-ray, Criterion Collection, Not Rated). Here a medieval knight (Max von Sydow) and his squire return from the Crusades to Sweden which is being ravaged by the Black Death. The squire bitterly denounces the religious mania that prompted the Crusades and its terrible losses. This is famously the film where the Knight challenges Death in a game of chess. Bonus: Commentary & Afterward by Peter Cowie, a Bergman expert. Also, a 2003 introduction by Bergman (who died in 2007), a 1998 interview with Von Sydow (who died in 2020), a full-length documentary on the filmmaker and a 1989 tribute by Woody Allen who might be Bergman’s biggest fan. In Swedish with English subtitles.
COMPUTER SLEUTHING Can you tell a detective story via computers only? The answer is a big Yes because they did it in the 2018 ‘Searching’ and they’ve done it again in the semi-sequel ‘Missing’ (Blu-ray + Digital, Sony, PG-13). Storm Reid’s June is a normal teen with normal relations with her single mom Grace (Nia Long) – they aren’t really close, they get along. Then mom and her new boyfriend take a vacation to Colombia in South America – and go missing. Enter high tech digital snooping, some handy helpers like Javier in Colombia who speaks English and does the local leg work for modest pay. Needless to say there are many surprises along the way. Blu-ray Bonus: Deleted scenes, hunting for missing Easter Eggs. Plus filmmaker commentary, featurettes on Reid, online crimes & social media.
ALAN LADD, ANTI-NAZI Blond Alan Ladd became an ‘overnight’ star in 1942 with his seriously sinister turn as Raven, a conflicted assassin, in ‘This Gun for Hire’ which he followed with another classic noir ‘The Glass Key.’ Then in ’43 as WWII raged came Ladd’s first above-the-title billing with the comedic fable ‘Lucky Jordan’ (Blu-ray, KL Studio Classics, Not Rated), now in a brand new HD Master upgrade. Jordan’s a gangster who doesn’t want his business to dry up while he — horrors! – is drafted in the Army. So he goes AWOL, battles the subordinate who’s trying to take over his Manhattan turf and, why not? rousts a pack of devious anti-American Nazis. Wonderful commentary by Samm Deighan.
RACISM, CORRUPTION, ANTI-SEMITISM ‘Paris Police 1900 ’ (DVD, 3 discs, MHZchoice, Not Rated) is scalding. A rousing look at corruption, institutional crosswires, antisemitism and far right disorder. They’re not kidding when they boast: Crime and sin mix with opulence and Puritanism. This popular and critically acclaimed 2021 historical series prompted a sequel ‘Paris Police 1905.’ In French with English subtitles.
A TRUE WWII SAGA Jeffrey Hunter with his blazing blue eyes and perfect profile is remembered today primarily for John Ford’s ‘The Searchers’ and as Jesus in ‘King of Kings.’ The 1962 ‘No Man is an Island’ (Blu-ray, KL Studio Classics, Not Rated) has Hunter in a grim, if true story of survival in the Pacific during WWII. As the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in December 1941, they also bombed and conquered Guam. The American base was destroyed and 5 soldiers went hiding in the jungle. Two were caught and decapitated. Ultimately, only 1 stayed alive. This is an independent production, filmed entirely in the Philippines with a mostly Filipino cast. While mostly factual, a romantic interlude was invented for the film.
TEMPLE’S ASCENT TO TINY TOT TITAN Shirley Temple famously dominated the box-office in the Depression-wracked mid-1930s. The tiny tot with curls, dimples and an irrepressible optimism reigned as the nation’s biggest star for 5 years. The 1934 ‘Little Miss Marker’ (Blu-ray, KL Studio Classics, Not Rated), based on a heart-tugging Damon Runyon story, is the last time she took 4th place billing. She’s the abandoned kid – her gambler dad left her as his ‘marker’ or IOU and she soon melts everyone’s rough-hewn hearts. Remade frequently, no one has ever been able to reproduce Temple’s magic.
SICKENING, SADLY TRUE Norman Lear is among the producers behind the first-rate if disturbing and depressing documentary ‘I Got a Monster’ (DVD, Greenwich, Not Rated) which vividly covers the 2017 Baltimore police corruption scandal and is based on the bestselling book. Baltimore’s Gun Trace Task Force is dubbed ‘America’s most corrupt police unit’ for its position as both cop and robber. Innocent people were continually arrested, charged, sentenced by a unit that had no supervision and, until exposure, no accountability.
LUBITSCH SILENTS Before he migrated to Hollywood & redefined what romantic comedy meant with ‘Ninotchka,’ ‘The Shop Around the Corner’ and ‘To Be or Not To Be,’ Ernst Lubitsch had a hugely successful silent career as actor and then director in his native Germany. ‘Sumurun’ aka ‘One Arabian Night’ and ‘The Wildcat’ (Blu-ray, Kino Classics, Not Rated), both starring silent screen femme fatale Pola Negri, are now in Blu-rays with extras. ‘Sumurun,’ which he co-wrote and directed, marked Lubitsch’s last work as an actor. ‘Wildcat’ has charming Anthony Slide’s commentary. Plus a 1916 Lubitsch bonus ‘When I Was Dead’ with a commentary by ‘How Did Lubitsch Do It?’ author Joseph McBride.
