MAE WEST IN HOLLYWOOD, 1932–1943, various directors/Indicator This is a treat: a six-disc, ten-film limited edition Blu-ray box set dedicated to the remarkable Mae West. To modern eyes, Mae West suggests a broad and camp parody of the femme fatale. Her massively exaggerated drawl, the jutting false eyelashes (now firmly back in favour in Essex and other regions of the UK), skin-tight dresses and — most of all — her exaggerated hips (the latter, in fact, were padded; West was always a construct, something she was fully aware of). But in West’s case, no modern reinterpretation of carnality coded for 1930s and 1940s audiences is necessary: what we see is what we get, and West is essentially indicating ‘Don’t take this slyly ravenous man eater seriously — I don’t.’ While the metaphorical discussion about horseracing (and who’s in the saddle) between Bogart and Bacall in Howard Hawks The Big Sleep seems to be there for modern audience to say ‘How the hell did they get that past the censor?’ but it’s perfectly clear (in that case) that the director and actors were enjoying the subterfuge whereby a discussion of sexual intercourse might be readable by the sophisticated viewer — but not by the dim-witted censors of the day. However, while it is not surprising that Mae West is something of a favourite today among gay audiences with her awareness of and enthusiastic celebration of camp (something she virtually invented), the reasons for her following among feminist viewers is also easy to discern. The standard male prerogative of the movies — the sexual advance which overcomes initial feminine resistance — is turned on its head; it is West who makes the running when it comes to getting her conquests into bed and her frank physical appraisal of her possible paramours is also specifically masculine (it’s particularly fun to see her seducing a young Cary Grant in Lowell Sherman’s She Done him Wrong (1933), given that the urbane male actor will from this film onwards generally be the instigator in scenes of seduction).

West’s attitude to sex itself in her films is a surprisingly modern one in an era in which sexual repression was the order of the day. The actress’s mastery of the double entendre and her knowing self-caricature initially served her well for the stage and films, and there is no question that she enjoyed something of an auteur status, being largely responsible for the screenplays of many of the films she worked on (and frequently voicing dissatisfaction with the contribution of others). After the exuberant stage show Diamond Lil in 1928 which established her take-no-prisoners sexual persona, more commercial success was to follow in the decade of the 1930s.

West carefully stage-managed her appearances in films – particularly her first scenes, and the initial shots of her in She Done him Wrong, brandishing a parasol and effortlessly gleaning the attention of both men and women, while prompting such comments as: ‘A fine woman!’ – to which the reply is: ‘One of the finest women that ever walked the streets.’ Similarly, in I’m No Angel (directed by Wesley Ruggles in 1933), she has been displaying her ample charms outside a showman’s tent, striding, hand on hip, in front of a group of ogling men and making the sly comment to them: ‘Penny for your thoughts?’ Hilarious though this is — particularly in West’s dry delivery — it is also good example of how West was learning to circumvent censorship restrictions; there is actually nothing in the line which can be identified as censorable but despite that, every savvy viewer of the film knows exactly what thoughts she is referring to. The same film also contains two of her most justifiably famous lines. She asks a further question of her male audience after saucily adjusting her gown: ‘Am I making myself clear, boys?’ This is followed by her quietly amused verdict on her observers: ‘Suckers!’ In fact, though we know she’s talking about the unsophisticated audience enthralled by her appeal, we also are the suckers, reeled in by West and loving every minute of being suborned by her.

West’s reign as the Queen of the sex comedy lasted relatively briefly. It was sadly inevitable that a woman who traded in an unabashed approach to the erotic would become the target of the morality police, and The Motion Picture Production Code, devised in order to whip a debauched Hollywood into shape, was brought to bear on her films. For some time, West was immune to their sorties, not least because her films were so financially successful, and she was granted a little leeway in that she was a home-grown temptress, not one of the more dangerous foreign varieties such as Greta Garbo or Marlene Dietrich. She Done Him Wrong had largely escaped censorship attention, but some sequences involving white slavery had been nervously removed. But in April 1934, a powerful collaboration between the Roman Catholic Church and laymen similarly concerned with what they saw as the moral decay of America formed the Legion of Decency. The organisation’s Orwellian name may be discredited today, but it wielded considerable power in its heyday and had Hollywood on the ropes. One of the group’s first targets was the ‘depraved’ film output of the actress Mae West, and the motion picture industry, suffering failing box office receipts, was in no mood to take on a powerful religious organisation; religion may still be utterly woven into the fabric of American life (the UK being notably more secular), but its decision-influencing power at all levels of society in the 1930s was formidable. Easier by far to kowtow to the Legion of Decency and remove any risky adult content from Hollywood films. West’s new film in 1930, was originally to be called It Ain’t No Sin, but this title was laundered to become the more anodyne Belle of the Nineties. Audiences were surprised to see a strangely incongruous pietistic element creeping into Mae West’s shamelessly enjoyable and raunchy films, such as a large black choir singing morally uplifting spirituals. But it wasn’t just the fact that Mae West was now ‘doing God’; her unblushing sexual remarks were no longer to be seen in the films, and she was even obliged to make disapproving moralistic comments on precisely the kind of behaviour that audiences once would have loved to see her indulging. From this period on, the sexual aspect of her films becomes hard to watch in these defanged versions. The line that perhaps most depressingly encapsulates the new attitude being forced on West is the one she has utter with unconvincing sincerity when speaking to a sardonic girl in al dance hall; West says: ‘Any time you take religion for a joke, the laugh’s on you.’ On hearing this, Mae West at the time must have thought: ‘Mae, what they done to you?’ It was the kind of hypocritical line which in her earlier films would have been uttered by the unsympathetic, moralistic characters – precisely the kind of attitude that she herself was there to puncture. The star’s days box office success were numbered, as there was simply no congruence between the po-faced religiosity and a woman who had made no secret of the fact that she liked sex. West, realising that the jig was up, transferred her earlier screen persona back to the stage where there were fewer restrictions. There were various attempts by directors to lure her back to the cinema, notably from a filmmaker who made no secret of his admiration for large-breasted, broad-hipped women, Federico Fellini, but a Fellini/film was not to happen. When she was finally tempted back to the cinema (in something like her dotage), the result was one of the great cinematic débacles, Mike Sarne’s Myra Breckenridge.

CENSOR, Prano Bailey-Bond, director/Second Sight  A personal note here. At a variety of meals organised by my colleague Kim Newman (with whom I have recorded many Blu-ray commentaries), I’ve got to know the director Prano Bailey-Bond, and was aware that she was working on what was to be her magnum opus, Censor, dealing with issues about which we often conversed – from the state of the British horror film to the legacy of censorship. And now that her remarkable film has appeared, it’s terrific to report that all the auguries for the success of that film proved to be fully justified – the reception of this atmospheric, unsettling tale other of a troubled, conflicted woman working for a thinly disguised BBFC — and cutting horror films — is both intelligent and disturbing (as it should be). Apart from the visuals (which often echo the stylish Italian horror films with which the director is very familiar) there is an examination of the limits of personal freedom – not to mention a remarkable central performance by Niamh Algar. Those of us who know Bailey-Bond were expecting great things – and we were not disappointed.

WILD STRAWBERRIES, Ingmar Bergman/BFI BLU-RAY  It was something of an irony that two of the titans of European art cinema, Ingmar Bergman and Michelangelo Antonioni, both died on the same day. Bergman predeceased his Italian colleague by several hours, and for those few hours at least, Antonioni was the greatest director in the world. The latter’s reputation has been in flux of late, with his later films enduring a not always generous re-evaluation (although early classics such as La Notte remain untouchable). Bergman, however, remains utterly unassailable, with an unbroken flow of achievement throughout a very long career — as is evidenced by the BFI’s very welcome current reissue of his films, beautifully remastered in sparkling blue ray transfers. Perhaps such films as It Rains on Love are of more interest to the Bergman aficionado, but there are some of his most considerable achievements here, notably the matchless Wild Strawberries. Apart from Bergman’s nonpareil direction, anyone interested in the art of great film acting will find a slew of astonishing performances here, notably Victor Sjostrom as the troubled, ageing protagonist looking back at his life.

SHOCK, Mario Bava, director/Arrow Blu-ray  Those who admire the visually stunning cinema work of the late Italian director Mario Bava owe a debt of gratitude to the Blu-ray label Arrow Films. The company has done some spectacular work in restoring several of the director’s films in impeccable new transfers, now looking better than they have ever done. And the work of the company on Bava’s behalf is not over; they have now performed some surgery on the director’s final — somewhat neglected – film. The hypnotic black and white cult classic Black Sunday (La Maschera del Demonio, 1960) established Bava’s reputation, with an iconic performance by Barbara Steele as the vengeful witch who possesses the body of the young daughter of a 19^th century nobleman. A stellar career followed with many highlights, leading up to his final film, Shock (1977) in which the director’s acute sense of space is much in evidence, even if his eye-jolting colour schemes are more subdued than usual. Grisly frissons abound in this tale of a young woman pushed over the brink of sanity by a traumatic reconstruction of her past; a giant glass hand, for instance, adds to the edginess of the décor – particularly when it moves with no human agency. It has, however, to be observed that much of the film was directed by Bava’s son, Lamberto. Restored in high definition for the first time, Bava’s final film is a fitting swan song.

THE PARTY AND THE GUESTS, Jan Němec, director/Second Run  During the course of what appears to be a highly enjoyable upscale party, the guests spend a lot of time telling each other what fun they’re having. But when one unhappy guest leaves, he finds himself pursued by the other guests with tracker dogs. As this synopsis suggests, there is an edgy political allegory at work here, and the film was unsurprisingly denounced at the Czech National Assembly, its reputation only being established after the Prague Spring. And with the current suppression of dissent in both China and Russia, the message of Jan Němec’s celebrated film remains as topical as ever. It’s presented here from a new 4K restoration by the Czech National Film Archive, and also features Jiří Trnka’s animated short film The Hand (1965), another political allegory.

UNIVERSAL SILENTS: 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA, Stuart Paton, director/Eureka

For the spectacular silent version of 20,000 Leagues directed by Stuart Paton (and largely written, uncredited, by the director), an interesting decision was made: the film combined the plots of both the Jules Verne novel whose title it bears and the sequel, The Mysterious Island. The very distinctive Nemo in this film is played by Allen Holubar, but the physical appearance of the actor may come as something of a surprise to modern viewers. The nationality of the hero/villain is now largely established in the public consciousness as Anglo-Saxon; Nemo’s best-known iterations in the world of film are those played by the English James Mason in Fleischer’s version for Disney along with the white-haired Nemo played by Herbert Lom in the Enfield film of Mysterious Island. However, his depiction as East Indian – as in Stuart Paton’s silent version – is the one favoured by the cognoscenti. The artificially darkened skin of Holubar in the 1916 film may not conform to modern mores, but there is no denying that the actor makes an imposing figure with his strange costume and flashing eyes. Nemo’s agenda is the same in the film as in the original Verne novel: utilising his formidable submarine, he is on a mission to send to the bottom of the sea any warships that cross his path, whatever country’s flag they fly. A fascinating curio.

Forthcoming from Severin: CALIGULA THE UNTOLD STORY  Only legendary maestro di sleaze Joe D’Amato could outdo the original Malcom McDowell-starring Caligula for twisted sex, maniacal violence, and eye-popping perversion: David Brandon stars as the insane young emperor whose love of brutality and degradation is surpassed only by his hunger for enslaved virgins, cruel vengeance, extreme acts of ‘horseplay’ and beyond. Laura Gemser, Gabriele Tinti, Charles Borromell and future director Michele Soavi star in this epic of orgiastic excess written by D’Amato and Luigi Montefiori/George Eastman with a lavish score by Carlo Maria Cordio, presented in both the explicit Italian version and U.S. Release scanned in 2K from their original negatives

 Gerry Anderson’s fondly remembered live-action SF show UFO was eagerly consumed by the generation that grew up with the Anderson puppetry of such programs as Thunderbirds, and although the characterisation of the show was rudimentary (to say the least), it was still a colourful and fun adventure. Those elements were captured in the concurrent comic strips that ran in TV 21, and they are collected here in this handsome volume. Some of the artists are more gifted than others, and the star illustrator here is the late Brian Lewis. This writer had a brief career as a comics illustrator, and Brian was something of a mentor of mine – I listened closely to all the advice he gave, but wasn’t quite talented enough to put it into practice. Those who need reminding how good Brian might profitably pick up the UFO Comic Anthology Volume 1 — and Gerry Anderson fans will need no recommendation.

UFO Comic Anthology Volume 1 (various writers & artists) is published by Anderson Enterprises

Barry Forshaw writes:

THE SABATA TRILOGY, Gianfranco Parolini, director/Eureka The spotty availability of these highly diverting Italian westerns has meant that only the most dedicated aficionados will have seen all three; now (thanks to Eureka) we can relish Gianfranco Parolini’s quirky takes on a classic genre. And with the first film (still the best of the trilogy), we can applaud the contribution of American actor Lee Van Cleef (fresh from his success in Sergio Leone’s ‘Dollars’ films which launched the phenomenally popular trend). As the deadly marksman of the title, Van Cleef is given relatively little in the way of characterisation (perhaps the most important thing about him are his gimmick guns); Parolini was clearly aware that the charisma of his American star would paper over the cracks. As Kim Newman and I note in the commentary, few American directors had given Cleef the opportunity to shine, as he was so effective in smaller parts – it’s a particular pleasure to see him stretch out here.

INGMAR BERGMAN VOLUME 2, Ingmar Bergman, director/BFI Blu-ray  Bergman admirers were greatly pleased by the first compendious BFI set, but it is with the second volume that we begin to sample the Swedish master’s most consummate cinema masterpieces, not least one of his key films, The Seventh Seal. This limited Edition (5,000 copies only) 5-disc Blu-ray box set contains eight films, classic titles from 1951 to 1958. These include the Palme d’Or-nominated comedy Smiles of a Summer Night (1955), the matchless Wild Strawberries (1957) and (as mentioned above) The Seventh Seal (1957). The collection includes a selection of special features and is packaged with a 100-page perfect bound book. Unmissable fare for lovers of great cinema.

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 EUROCRYPT OF CHRISTOPHER LEE, various directors/Severin  Another set for which Kim Newman and I provided an audio commentary, this 8 Blu-ray collection features five classic European films, a tv anthology, disc of rare interviews & book, plus a soundtrack cd, showcasing Britain’s premier post-Karloff horror film actor. THE EUROCRYPT OF CHRISTOPHER LEE collects five of Lee classics: the 1964 gothic entry CRYPT OF THE VAMPIRE; the same year’s cult hit CASTLE OF THE LIVING DEAD co-starring an unknown Donald Sutherland; 1962’s SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE DEADLY NECKLACE; 1967’s outrageous THE TORTURE CHAMBER OF DR. SADISM and the rarely-seen 1963 oddity CHALLENGE THE DEVIL – with the 24 surviving episodes of the 1971 Film Polski anthology series THEATRE MACABRE hosted by Lee, all remastered from original negative materials.

MAIGRET: THE COMPLETE SERIES, Various directors/Network  This first televisual incarnation of Simenon’s immortal detective was so definitive that it remained ensconced as the defining image of the character for generations of viewers. While the character actor Rupert Davies created a subtle and well-rounded version of the implacable French copper, the vehicles in which he appeared had less apparent French colour than modern viewers might now expect – but the choice of locations was always spot-on (exteriors were frequently shot in Paris), and even though the language spoken was English, viewers quickly accepted the notion that we were watching something indelibly French and listening to the correct language being spoken. In the same way that Jeremy Brett’s Sherlock Holmes effectively trounced a legion of highly successful incarnations of the character, the dour but humorous Davies was impeccable casting.

LADY IN A CAGE, Walter Grauman, director/Via Vision Kim Newman and I once again provided an audio commentary for this memorable thriller, at one time banned in Britain by the BBFC. Olivia De Havilland excels in an Indian summer role as a wealthy woman trapped in her residence over a sweltering holiday weekend, when her home elevator breaks down during a power failure. Director Walter Grauman’s evocation of the way in which a woman’s world is shattered is unsparingly done, and the film also features future Oscar nominee James Caan in his first major film role.

JOHNNY GUITAR, Nicholas Ray, director/Eureka  There are few directors in the history of Hollywood with as imperishable a cult reputation as Nicholas Ray, and this bizarre and astonishing Joan Crawford Western (with its barely concealed lesbian undertones) is one of his most fondly regarded films – not least by the critics who became the key directors of the French Nouvelle Vague, who revered Ray. Courtesy of Eureka, this is the best iteration it has ever had: a 1080p presentation on Blu-ray from a 4K restoration of the original film elements, framed in the film’s originally intended aspect ratio of 1.66:1, with a new audio commentary by film scholar Adrian Martin and an introduction by critic Geoff Andrew, author of The Films of Nicholas Ray: The Poet of Nightfall.

THE DAY OF THE DOLPHIN, Mike Nichols, director/Indicator The director Mike Nichols was famous for his witty and stylish dramas and comedies which customarily featured superbly written screenplays. And if the moving and exhilarating The Day of the Dolphin is not typical fare from the director, it is nevertheless a highly unusual piece of work with its science-fiction oriented plot in which scientist George C. Scott effects an almost-human communication with dolphins, even teaching one a rudimentary form of human speech. The film changes pace of halfway through to become a kind of thriller when corrupt authority figures become involved, but few will complain given that both the earlier sections and a more straightforward thriller finale are handled with such aplomb. Scott, of course, was one of the great actors the American cinema and turns in a powerful performance here.

FALBALAS, Jacques Becker, director/StudioCanal Blu-ray  If you’re familiar with the cinematic work of cult director Jacques Becker, this little-known entry will be of particular interest. And while it might not match an achievement his better known films (such as Touchez Pas Au Grisbi, Le Trou and Casque D’Or), it is still remarkably accomplished. Starring Raymond Rouleau, Micheline Presle, Jean Chevrier and Gabrielle Dorziat, this new restoration of the shocking 1945 drama, is set in the world of Paris fashion. It arrives with compendious extras as part of the Vintage World Cinema collection which showcases iconic world cinema, all fully restored and featuring brand new extra content.

THE APE WOMAN, Marco Ferreri, director/Cult Films Blu-Ray  The remarkable performance of Annie Girardot as the hirsute title character here is genuinely heartbreaking – particularly as the film anticipates David Lynch’s The Elephant Man in its unsparing picture of the exploitation as a ‘freak’ of a person suffering catastrophic physical change. And the direction by Marco Ferreri, known for his in-your-face confrontational later pieces (such as the satire La Grande Bouffe) is perfectly at the service of the material. The Ape Woman is based on the true story of 19th-century carnival performer Julia Pastrana. In Ferreri’s film, an extraordinary Annie Girardot delivers an elegant and devastating performance as Maria ‘the ape woman’, a convent scullery maid whose body is covered in hair, from head to toe. The film won a Palme d’Or nomination. Cult Films presents Ferreri’s own original edit now shown complete and uncut, finally doing justice to the director’s condemned vision as well as the longer, alternative ending made for Cannes.

THE GREAT SILENCE/IL GRANDE SILENZIO, Sergio Corbucci, director/Eureka Blu-Ray  One by one they come, the much lauded (but often little seen) classics of Italian genre cinema – and this deeply unorthodox Western is one of the most sought after, particularly as Sergio Corbucci is now regarded as the most talented of Italian directors of Westerns after Sergio Leone. Here he is aided by impressive performances by two non-Italians who most definitely qualifies as cult actors: from France, Jean-Louis Trintignant and the eccentric German Klaus Kinski. Dubbing of the former into Italian was not a problem as he is totally silent, but the voice chosen for Kinski works well with the character. Eureka Entertainment’s transfer on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK is from a 2K restoration.

SUBURBIA, Penelope Spheeris, director/101 Films  I provided a booklet essay for Penelope Spheeris’s blistering movie. In the cinema, the appeal of the teenage criminal – gang member or juvenile delinquent – is not hard to fathom. Much as the adult lawbreaker has always been a fascinating figure for audiences (from the volatile James Cagney and Edward G Robinson in the 1930s onwards), the younger transgressor is able to act out the fantasies of violence and freedom from the restrictions of society that most law-abiding types would never dream of indulging in – except vicariously on film. Penelope Spheeris’s Suburbia (1983) is a key movie in this particular tradition, but there is long and lively lineage stretching out decades before her film.

THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE, Dario Argento, director/Arrow  This new 4K restoration from the original negative in 4K (2160p) looks quite stunningly pristine. Argento’s feature film debut, the poetically titled The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (L’Uccello dalle Piume di Cristallo, 1970), augured well for his career – a commercial success in 1970, it looks a fascinating dry run for many ideas to be more fully developed in later films. Tony Musante plays an American writer in Italy who witnesses a murderous assault through glass (prefiguring David Hemmings in the later Deep Red (Profondo Rosso, 1976); he is trapped between sliding glass doors while attempting to aid the bleeding victim (Eva Renzi) – and this sequence seems to be the one people remember over the years. There are of course visual delights galore – a marvellously Hitchcockian chase of a yellow-jacketed figure that ends with a joke worthy of North by Northwest.

FREE HAND FOR A TOUGH COP, Umberto Lenzi, director/Fractured Visions  Here’s yet another occasion on which Kim Newman and I examined (in the commentary) Italian genre cinema in a particularly lively example of the poliziotteschi form. The Italian crime films of the 1970s, the violent and kinetic ‘poliziotteschi’ began as a series of rough-and-ready simulacra of American models (as so often in the trend-following culture of Italian popular cinema). Italian actors such as Franco Nero were employed, but past-their-best American stars were also hired.. Finally making its UK debut, Fractured Visions offers up Free Hand For A Tough Cop, the film that introduced Tomas Milian’s legendarily scruffy anti-hero ‘Monnezza’ (A.K.A Garbage Can) to audiences around the world. Inspector Sarti (Claudio Cassinelli of Suspicious Death Of A Minor) enters an uneasy, violent partnership with him.