DEMONS & DEMONS 2, Lamberto Bava, director/Arrow Blu-ray The first thing to say about this very tempting issue is just how eye-popping these transfers look. Who would have thought in the days of fuzzy VHS that we would be able to see the crème de la crème of Italian genre cinema not just in stunning Blu-ray transfers but in even more impressive 4K editions? But so it has proved, and this set (put together by ace Arrow producer Michael Mackenzie) is the answer to a horror fan’s dream. The director Lamberto Bava has a lineage in the horror genre that must have been daunting for any filmmaker: his father, the legendary Mario Bava, virtually created the modern Italian horror film and was one of the most stylish and imaginative exponents of the genre. Demons 1 and 2 represented a calling card for the director’s son, although the first film perhaps shows a greater influence of the film’s producer, Dario Argento – the man who worked with Mario Bava at the end of the latter’s career and took the pulse-pounding accoutrements of Bava’s films into new and exhilarating territory as a Berlin cinema is invaded by supernatural manifestations. Looking better than ever in this new Blu-ray transfer, there is a particular plus factor: the two Demons films are now available with their original Italian language soundtracks (with subtitles), which are much preferable to the dubbed versions. While the first film is undoubtedly Bava Jr’s best movie, together the two films make a useful package.
HOST, Rob Savage, director/Second Sight Films Perhaps your taste is for something unusual in the horror genre – or perhaps you like to see variations on a familiar theme? Both elements are present in the chilling Host from director Rob Savage. We are probably all a little tired of Zoom calls, but thankfully we are unlikely to encounter anything like the one in Host, in which a demonic presence haunts a group of friends in a quarantine catchup call that goes horribly wrong. Special features include a commentary by director Rob Savage and producer Douglas Cox.
JOURNEY TO THE FAR SIDE OF THE SUN, Robert Parrish, director/Fabulous Films It was felt that English audiences would have no problem with the title ‘Doppelgänger’, but a certain degree of dumbing-down was needed for the film’s American release, and Doppelgänger became Journey to the Far Side of the Sun. For the silver disc issue, it seems that the more accessible title has stuck, and it’s time to reassess this misfiring but ambitious science fiction outing. Written and produced by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson (the team behind Thunderbirds et al.), this is live action fare – no strings attached. It’s 2069 and two astronauts are sent to uncover the secrets of a ‘duplicate’ Earth on the other side of the sun. When they crash land three weeks earlier than they had planned, they must embark on a life or death mission to determine whether they have arrived back home or on the strange mirror world. New artwork by Graham Humphreys is a plus – it appears on the reversible sleeve.
ARCHENEMY, Adam Egypt Mortimer, director/Altitude This is a particularly peculiar mix with its synthesis of superhero elements and Tarantino-style violence. If the result here is occasionally over-egged, viewers will hardly complain given the enthusiasm with which the whole thing is dispatched. Starring True Blood’s Joe Manganiello, the appeal here is not so much the performances – enthusiastic though they are – as the staging of a series of lively, brutal set pieces.
TOMORROW I’LL WAKE UP AND SCALD MYSELF WITH TEA, Jindřich Polák, director/Second Run For many years, enthusiasts for European science fiction films had a series of holy grail movies that they were attempting to track down. One of them was Jindřich Polák’s Ikarie XB1, which was once only available in a recut American transfer. When the film finally became accessible via a splendid transfer from Second Run that did full justice to the original, it whetted appetites for other hard-to-see films by the director, and now Second Run have followed up their original coup with a new transfer of Tomorrow I’ll Wake Up and Scald Myself with Tea. Very different from the director’s signature film, this comedy is about time travel rather than space travel, and is essentially a very quirky blackly comic piece with a strong sense of the theatre of the absurd.
COLUMBIA NOIR VOL. 2: FRAMED (Richard Wallace, 1947); 711 OCEAN DRIVE (Joseph M. Newman, 1950); THE MOB (Robert Parrish, 1951); AFFAIR IN TRINIDAD (Vincent Sherman, 1952); TIGHT SPOT (Phil Karlson, 1955); MURDER BY CONTRACT (Irving Lerner, 1958) For lovers of the fatalistic, atmospheric genre of film noir, this is something of a golden age. At one time (not so long ago), enthusiasts were obliged to track down the occasional film from TV showings or sporadic DVD issues, but now we are getting sets such as this latest volume in the very welcome Columbia Noir box set series from Indicator, which usefully collects both obscure and better-known items. The real virtue of such collections, of course, is the belated Blu-ray appearance of the classics of the genre (such as – in this latest set – Irving Lerner’s ice-cold Murder by Contract), but these sets are a useful way of picking up lesser items that are still of considerable interest, such as Joseph M. Newman’s 711 Ocean Drive and Robert Parrish’s The Mob with Broderick Crawford. Even films such as Vincent Sherman’s serviceable Affair in Trinidad – essentially an attempt to recreate the success of Gilda, with the same stars, Rita Hayworth and Glenn Ford – has its points of interest, and the transfers here are exemplary (the set contains a mixture of widescreen and academy ratio prints). The six films here are presented for the first time on Blu-ray in the UK, with The Mob, Tight Spot and Murder by Contract making their world Blu-ray premieres. With copious extras, admirers of the film noir genre need not hesitate.
SILENT ACTION, Sergio Martino, director/Fractured Visions Intriguing fare from a new and enterprising Blu-ray company. When non-Italian audiences first saw them, they thought they were watching films by Julian Barry or Christian Plummer, or even Martin Dolman. In fact, the Italian filmmaker Sergio Martino, like so many of his comrades in the genre, was obliged to work under a variety of pseudonyms. He would probably have preferred that some of his films languished under these pseudonyms, but Martino was one of the most energetic and vital of Italian genre directors. Born in Rome in 1938, Martino’s varied film experience finally led him to his first job as a director, Mille Peccati … Nessuna Virtù (A Thousand Sins and No Virtue). Right at the start, this established him as a director of imagination, one prepared to take on the challenges of genre filmmaking and deliver something fresh and personal – as in the kinetic crime thriller Silent Action. High-ranking military officials are dying, all from apparent suicides or strange accidents. Inspector Giorgio Solmi (French actor Luc Merenda, star of the same director’s The Violent Professionals) finds the deaths tie into a grotesque political scandal that may have a crucial impact on Roman society. A notably political poliziottesco, furnished with an impressive coterie of extras – including (irrelevantly, but delightfully) witty star Luc Merenda taking a metaphorical axe to Donald Trump.
THE LAST WARNING, Paul Leni, director/Eureka Those who know the vintage work of the director Paul Leni are well aware of the astonishing visual gifts of this legendary filmmaker, and The Last Warning, his final film, is not just a testament to the director’s talent but, with its kinetic use of cinematic tools, one of the key films of early cinema. Once viewers have accommodated themselves to the conventions of 1920s cinema (which, with a little effort, is not difficult), this is a bizarre tale of a murder that takes place during a live Broadway performance. The murder victim’s body disappears, the death is unsolved, and the theatre condemned. Time passes and a new producer attempts to put the play on again with the original cast and crew – and grim happenings inevitably ensue. The film is something of a showcase for the actress Laura La Plante, who could not wish for a more unorthodox vehicle. Eureka Entertainment’s disc appears on Blu-ray from a 4K restoration on home video for the first time in the UK. Universal’s restoration experts used materials from the Cinémathèque française and the Packard Humanities Institute Collection in the UCLA Film and Television Archive.
THE CONSTANT GARDENER, Fernando Meirelles, director/Fabulous Films Recently deceased master of the espionage novel John le Carré not only enjoyed something of an Indian summer for his later books (of which The Constant Gardner is one of the best) but was also lucky to have some impressive screen adaptations, such as the recent TV adaptation of The Night Manager and this intelligent and finely judged movie which won a variety of awards. The Constant Gardener is directed by Fernando Meirelles (City of God) and boasts nonpareil performances from Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz, who went on to win an Academy Award for her portrayal of a doomed character. That’s not a spoiler: a diplomat on the hunt for his wife’s murderer uncovers a trail of corruption involving a multinational pharmaceutical company’s controversial drug trials on African people. The plot channels a real-life case in Kano, Nigeria involving antibacterial testing on children. The book and film raised awareness of Big Pharma’s unethical practices in Africa, and this version was filmed in Loiyangalani and the slums of Kibera, a division of Nairobi, Kenya.
THE OWNERS, Julius Berg, director/Signature While the orchestration of suspense in Julius Berg’s taut hostage drama is handled with authority, the real interest in the film is in its casting, particularly with Sylvester McCoy and Rita Tushingham as the under-threat ageing couple who prove to be just as dangerous as their home invaders. In rural England, a retired couple find their isolated house besieged by a gang of young criminals. The thieves think it will be easy to make them give up the secret of their safe. But they have no idea the nightmare they’ve gotten into and soon need to fight to escape the house alive…
TALES FROM THE URBAN JUNGLE: BRUTE FORCE & THE NAKED CITY, Jules Dassin, director/Arrow More classics of film noir, this time from a director whose reputation for tough and uncompromising crime drama is assured. And neither of these films have looked as impressive as they do in these exemplary transfers. The Naked City (1946) broke new ground as the first important Hollywood production to be shot on the streets of New York, utilising a slew of authentic locations, and its visual style was inspired by New York photographer Weegee, who published a book of photographs of New York life entitled Naked City (1945). Weegee was, in fact, hired as a visual consultant on the film. Both screenwriter Albert Maltz and Dassin were victims of the notorious House Un-American Activities, and Dassin was obliged to emigrate. The Naked City, however, remains a key Dassin film – as does Brute Force. After the success of The Killers (1946), producer Mark Hellinger re-enlisted his newest Hollywood star Burt Lancaster to star in this tough prison film, with a screenplay by novelist/writer/director Richard Brooks (director of the later Blackboard Jungle, 1955). The crisp cinematography is by William H. Daniel, and the powerful score is by expat Hungarian Miklós Rózsa. A very collectable duo of movies.
