Orson Welles in fine form! This lavishly produced costume drama, beautifully cast and directed, was filmed on location in gorgeous Italian palazzos, churches and villas. Welles is cast to type as the literally mesmerizing mountebank Cagliostro, who aids Madame du Barry in a scheme to seize the throne of France. Welles almost certainly ‘helped’ the credited director; the highly theatrical goings-on look exactly like Orson’s style. Super performances from Nancy Guild, Akim Tamiroff, Valentina Cortese, Margot Grahame and Charles Goldner turn Alexandre Dumas’ tale into swashbuckling mind-control excitement; the disc tops it off with a sensationally good restoration.
Black Magic
Blu-ray
ClassicFlix
1949 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 105 min. / Street Date January 25, 2022 / Available from ClassicFlix / 19.99
Starring: Orson Welles, Nancy Guild, Akim Tamiroff, Charles Goldner, Stephen Bekassy, Valentina Cortese, Margot Grahame, Frank Latimore, Gregory Gaye, Berry Kroeger, Robert Atkins, Raymond Burr, Harriet White Medin, Silvana Mangano, Milly Vitale.
Cinematography: Ubaldo Arata, Anchise Brizzi
Art Directors: Jean d’Eaubonne,...
Black Magic
Blu-ray
ClassicFlix
1949 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 105 min. / Street Date January 25, 2022 / Available from ClassicFlix / 19.99
Starring: Orson Welles, Nancy Guild, Akim Tamiroff, Charles Goldner, Stephen Bekassy, Valentina Cortese, Margot Grahame, Frank Latimore, Gregory Gaye, Berry Kroeger, Robert Atkins, Raymond Burr, Harriet White Medin, Silvana Mangano, Milly Vitale.
Cinematography: Ubaldo Arata, Anchise Brizzi
Art Directors: Jean d’Eaubonne,...
- 2/1/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Graham Greene’s tense crime tale is as important as his classic The Third Man but nowhere near as well known. Down Brighton way the race-track boys have sharp ways of solving disputes and terrorizing the common folk — think ‘straight razor.’ Richard Attenborough’s breakthrough film is also a showcase for Hermoine Baddelely and a marvelous newcomer that every horror fan loves even if they don’t know her name, Carol Marsh. Kino’s disc has a Tim Lucas commentary; this review balances thoughts about mercy and damnation, with an extra insight about a piece of ‘stick candy’ unfamiliar to us Yanks.
Brighton Rock
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1948 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 92 min. / Street Date May 5, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Richard Attenborough, Carol Marsh, Hermione Baddeley, William Hartnell, Harcourt Williams, Wylie Watson, Nigel Stock, Virginia Winter, Reginald Purdell, George Carney, Charles Goldner, Alan Wheatley.
Cinematography: Harry Waxman
Camera operator:...
Brighton Rock
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1948 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 92 min. / Street Date May 5, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Richard Attenborough, Carol Marsh, Hermione Baddeley, William Hartnell, Harcourt Williams, Wylie Watson, Nigel Stock, Virginia Winter, Reginald Purdell, George Carney, Charles Goldner, Alan Wheatley.
Cinematography: Harry Waxman
Camera operator:...
- 5/9/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
“Two Pints Of Guinness”
By Raymond Benson
Kino Lorber’s new double-bill Blu-ray release of comedy classics starring the legendary Alec Guinness features the nautical-themed The Captain’s Paradise, and Barnacle Bill. The former is often thought of as one of the Ealing comedies, but it is not so.
Paradise was nominated for the “Story” Academy Award (a category that no longer exists), and it was written by Alec Coppel. It is indeed a well-written and clever vehicle for Guinness, who delivers his usual above-it-all confident demeanor when his character is faced with domestic and professional disaster. He plays Captain Henry St. James, whom his chief officer Ricco (Charles Goldner) constantly calls a “genius” because Henry has found the perfect path to “paradise”—a double life with two women—one in the Spanish town of Kalique (actually Ceuta) in North Africa, next to Morocco, and one in Gibraltar. His ship, The Golden Fleece,...
By Raymond Benson
Kino Lorber’s new double-bill Blu-ray release of comedy classics starring the legendary Alec Guinness features the nautical-themed The Captain’s Paradise, and Barnacle Bill. The former is often thought of as one of the Ealing comedies, but it is not so.
Paradise was nominated for the “Story” Academy Award (a category that no longer exists), and it was written by Alec Coppel. It is indeed a well-written and clever vehicle for Guinness, who delivers his usual above-it-all confident demeanor when his character is faced with domestic and professional disaster. He plays Captain Henry St. James, whom his chief officer Ricco (Charles Goldner) constantly calls a “genius” because Henry has found the perfect path to “paradise”—a double life with two women—one in the Spanish town of Kalique (actually Ceuta) in North Africa, next to Morocco, and one in Gibraltar. His ship, The Golden Fleece,...
- 2/23/2020
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
“You crazy rat you croaked him!” Yes, you’ve probably heard better hardboiled dialogue, but this British imitation of American gangster pictures takes the cake for screwy line deliveries. It’s derived from a book and play that’s already derived from a salacious William Faulkner story. Jack La Rue and Linden Travers try to make a kidnapper-rapist into a sympathetic, romantic figure, with marvelously awkward results. This Brit import comes with significant extras.
No Orchids for Miss Blandish
All-Region Blu-ray
Powerhouse Indicator
1948 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 103 min. / / Street Date May 27, 2019 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £17.00
Starring: Starring: Jack La Rue, Hugh McDermott, Linden Travers, Walter Crisham, MacDonald Parke, Danny Green, Lilli Molnar, Charles Goldner, Zoé Gail, Leslie Bradley, Richard Nielson, Michael Balfour, Frances Marsden, Sydney James.
Cinematography: Gerald Gibbs
Film Editor: Manuel del Campo
Original Music: George Melachrino
From the novel by James Hadley Chase
Written, Produced and Directed by St.
No Orchids for Miss Blandish
All-Region Blu-ray
Powerhouse Indicator
1948 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 103 min. / / Street Date May 27, 2019 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £17.00
Starring: Starring: Jack La Rue, Hugh McDermott, Linden Travers, Walter Crisham, MacDonald Parke, Danny Green, Lilli Molnar, Charles Goldner, Zoé Gail, Leslie Bradley, Richard Nielson, Michael Balfour, Frances Marsden, Sydney James.
Cinematography: Gerald Gibbs
Film Editor: Manuel del Campo
Original Music: George Melachrino
From the novel by James Hadley Chase
Written, Produced and Directed by St.
- 5/7/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Devotees of crime and film noir will get a kick out of this Brit attempt to capture the American style, that now comes off as screamingly funny. It was both a huge hit and a big scandal in London, 1948, where the censors came down hard on the film’s flagrant immorality and over-the-top violence. Former pre-Code second-banana thug Jack La Rue tries hard to be Humphrey Bogart. Leading lady Linden Travers’ role is as non-pc now as it was then: an heiress falls in love with the gangster, who has raped her, because she likes it. But the film’s maladroit hardboiled dialogue is hilarious fun.
No Orchids for Miss Blandish
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1948 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 103 min. / Street Date March 20, 2018 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Jack La Rue, Hugh McDermott, Linden Travers, Walter Crisham, MacDonald Parke, Danny Green, Lilli Molnar, Charles Goldner, Zoë Gail, Leslie Bradley, Richard Nielson,...
No Orchids for Miss Blandish
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1948 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 103 min. / Street Date March 20, 2018 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Jack La Rue, Hugh McDermott, Linden Travers, Walter Crisham, MacDonald Parke, Danny Green, Lilli Molnar, Charles Goldner, Zoë Gail, Leslie Bradley, Richard Nielson,...
- 2/24/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
While a newspaper headline reveals the death of gang member William Kite, our attention is soon turned to the arrival in Brighton of one overtly nervous tabloid rep, Kolley Kibber, known to the local mob as Fred Hale (Alan Wheatley). Soon on the run from them, Hale allows the story to show us a fantastic view of 1940s Brighton as he hares through the Lanes and main streets to end up on Palace Pier.
So unwraps the story of Pinkie Brown (Richard Attenborough) and his hoodlum friends.
Attenborough’s performance from his first appearance is of an Ocd-driven, young Catholic gang leader, brooding, demanding and anxious – an odd portrayal for a figure in Pinkie’s position of power. Nevertheless, it’s this devious anxiety that shows him as cold and calculating. But it’s when he meets wide-eyed café waitress Rose (Carol Marsh) that he opens up a little, albeit...
So unwraps the story of Pinkie Brown (Richard Attenborough) and his hoodlum friends.
Attenborough’s performance from his first appearance is of an Ocd-driven, young Catholic gang leader, brooding, demanding and anxious – an odd portrayal for a figure in Pinkie’s position of power. Nevertheless, it’s this devious anxiety that shows him as cold and calculating. But it’s when he meets wide-eyed café waitress Rose (Carol Marsh) that he opens up a little, albeit...
- 2/8/2011
- Shadowlocked
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