Blu-ray Review: The Lady from Shanghai (Special Edition)
Long considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, Orson Welles seemed to prefer the complex and bizarre over the easy and formulaic. Though Welles was attracted to Hollywood and its trappings, his independent minded methods often clashed with the studio system. He often agreed to do studio projects in exchange for financial backing […]
The Immortal Story (Criterion Collection) (Blu-ray)
Originally broadcast on French television and later released in theaters, The Immortal Story was Orson Welles’ first color film and his last completed fictional feature. An adaptation of a story by Out of Africa author Isak Dinesen, Welles cast himself in the lead role of Charles Clay, a wealthy yet miserly world-weary merchant bachelor living in […]
Moby Dick (1956) (Kino Release) (DVD)
An underrated work in John Huston’s filmography, Herman Melville’s massive novel Moby Dick is impossible to condense entirely as a film. However, Huston (with co-writer Ray Bradbury), managed to reduce the whole thing into two concise, yet exciting hours of cinema. Huston’s obvious respect for the source text alongside the surprising expressiveness of his camera […]
James Clavell’s Shōgun (Blu-ray)
Now largely relegated to cable, the mini-series was once a mainstay of American television. Beginning in 1976 with the success of Rich Man, Poor Man, and continuing with such classics as Roots and Jesus of Nazareth, mini-series became extremely popular on the networks (then ABC, CBS and NBC). Usually given a sizable budget, mini-series were […]
Blu-ray Review: Voyage of the Damned
At first glance, 1976’s Voyage of the Damned must have struck perspective audiences as yet another disaster flick with an all star cast; the kind Irwin Allen, producer of The Poseidon Adventure (1972) and The Towering Inferno (1974) had made so popular at the time. While several of the posters used to advertise the film […]
Picnic and The Roots of Heaven Coming to Blu-ray January 17th
Picnic is director Joshua Logan’s 1955 screen adaptation of the William Inge play. William Holden stars as a drifter whose presence upsets the status quo in a small town, particularly with regard to young Alan Benson (Cliff Robertson) and his beautiful yet frustrated girlfriend (Kim Novak). Directed by John Huston, The Roots of Heaven focuses […]
Citizen Kane Coming to Blu-ray on September 13
Press Release: Burbank, Calif., June 13, 2011 — Citizen Kane, Orson Welles´ tour de force which the American Film Institute (AFI) chose as the #1 film of all time1, celebrates its 70th Anniversary with an all new 1080p hi-definition restoration from original nitrate elements in stunning 4K resolution and revitalized digital audio. Warner Home Video […]
Blu-ray Review: King of Kings
Warner Bros. | 1961 | 168 mins. | PG-13 The second of producer Samuel Bronston’s big-gauge roadshow epics filmed in Spain, King of Kings (1961) is a tasteful rendering of the Christ story and was MGM’s follow-up to their phenomenally successful release of Ben-Hur (1959). Nicholas Ray directs the film with his usual intelligence, however, […]
Trailer of the Day: Citizen Kane
In my opinion, Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane is one of the greatest films ever made. Along with a great film, Welles also devised a great trailer; it’s one in which he never shows a frame of the actual film, nor does he show himself playing the newspaperman Charles Foster Kane once — in fact, Kane […]