If Criterion24/7 hasn’t completely colonized your attention every time you open the Channel––this is to say: if you’re stronger than me––their May lineup may be of interest. First and foremost I’m happy to see a Michael Roemer triple-feature: his superlative Nothing But a Man, arriving in a Criterion Edition, and the recently rediscovered The Plot Against Harry and Vengeance is Mine, three distinct features that suggest a long-lost voice of American movies. Meanwhile, Nobuhiko Obayashi’s Antiwar Trilogy four by Sara Driver, and a wide collection from Ayoka Chenzira fill out the auteurist sets.
Series-wise, a highlight of 1999 goes beyond the well-established canon with films like Trick and Bye Bye Africa, while of course including Sofia Coppola, Michael Mann, Scorsese, and Claire Denis. Films starring Shirley Maclaine, a study of 1960s paranoia, and Columbia’s “golden era” (read: 1950-1961) are curated; meanwhile, The Breaking Ice,...
Series-wise, a highlight of 1999 goes beyond the well-established canon with films like Trick and Bye Bye Africa, while of course including Sofia Coppola, Michael Mann, Scorsese, and Claire Denis. Films starring Shirley Maclaine, a study of 1960s paranoia, and Columbia’s “golden era” (read: 1950-1961) are curated; meanwhile, The Breaking Ice,...
- 4/17/2024
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Guest Reviewer Lee Broughton is back, with a rodent roundup of horror, or more accurately, psychological suspense interrupted by a few salacious slayings. What would Mickey say?
The brief synopses of Daniel Mann’s Willard and Phil Karlson’s Ben that appeared in the horror movie books and magazines that kids in the UK loved to pore over during the late 1970s always gave the impression that this pair of killer rat films were hardcore horror shows.
In truth, the actual horror content of both films is relatively mild and infrequent. In spite of this, Willard and Ben still tend to be discussed in terms of their relation to the often more extreme movies that appeared in the “animals attack” cycle of horror films that flourished during the 1970s.
That particular subgenre represents something of a niche interest area that is governed by a pretty tight set of boundaries. The...
The brief synopses of Daniel Mann’s Willard and Phil Karlson’s Ben that appeared in the horror movie books and magazines that kids in the UK loved to pore over during the late 1970s always gave the impression that this pair of killer rat films were hardcore horror shows.
In truth, the actual horror content of both films is relatively mild and infrequent. In spite of this, Willard and Ben still tend to be discussed in terms of their relation to the often more extreme movies that appeared in the “animals attack” cycle of horror films that flourished during the 1970s.
That particular subgenre represents something of a niche interest area that is governed by a pretty tight set of boundaries. The...
- 11/11/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Unsung actress Beverly Garland becomes TV’s first lady cop, in what’s claimed to be the first TV show filmed on the streets of New York City. This one-season wonder from 1957 has vintage locations, fairly tough-minded storylines and solid performances, from Bev and a vast gallery of stage and TV actors on the way up.
Decoy
(Policewoman Decoy)
TV Series
DVD
Film Chest Media
1957-’58 / B&W / 1:33 flat full frame (TV) / 39 x 30 min. / Street Date May 30, 2017 / 19.98
Starring: Beverly Garland
Art Direction (some episodes): Mel Bourne
Original Music: Wladimir Selinsky
Written by Lillian Andrews, Nicholas E. Baehr, Cy Chermak, Jerome Coopersmith, Don Ettlinger, Frances Frankel, Steven Gardner, Abram S. Ginnes, Mel Goldberg, Saul Levitt, Leon Tokatyan
Produced by Arthur H. Singer, David Alexander, Stuart Rosenberg, Everett Rosenthal
Directed by Teddy Sills, Stuart Rosenberg, David Alexander, Michael Gordon, Don Medford, Arthur H. Singer, Marc Daniels
How did I experience...
Decoy
(Policewoman Decoy)
TV Series
DVD
Film Chest Media
1957-’58 / B&W / 1:33 flat full frame (TV) / 39 x 30 min. / Street Date May 30, 2017 / 19.98
Starring: Beverly Garland
Art Direction (some episodes): Mel Bourne
Original Music: Wladimir Selinsky
Written by Lillian Andrews, Nicholas E. Baehr, Cy Chermak, Jerome Coopersmith, Don Ettlinger, Frances Frankel, Steven Gardner, Abram S. Ginnes, Mel Goldberg, Saul Levitt, Leon Tokatyan
Produced by Arthur H. Singer, David Alexander, Stuart Rosenberg, Everett Rosenthal
Directed by Teddy Sills, Stuart Rosenberg, David Alexander, Michael Gordon, Don Medford, Arthur H. Singer, Marc Daniels
How did I experience...
- 5/16/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Psycho launched a thousand twisted sickos and pathological relationships in films, but none can best Noel Black’s fascinating, funny romance between a newly-released arsonist and a fetching high schooler, hungry for freedom and lacking a moral compass. The pairing of Anthony Perkins and Tuesday Weld is inspired.
Pretty Poison
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1968 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 89 min. / Street Date November 15, 2016 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95
Starring Anthony Perkins, Tuesday Weld, Beverly Garland, John Randolph, Dick O’Neill, Clarice Blackburn, Joseph Bova, Ken Kercheval.
Cinematography David L. Quaid
Original Music Johnny Mandel
Written by Lorenzo Semple, Jr. from the novel She Let Him Continue by Stephen Geller
Produced by Marshall Backlar, Noel Black, Lawrence Turman
Directed by Noel Black
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Although the dates don’t match up, I’m absolutely certain that I saw Noel Black’s theatrical short Skaterdater when it was screened as a warm-up for,...
Pretty Poison
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1968 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 89 min. / Street Date November 15, 2016 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95
Starring Anthony Perkins, Tuesday Weld, Beverly Garland, John Randolph, Dick O’Neill, Clarice Blackburn, Joseph Bova, Ken Kercheval.
Cinematography David L. Quaid
Original Music Johnny Mandel
Written by Lorenzo Semple, Jr. from the novel She Let Him Continue by Stephen Geller
Produced by Marshall Backlar, Noel Black, Lawrence Turman
Directed by Noel Black
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Although the dates don’t match up, I’m absolutely certain that I saw Noel Black’s theatrical short Skaterdater when it was screened as a warm-up for,...
- 12/6/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
The selection for the 2016 Venice Film Festival has been announced, with new films by Terrence Malick, Pablo Larraín, Lav Diaz, Wang Bing, Amat Escalante, Tom Ford, and more.COMPETITIONVoyage of TimeThe Bad Batch (Ana Lily Amirpour)Une vie i (Stéphane Brizé)La La Land (Damien Chazelle)The Light Between Oceans (Derek Cianfrance)El ciudadano ilustre (Mariano Cohn, Gastón Duprat)Spira Mirabilis (Massimo D'Anolfi, Martina Parenti)The Woman Who Left (Lav Diaz)La región salvaje (Amat Escalante)Nocturnal Animals (Tom Ford)Piuma (Roan Johnson)Paradise (Andrei Konchalovsky)Brimstone (Martin Koolhoven)Jackie (Pablo Larraín)Voyage of Time (Terrence Malick)El Cristo Ciego (Christopher Murray)Frantz (François Ozon)Questi Giorni (Giuseppe Piccioni)Arrival (Denis Villeneuve)Les beaux jours D'Aranjuez (Wim Wenders)Out Of COMPETITIONSafariOur War (Bruno Chiaravolloti, Claudio Jampaglia, Benedetta Argentieri)I Called Him Morgan (Kasper Collin)One More Time with Feeling (Andrew Dominik)The Bleeder (Philippe Falardeau)The Magnificent Seven (Antoine Fuqua...
- 7/28/2016
- MUBI
Titles this year range from Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai to John Landis’s An American Werewolf In London.
The selection of restored titles screening at this year’s Venice Film Festival (Aug 31 - Sept 10) have been revealed.
Italian director Roberto Andò (The Confessions) will oversee the strand’s jury of cinema history students which will award two prizes: Best Restored Film and Best Documentary On Cinema (the line-up of the latter will be revealed at a later date).
Now in its fifth year, this year’s selection includes Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai, Woody Allen’s Manhattan, John Landis’s An American Werewolf In London, Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker, and George A Romero’s Dawn Of The Dead amongst a host of other restorations.
The full Venice Film Festival line-up will be revealed on Thursday (July 28).
Venice Classics 2016 line-up:
1848, Dino Risi (Italy, 1948, 11’, B/W)
restored by: Archivio Nazionale Cinema Impresa-csc-Cineteca Nazionale and Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo di Milano...
The selection of restored titles screening at this year’s Venice Film Festival (Aug 31 - Sept 10) have been revealed.
Italian director Roberto Andò (The Confessions) will oversee the strand’s jury of cinema history students which will award two prizes: Best Restored Film and Best Documentary On Cinema (the line-up of the latter will be revealed at a later date).
Now in its fifth year, this year’s selection includes Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai, Woody Allen’s Manhattan, John Landis’s An American Werewolf In London, Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker, and George A Romero’s Dawn Of The Dead amongst a host of other restorations.
The full Venice Film Festival line-up will be revealed on Thursday (July 28).
Venice Classics 2016 line-up:
1848, Dino Risi (Italy, 1948, 11’, B/W)
restored by: Archivio Nazionale Cinema Impresa-csc-Cineteca Nazionale and Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo di Milano...
- 7/25/2016
- ScreenDaily
Patty Duke, best known as Helen Keller in the 1962 film The Miracle Worker and for headlining her own sitcom, has died, She was 69. In 1985, just ahead of her 40th birthday, the actress sat down with People to discuss love, career and her troubled past. Read the profile below:
"Little Patty Duke is gonna be 40 next year? Wow! How can that be? I'd swear she was 18 just a minute ago!"
Little Patty Duke – and at an even five feet she still Is little – giggles at her self-parody. "That's exactly how I feel about it," she says, "like someone who's been watching...
"Little Patty Duke is gonna be 40 next year? Wow! How can that be? I'd swear she was 18 just a minute ago!"
Little Patty Duke – and at an even five feet she still Is little – giggles at her self-parody. "That's exactly how I feel about it," she says, "like someone who's been watching...
- 3/29/2016
- People.com - TV Watch
Patty Duke, best known as Helen Keller in the 1962 film The Miracle Worker and for headlining her own sitcom, has died, She was 69. In 1985, just ahead of her 40th birthday, the actress sat down with People to discuss love, career and her troubled past. Read the profile below:"Little Patty Duke is gonna be 40 next year? Wow! How can that be? I'd swear she was 18 just a minute ago!" Little Patty Duke - and at an even five feet she still Is little - giggles at her self-parody. "That's exactly how I feel about it," she says, "like someone who's...
- 3/29/2016
- PEOPLE.com
Patty Duke, best known as Helen Keller in the 1962 film The Miracle Worker and for headlining her own sitcom, has died, She was 69. In 1985, just ahead of her 40th birthday, the actress sat down with People to discuss love, career and her troubled past. Read the profile below:"Little Patty Duke is gonna be 40 next year? Wow! How can that be? I'd swear she was 18 just a minute ago!" Little Patty Duke - and at an even five feet she still Is little - giggles at her self-parody. "That's exactly how I feel about it," she says, "like someone who's...
- 3/29/2016
- PEOPLE.com
Teresa Wright and Matt Damon in 'The Rainmaker' Teresa Wright: From Marlon Brando to Matt Damon (See preceding post: "Teresa Wright vs. Samuel Goldwyn: Nasty Falling Out.") "I'd rather have luck than brains!" Teresa Wright was quoted as saying in the early 1950s. That's understandable, considering her post-Samuel Goldwyn choice of movie roles, some of which may have seemed promising on paper.[1] Wright was Marlon Brando's first Hollywood leading lady, but that didn't help her to bounce back following the very public spat with her former boss. After all, The Men was released before Elia Kazan's film version of A Streetcar Named Desire turned Brando into a major international star. Chances are that good film offers were scarce. After Wright's brief 1950 comeback, for the third time in less than a decade she would be gone from the big screen for more than a year.
- 3/11/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the New York University Orphan Film Symposium will present this year’s installment of “The Real Indies: A Close Look At Orphan Films,” a two-day screening series on Friday, October 31, and Saturday, November 1, at the Academy Theater in New York City.
The series serves as an opportunity to re-discover and re-appreciate orphan films – rarely seen, previously neglected cinematic works deserving preservation and revival. This eclectic showcase will open on Friday at 7:30 p.m. with the New York premiere of the newly restored 35mm print of the cult horror-comedy classic Spider Baby, written and directed by Jack Hill. Filmmaker William Lustig, known for his low-budget indie horror films, will introduce Hill and Spider Baby, as well moderate a conversation with Hill afterwards.
Filmed in 1964 but not released theatrically until 1968, Spider Baby marked director Hill’s solo debut. Cheekily subtitled “The Maddest Story Ever Told,...
The series serves as an opportunity to re-discover and re-appreciate orphan films – rarely seen, previously neglected cinematic works deserving preservation and revival. This eclectic showcase will open on Friday at 7:30 p.m. with the New York premiere of the newly restored 35mm print of the cult horror-comedy classic Spider Baby, written and directed by Jack Hill. Filmmaker William Lustig, known for his low-budget indie horror films, will introduce Hill and Spider Baby, as well moderate a conversation with Hill afterwards.
Filmed in 1964 but not released theatrically until 1968, Spider Baby marked director Hill’s solo debut. Cheekily subtitled “The Maddest Story Ever Told,...
- 10/10/2014
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Cult movie classic ‘Pretty Poison’ filmmaker Noel Black dead at 77 (photo: Tuesday Weld and Anthony Perkins in ‘Pretty Poison’) Noel Black, best remembered for the 1968 cult movie classic Pretty Poison, died of pneumonia at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital on July 5, 2014. Black (born on June 30, 1937, in Chicago) was 77. Prior to Pretty Poison, Noel Black earned praise for the 18-minute short film Skaterdater (1965), the tale of a boy skateboarder who falls for a girl bike rider. Shot on the beaches of Los Angeles County, the dialogue-less Skaterdater went on to win the Palme d’Or for Best Short Film and tied with Orson Welles’ Falstaff - Chimes at Midnight for the Technical Grand Prize at the 1966 Cannes Film Festival. Besides, Skaterdater received an Academy Award nomination in the Best Short Subject, Live Action category. (The Oscar winner that year was Claude Berri’s Le Poulet.) ‘Pretty Poison’: Fun and games and...
- 8/10/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Noel Black, who directed the 1968 cult black comedy Pretty Poison starring Anthony Perkins and Tuesday Weld, has died. He was 77. Black, who earned a Cannes Film Festival prize and an Oscar nomination for his 1966 live-action short film Skaterdater, died July 5 at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, his son, director and unit production manager Marco Black, told The Hollywood Reporter. The Chicago native and UCLA film school graduate also helmed episodes of such TV series as McCloud, The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, Kojak, Hawaii Five-o, Quincy, M.E. and the 1980s version of The Twilight Zone.
read more...
read more...
- 7/28/2014
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Film and television historian Stephen Bowie not only seems to have broken the news that director Noel Black has died at the age of 77, he's also written a vital remembrance. Though he won a prize at Cannes in 1966 for his short film Skaterdater and directed dozens of television movies and episodes, we can be sure Black will most likely be remembered for Pretty Poison (1968) with Tuesday Weld and Anthony Perkins. We gather links to appreciations of that cult favorite as well as to another entry on A Change of Seasons (1980). » - David Hudson...
- 7/25/2014
- Fandor: Keyframe
Film and television historian Stephen Bowie not only seems to have broken the news that director Noel Black has died at the age of 77, he's also written a vital remembrance. Though he won a prize at Cannes in 1966 for his short film Skaterdater and directed dozens of television movies and episodes, we can be sure Black will most likely be remembered for Pretty Poison (1968) with Tuesday Weld and Anthony Perkins. We gather links to appreciations of that cult favorite as well as to another entry on A Change of Seasons (1980). » - David Hudson...
- 7/25/2014
- Keyframe
It’s Go Skateboarding Day! Go skateboarding! Or, if you aren’t the type to go skateboarding, don’t. Most of us aren’t, really. I’m not. But I do love skateboard cinema and so should you. The kinetic energy of the sport has inspired countless films over the years, from the early experiments of the 1960s through the massive culture of skateboard videos on the web today. We’ve come a long way since 1965′s Palme d’Or-winning short film, Noel Black’s SoCal surf rock classic Skaterdater. The proliferation of amateur footage online is almost breathtaking, and much of it is a lot better than you might expect. And, of course, the rough and tumble fight against gravity has inspired a whole bunch of excellent animation as well. The movement of the skateboarder and the aesthetics of skateboard culture beg for cartoon representation and a handful of filmmakers have risen to the challenge. Looking...
- 6/21/2014
- by Daniel Walber
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
Part of the Tony Scott: A Moving Target critical project. Go here for the project's description, index and links to project's other movement.
This is one "movement" of our exquisite corpse-style critical project, Tony Scott: A Moving Target, which coincidentally begins with a look at Crimson Tide, the same movie that begins the other movement. As outlined in the introduction to the entire project, this project began in my mind, as something fairly simple: a snaking continuum of scene analysis. This is only in part what resulted.
The varied responses I got back from my group—"mine" in the sense that it is the one I participated in, since Gina's contribution closes Movement B—seem to say as much about the participating critics as they do about Tony Scott's films and the overlap between the two: the perception of Scott's films and career. Thus many entries, including my own,...
This is one "movement" of our exquisite corpse-style critical project, Tony Scott: A Moving Target, which coincidentally begins with a look at Crimson Tide, the same movie that begins the other movement. As outlined in the introduction to the entire project, this project began in my mind, as something fairly simple: a snaking continuum of scene analysis. This is only in part what resulted.
The varied responses I got back from my group—"mine" in the sense that it is the one I participated in, since Gina's contribution closes Movement B—seem to say as much about the participating critics as they do about Tony Scott's films and the overlap between the two: the perception of Scott's films and career. Thus many entries, including my own,...
- 11/27/2012
- by Daniel Kasman
- MUBI
This article is part of the critical project Tony Scott: A Moving Target in which an analysis of a scene from a Tony Scott film is passed anonymously to the next participant in the project to respond to with an analysis of his or her own.
<- the previous analysis | movement index | the next analysis ->
"Visually the film is quite impressive, something like a confetti storm in which the spectator never gets to rest."
–Manny Farber, 1968
Participating in this writing game is a little like being crossed between Robert Bresson’s A Man Escaped (1956) and Jean Genet’s Un chant d’amour (1950). Both prison films, both about Men on Fire. One implicitly gay, the other explicitly so. Alone in my cell, like in Bresson, I am doing my bit to chip my way through to collective freedom and enlightenment. And, meanwhile, I am being presented, like in Genet, with things—all kinds of things—to help me along,...
<- the previous analysis | movement index | the next analysis ->
"Visually the film is quite impressive, something like a confetti storm in which the spectator never gets to rest."
–Manny Farber, 1968
Participating in this writing game is a little like being crossed between Robert Bresson’s A Man Escaped (1956) and Jean Genet’s Un chant d’amour (1950). Both prison films, both about Men on Fire. One implicitly gay, the other explicitly so. Alone in my cell, like in Bresson, I am doing my bit to chip my way through to collective freedom and enlightenment. And, meanwhile, I am being presented, like in Genet, with things—all kinds of things—to help me along,...
- 11/26/2012
- by Adrian Martin
- MUBI
New York. The Last Modernist: The Complete Works of Béla Tarr opens today at the Film Society of Lincoln Center and runs through Wednesday, and R Emmet Sweeney has a wide-ranging talk with the retired filmmaker. "Whether or not The Turin Horse turns out to be Béla Tarr's last film, as the gnostic, gnomic Hungarian master has claimed it will be, the sense of finality is absolute," writes the L's Mark Asch. Aaron Cutler for Moving Image Source: "Primo Levi writes in Survival in Auschwitz that the lowest point a human can reach is when he or she is forced to act without choice, performing tasks purely for his or her own survival. Freedom of choice is what separates humans from other animals. The Tarr crew (which, beginning with him and partner, Ágnes Hranitzky, has gone on to include a regular screenwriter [László Krasznahorkai], composer [Mihály Vig], and cinematographer [Fred Kelemen]) began by comparing humans to each other,...
- 2/3/2012
- MUBI
"Tuesday Weld will not be attending the Film Society of Lincoln Center's retrospective American Girl: Tuesday Weld, running from September 21—25, which will showcase 10 performances by the unconventional actress." Louis Jordan, who's working on a biography of Weld, at the House Next Door: "For a tantalizing moment, the reclusive Weld agreed to be interviewed at the Walter Reade Theatre in an event called 'An Evening with Tuesday Weld,' but later suddenly cancelled. Weld hasn't made a public appearance in more than a decade. Perhaps she's gone into self-imposed exile a la Marlene Dietrich, wanting to preserve the public's memory of the brazen, luminous beauty that made her an icon of the '60s and turned the heads of everyone from Elvis Presley to Pinchas Zukerman. But then again, Weld has made a career of not giving the public what they want, or expect."
"As an actress, Weld is famous for...
"As an actress, Weld is famous for...
- 9/21/2011
- MUBI
Whether its Viggo Mortensen drunkenly preening in front of a mirror or illicit threesomes in France and Spain, this week's Reelist takes a walk on the sexy side, talking about films that you shouldn't watch with your parents. When it comes to full frontal nudity in film, well, in this case, (and the results will Shock you) - Europeans do it better. Private School Dir. Noel Black (1983) Full Frontal Genre: The Willfully Dumb 80's Teen Sex Comedy Released a year after Phoebe Cates and her red bikini skyrocketed to stardom in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, this dumb entry in the clueless-teens-try-to-lose-their-virginity genre of 80s trash almost retains a dopey charm. Cates and a young Matthew Modine hope to lose their virginities to each other, and hijinks ensue: boys spy on girls fresh out of the shower, boys dress in drag and sneak into the school, old biddies are shocked...
- 2/10/2009
- TribecaFilm.com
Release date: Sept. 5
One of those '60s films that ushered in the modern maturity of American cinema and has not lost a molecule of its edge since it first appeared in 1968, "Pretty Poison" has been released by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (retail $14.98).
Anthony Perkins gives an outstanding performance as a former mental patient who ducked out on his parole officer and is living on his own in a small Massachusetts town. He meets a high school majorette played with equal finesse by the Clairol-ad-pretty ingenue, Tuesday Weld, and starts spinning fantasies about spies and paranoia that she readily responds to -- all too well, in fact, as she eventually coaxes him into becoming an accessory to murder.
Perkins, whose awkward, lanky physical presence counterpoints the miniaturesque locations perfectly, is highly appealing as he projects both a playfulness and a sincere attempt to adjust himself to society, recognizing a little too late that he is in over his head. Directed by Noel Black, the film runs a brisk 89 minutes and sustains the finest of lines between being a black comedy and a whimsical crime drama, a line that has never wavered in the decades that followed.
The image transfer reinforces the freshness of the film's composition. The picture is presented in letterboxed format only, with an aspect ratio of about 1.85:1 and an accommodation for enhanced 16:9 playback. The color transfer is spotless and fleshtones are unblemished. The sound has a mild stereophonic processing but remains centered and clear. There are alternate French and Spanish tracks in mono, optional English and Spanish subtitles, and a trailer.
It is tempting to bet money that Black cast Weld in "Pretty Poison" after seeing her in George Axelrod's 1966 anti-Beach Party movie, "Lord Love a Duck", where she has a fairly similar role, motivating another not entirely masculine companion, in this instance embodied by Roddy McDowall, to commit murder in the service of her caprices. Building upon the comedic experimentation that Richard Lester had begun around the same time, "Duck" uses the innocuous Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon films as its reference point, but takes the loose plotting and slapdash humor of those features and exaggerates them to the point of anarchy.
Weld portrays a maturing coed and McDowall -- if one takes the not entirely assured assumption that his character exists -- is a resourceful friend who helps her achieve her whims -- everything from getting a new boyfriend to becoming a movie star -- often by murdering those who stand in her way. Using jump cuts, Dutch angles and other impulsive techniques, the film either looks like an utterly senseless mess, or becomes a highly comical attack on the status quo that will have you memorizing the dialog and repeating it at inopportune moments, laughing uproariously as everyone else stares at you.
The 105-minute United Artists program was released by MGM Home Entertainment (retail $14.98) and is in letterboxed format only, with an aspect ratio of about 1.85:1 and an accommodation for enhanced 16:9 playback. The black-and-white image is a Little Soft at times, but is generally spotless, with well-defined contrasts. The monophonic sound, including an addicting Neil Hefti musical score, is solid. There is an alternate Spanish track in mono, optional English, French and Spanish subtitles, a trailer, and a great 6-minute "anti-production featurette," narrated in part by Axelrod.
The complete database of Doug Pratt's DVD-video reviews is available at dvdlaser.com . A sample copy of the DVD-Laser Disc Newsletter can be obtained by calling (516) 594-9304.
One of those '60s films that ushered in the modern maturity of American cinema and has not lost a molecule of its edge since it first appeared in 1968, "Pretty Poison" has been released by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (retail $14.98).
Anthony Perkins gives an outstanding performance as a former mental patient who ducked out on his parole officer and is living on his own in a small Massachusetts town. He meets a high school majorette played with equal finesse by the Clairol-ad-pretty ingenue, Tuesday Weld, and starts spinning fantasies about spies and paranoia that she readily responds to -- all too well, in fact, as she eventually coaxes him into becoming an accessory to murder.
Perkins, whose awkward, lanky physical presence counterpoints the miniaturesque locations perfectly, is highly appealing as he projects both a playfulness and a sincere attempt to adjust himself to society, recognizing a little too late that he is in over his head. Directed by Noel Black, the film runs a brisk 89 minutes and sustains the finest of lines between being a black comedy and a whimsical crime drama, a line that has never wavered in the decades that followed.
The image transfer reinforces the freshness of the film's composition. The picture is presented in letterboxed format only, with an aspect ratio of about 1.85:1 and an accommodation for enhanced 16:9 playback. The color transfer is spotless and fleshtones are unblemished. The sound has a mild stereophonic processing but remains centered and clear. There are alternate French and Spanish tracks in mono, optional English and Spanish subtitles, and a trailer.
It is tempting to bet money that Black cast Weld in "Pretty Poison" after seeing her in George Axelrod's 1966 anti-Beach Party movie, "Lord Love a Duck", where she has a fairly similar role, motivating another not entirely masculine companion, in this instance embodied by Roddy McDowall, to commit murder in the service of her caprices. Building upon the comedic experimentation that Richard Lester had begun around the same time, "Duck" uses the innocuous Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon films as its reference point, but takes the loose plotting and slapdash humor of those features and exaggerates them to the point of anarchy.
Weld portrays a maturing coed and McDowall -- if one takes the not entirely assured assumption that his character exists -- is a resourceful friend who helps her achieve her whims -- everything from getting a new boyfriend to becoming a movie star -- often by murdering those who stand in her way. Using jump cuts, Dutch angles and other impulsive techniques, the film either looks like an utterly senseless mess, or becomes a highly comical attack on the status quo that will have you memorizing the dialog and repeating it at inopportune moments, laughing uproariously as everyone else stares at you.
The 105-minute United Artists program was released by MGM Home Entertainment (retail $14.98) and is in letterboxed format only, with an aspect ratio of about 1.85:1 and an accommodation for enhanced 16:9 playback. The black-and-white image is a Little Soft at times, but is generally spotless, with well-defined contrasts. The monophonic sound, including an addicting Neil Hefti musical score, is solid. There is an alternate Spanish track in mono, optional English, French and Spanish subtitles, a trailer, and a great 6-minute "anti-production featurette," narrated in part by Axelrod.
The complete database of Doug Pratt's DVD-video reviews is available at dvdlaser.com . A sample copy of the DVD-Laser Disc Newsletter can be obtained by calling (516) 594-9304.
- 11/3/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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