THE THOUSAND EYES OF DR. MABUSE [Die 1000 Augun des Dr. Mabuse], Fritz Lang, director/Eureka Entertainment Blu-ray The final films of great directors in the twilight of their careers are always fascinating – for a variety of reasons. Hitchcock ended his amazing series of films with a pleasing (if minor) comedy thriller, Family Plot, but another expat European director who worked in Hollywood wrote ‘finis’ with something quite different. The great Fritz Lang had created in his early German films the sinister, all-seeing master criminal Dr Mabuse, and on his return to his native country after a successful career in America, Lang was persuaded (against his better judgement) to revisit the territory of a monstrous criminal seen through a vaguely science-fiction prism. Ironically, the SF aspects of the film, so striking back in 1960, are now part of our world of the present – such as the ever present electronic surveillance. But if Lang was reluctant to make the film, he still let loose his considerable talents on the property, creating a delirious thriller full of outrageous and deliberately unlikely situations. With the larger-than-life German character actor Gert Frobe (most famous for his Bond stint as Goldfinger) as the eccentric detective on the trail of the master criminal Mabuse, we’re assured of our money’s worth. Much was made years ago of how the film foreshadowed elements in the James Bond films (leaving aside Gert Frobe!), and that is still one of its points of interest today.
GIDEON’S DAY (1958) in JOHN FORD AT COLUMBIA, inc. THE WHOLE TOWN’S TALKING (1935), THE LONG GRAY LINE (1955), THE LAST HURRAH (1958), John Ford, director/Powerhouse Indicator Limited Blu-ray Edition Among the great Hollywood directors, the reputation of John Ford is assured, not least for his much-loved series of Westerns. His position in the pantheon was perhaps most firmly established by the writings of the English critic and filmmaker Lindsay Anderson, whose celebration of the sheer craftsmanship of Ford’s films was highly influential. There are, of course, dissenting voices — the frequent sentimentality of Ford’s work does not chime well with current tastes. But that particular problem is not in evidence in this tempting collection. Ford was an acerbic and bitter man, who made no secret of his dislikes. Immensely proud of his Irish/American heritage, he often voiced his distaste for the English — which is what makes the excellent ‘English’ film in this collection, Gideon’s Day, such a surprise. With a typically professional performance by Jack Hawkins as John Creasey’s tenacious detective, this discursive piece (made in the UK) is notably pleasurable. More spectacular acting comes from legendary Spencer Tracy in the political drama The Last Hurrah, and it’s particularly interesting how this film wrongfoots the viewer who may have decided exactly which way it is heading. Admittedly, Ford encourages some overplaying among the supporting cast but Tracy (as usual) is mesmerising. These are UK and world premieres on Blu-ray, including such gems as the screwball comedy The Whole Town’s Talking, about a law-abiding citizen (the reliable Edward G Robinson) unfortunate enough to be a double for Public Enemy No. 1, ‘Killer’ Mannion.
WHY DON’T YOU JUST DIE! Kirill Sokolov, director/Arrow Blu-ray There was a time when Russian cinema (Sergei Eisenstein aside) was represented by slightly staid versions of Russian literature (Tolstoy, Dostoevsky) or dull Stalinist homages to the state. Of course, there were several superb films that somehow contrived to get made in the era of crushing Soviet censorship, but no one could have predicted quite what Russian cinema has been producing recently — films both subtly anti-establishment and full of off-the-wall imagination (all the more surprising given the current cultural climate in that country). The outrageous Why Don’t You Just Die! has met with almost unalloyed praise, and it’s not hard to see why. The film’s antihero Matvey (Aleksandr Kuznetsov) has a pressing objective: to enter the apartment of his girlfriend’s parents and murder her father Andrey (Vitaliy Khaev) with a hammer in order to restore her honour. But this is no honour killing as in theocratic Middle Eastern countries — there is far more going on than the above synopsis suggests. With its bizarre mix of black humour and splatterpunk effects, it’s safe to say that viewers will not have encountered anything quite like this before — and in this splendid transfer, it is a film that will push buttons for a lot of people (although probably not those of a squeamish disposition).
CURLING, Denis Côté, director/Second Run Blu-ray While the films of French-Canadian cinema may be unfamiliar to most viewers, the work of Denis Côté may serve as a useful calling card. This economically shot, very individual film will not be to every taste, but it is made with real imagination and quiet flair, as it follows the strange private life of a single father and bowling alley employee and his daughter (who he bullies into never leaving their home). Denis Côté’s little-known actors give noteworthy performances.
BATTLE OF THE SEXES, Charles Crichton, director/BFI Blu-ray/DVD Admirers of Peter Sellers always want to track down everything that the actor did, and while this gentle comedy hardly extended his range (in the fashion that Stanley Kubrick did in Sellers’ two performances for the director), his quiet understatement here is beautifully judged – proof that Sellers could produce far more than just overtly theatrical effects. A subtle satire on sexual politics in the 1950s workplace, the film is directed by Ealing legend Charles Crichton (of The Lavender Hill Mob and A Fish Called Wanda), and arrives on Blu-ray/DVD in a dual format edition with simultaneous release on BFI Player, iTunes and Amazon. It boasts an impressive selection of special features, including a series of Egg Marketing Board adverts starring Tony Hancock and Constance Cummings.
THE MAN WITH X-RAY EYES, Roger Corman, director/Second Sight Blu-ray While the special effects of the day were not up to director Roger Corman’s unique vision (no pun intended), this still remains one of the most intriguing later films of the director. Ray Milland – somewhere between his slim leading man days and heavyset late career character acting — is as impressive as ever.
BAGHDAD CENTRAL & BLOOD SERIES 2, various directors/Acorn Media International DVD Two much-acclaimed series from the current golden age of crime television receive their silver disc premieres here in more-than-serviceable transfers that do them justice. Baghdad Central, in particular, looks good, set in the chaotic streets of the city in which soldiers and desperate chancers deal with the after-effects of war. It’s a striking adaptation of the novel by Elliott Cola. Blood, of course, sports sterling work from the star of Line of Duty, Adrian Dunbar.
KWAIDAN, Masaki Kobayashi, director/Eureka Entertainment Blu-ray Winner of the Special Jury Prize at Cannes, the reputation of this classic Japanese ghost story anthology is assured, and if you can adjust to the andante pace and considerable length, this visually astonishing collection directed by the talented Masaki Kobayashi is one for the cognoscenti. Just a few frames of the film will make clear to cinéastes why it is held in such high esteem. It makes its debut on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK utilising a 2K digital restoration as part of the Masters of Cinema series in a limited edition set of only 3,000 copies, and featuring a 100-page collector’s book. This is the complete 183-minute original Japanese cut of Kobayashi’s film.
