I’ve been waiting for this for quite awhile. Since 97-98 when I bought my first DVD player and in truth as far back as the early 90s when I could find no VHS copy to replace my taped off the television version. Some of this is ground I’ve already covered in previous Treasure Island posts. The wonderful extended cast which includes Oliver Reed as Billy Bones, Christopher Lee as Blind Pew, Christian Bale as Jim … Continue reading
For one night only fans and newcomers alike were able to experience Scarface on the big screen. The film received the special treatment as an anniversary gift and celebration of it’s release into High Definition on Blu-ray. Check out the Scarface Limited Edition Humidor Gift Set post for information on the special collector’s item and some more detail on the gift set and Blu-ray. Scarface – Digital Remaster The first thing that hits you is … Continue reading
Cementing the Sidewalk Crew Where the Sidewalk Ends is a 1950 Film Noir starring Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney. The writers for the film were headed up by Ben Hecht (making his second appearance on our list after 1946′s Hitchock masterpiece Notorious). The wonderfully simmering, desperate musical score was composed by Cyril K. Mockridge, perhaps best know for his television work with the music for Lost in Space and his Academy Award nomination for Guys … Continue reading
Body and Soul is a 1947 Film Noir that portrays a boxer struggling to deal with the complications and temptations that come with great success and moreover the money that comes with fame. The film was written by Abraham Polonsky who would later go on to begin a directing career with 1948′s Forces of Evil only to have his career derailed by Hollywood Blacklisting. The film’s director, Robert Rossen is most known for co-writing, producing … Continue reading
Coen Brothers – Blu-ray Summer The catalog of quality films from the Coen Brothers has always been somewhat slow to appease it’s fan-base in the non-theatrical sense. Slow to make it to DVD and in-turn slow to finally make it to HD on Blu-ray. Part of this has to do with the brothers unwillingness to visit old films and their need to control the presentation of them as well. They are very particular and given … Continue reading
Scarface Humidor Gift Set Scarface is on of the most powerful and well-acted “gangster” films of all time. Now, Universal celebrates this classic Al Pacino with the Scarface Limited Edition Humidor Gift Set. Below is the Universal Studio promo video. The Scarface Humidor Gift set not only includes a remastered editon of Scarface on Blu-Ray, but also the original Scarface from 1932. Here’s the full rundown from NBC/Universal: The humidor’s exterior is hand painted and … Continue reading
In our continuing look at the 50 Gold Film Reels of L.A. Noire we now discuss 1945′s Detour, starring Ann Savage and Tom Neal. Detour is a brisk 68 minutes long and has classic elements of “B” Noir thrillers that popularized the genre. Detour was adapted by the writer of the novel of the same name, Martin Goldsmith. Austrian director Edgar G. Ulmer, born in the Czech Republic and raised in Vienna, did early work … Continue reading
*Update* Treasure Island DVD review here! It’s finally 100% confirmed, Treasure Island 1990 DVD approaches! Check out this graphic released to major vendors as a tie-in for the Ben Hur Anniversary Blu-ray release. A collection of Heston films are set to come out with Treasure Island featured most prominently. Treasure Island 1990 Release Date So according to the full graphic of this ad insert, we’ll get Soylent Green on Blu-ray and The Bible, A Man … Continue reading
Scarlet Street is a 1945 Film Noir from Austrian director Fritz Lang. Lang was a master of the dark genre of German Expressionism which lent itself so well to the Noir genre. The British Film Institute titled him as the Master of Darkness. Lang was best known for the still popular films, M and Metropolis. Films like these went on to inspire generations of filmmakers and their influences are still felt today. After emigrating from Germany, … Continue reading
Gun Crazy (originally called Deadly is the Female) is a 1950 Film-Noir from director Joseph H. Lewis and writer MacKinlay Kantor who wrote the screenplay based on his original work. An interesting side-note, Millard Kaufman received a co-credit as screenwriter. Kaufman was creator of Mr Magoo at the time and later, the popular Spencer Tracy led Film Noir, Bad Day at Black Rock. Kaufman actually had nothing to do with Gun Crazy. Kaufman “lent” his … Continue reading
