“In the movie business, a good ending must sometimes hold sway over the truth.” – Samuel Fuller, A Third Face: My Tale of Writing, Fighting, and Filmmaking Before Samuel Fuller wrote and directed his own films he was a gutsy go-getting newspaperman. Fuller first worked at the New York Journal as a copyboy and eventually graduated to the … Continue reading STRANGER THAN FICTION: THE BARON OF ARIZONA (1949)
NIPPON NOIR: SNOW TRAIL (1947)
Senkichi Taniguchi’s Snow Trail aka Ginrei no hate (1947) begins with a bang. A montage of shadowy figures and fragmented images bombards viewers during the film’s opening credits while guns fire, alarms ring, windows break, trains whistle and sirens scream. We soon discover that three desperate men (Toshiro Mifune, Takashi Shimura and Yoshio Kosugi) have just robbed … Continue reading NIPPON NOIR: SNOW TRAIL (1947)
Plucking the Petals of Masahiro Shinoda’s Pale Flower (1964)
“Tokyo… After three long years. It makes my head spin. Just look at it. Why so many people crammed into tiny cage-like boxes? People… Such strange animals. What keeps them all going? They look like they’re half dead. Making a frantic pretense of being alive. What was so wrong about killing one of these stupid … Continue reading Plucking the Petals of Masahiro Shinoda’s Pale Flower (1964)
Now at FilmStruck – Streamline
In case you haven't noticed, the Turner Classic Movie's Morlocks blog has been renamed Streamline and is currently part of the new TCM & Criterion film streaming service at FilmStruck.com What is FilmStruck? Here's an excerpt from a Time Warner press release: "Developed and managed by Turner Classic Movies (TCM) in collaboration with the Criterion … Continue reading Now at FilmStruck – Streamline
Spy Games: MATCHLESS (1967)
For my fourth installment of Spy Games I decided to highlight the funny Italian spy spoof MATCHLESS (1967) directed by Alberto Lattuada. Criterion's released a couple of Lattuada's films including MAFIOSO (1962) and VARIETY LIGHTS (1950), which he co-directed with Fredrico Fellini. But I hadn't seen any of Lattuada's other films until I came across his two silly & stylish spy spoofs currently streaming on Netflix...
EVERYTHING GOES WRONG (1960)
Images from Seijun Suzuki's Everything Goes Wrong (1960) Last week I shared some of my thoughts about Seijun Suzuki's Everything Goes Wrong (1960) over at the Movie Morlocks. This excellent neo-noir is one of Suzuki's early films that isn't available on DVD in the US yet but you can currently watch it on Hulu.com if you're … Continue reading EVERYTHING GOES WRONG (1960)
SEIJUN SUZUKI’S EVERYTHING GOES WRONG (1960)
I recently signed up for a temporary “Plus” account with Hulu.com so I could sample some of the hard-to-see Japanese films Criterion has made available there. According to Criterion their partnership with Hulu “gives viewers a chance to explore our library, sample films they might want to buy, discover films they never knew they would want, and … Continue reading SEIJUN SUZUKI’S EVERYTHING GOES WRONG (1960)
Monsieur Hulot vs. The Modern World
Images from Jacques Tati's Mon Oncle (1958) I recently caught up with Jacques Tati's delightful French comedy Mon Oncle (aka My Uncle; 1958). I had previously only seen one Tati film, Les Vacances de M. Hulot (aka Mr. Hulot's Holiday; 1953) and frankly it didn't engage me as much as I wished it had so … Continue reading Monsieur Hulot vs. The Modern World
Do You Auteur?
About 5 or 6 months ago I joined The Auteurs. The Auteurs is a Criterion sponsored film site where each member has their own Profile Page and you can watch films, rate films, add films to your "Favorites" and "Watch" lists, and chat with other members in the community forum. I haven't participated in many … Continue reading Do You Auteur?
Favorite DVD Releases of 2008: Part II
Apologies for the long delay! My annual list of Favorite DVDs always takes longer to compile than I expect it will. You can find the first part of this list here. Now on to Part II #11-20 . . . Cornel Wilde in The Naked Prey (1966) 11. The Naked Prey (Criterion) You can read … Continue reading Favorite DVD Releases of 2008: Part II
20 Favorite DVD Releases of 2008: Part I.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but overall 2008 was somewhat of a lackluster year for new Region 1 DVD releases of 1960s and 1970s era films when compared to the previous two years (See: 2006 and 2007). Some of my favorite DVD companies such as BCI Eclipse and most recently New … Continue reading 20 Favorite DVD Releases of 2008: Part I.
DVD of the Week: Pierrot le fou (1965)
I've been trying to write out my thoughts about Jean-Luc Godard's Pierrot le fou (1965) for days, but even after watching the film twice and enjoying all the wonderful extras included with the fantastic new Criterion DVD, I'm finding words inadequate to describe how much I've fallen in love with this wonderful movie in so … Continue reading DVD of the Week: Pierrot le fou (1965)
Favorite DVD Releases of 2007: Part IV.
Favorite DVD Releases of 2007: Part IV. - Top 30 DVDs #21-30 Brian Stirner in Overlord (1975) Overlord (Criterion) Please see my review of Stuart Cooper's Overlord (1975) HERE. James Fox in Performance (1970) Performance (Warner Home Video) I spent a lot of time writing about Performance (1970) last year and you can find links … Continue reading Favorite DVD Releases of 2007: Part IV.
Favorite DVD Releases of 2007: Part II.
Favorite DVD Releases of 2007: Part II. - Top 30 DVDs #1-10. Black Test Car (1962) Black Test Car (Fantoma) Yasuzo Masumura is one of my favorite Japanese directors, but unfortunately many of his films are unavailable on DVD and have never been seen outside of Japan. Thankfully Fantoma has been making an effort to … Continue reading Favorite DVD Releases of 2007: Part II.
Favorite DVD Releases of 2007: Part I.
The DVD Year in Review - An Introduction Apologies to anyone awaiting my DVD Pick of the Week, but I'm afraid I've been too busy compiling my list of Favorite DVDs of 2007 to keep up with current releases. Next week I'll try to get back on track, but in the meantime I wanted to … Continue reading Favorite DVD Releases of 2007: Part I.
