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ROSEMARY’S
BABY/Roman Polanski
Amazon.com
essential video
Psychological terrorism
and supernatural horror have rarely been dramatized as effectively as in this
classic 1968 thriller, masterfully adapted and directed by Roman Polanski from
the chilling novel by Ira Levin. Rosemary (Mia Farrow) is a young, trusting
housewife in New York whose actor husband (John Cassavetes), unbeknownst to
her, has literally made a deal with the devil. In the thrall of a witches'
coven headquartered in their apartment building, the young husband arranges to
have his wife impregnated by Satan in exchange for success in a Broadway play.
To Rosemary, the pregnancy seems like a normal and happy one--that is, until
she grows increasingly suspicious of her neighbors' evil influence. Polanski
establishes this seemingly benevolent situation and then introduces each
fiendish little detail with such unsettling subtlety that the film escalates to
a palpable level of dread and paranoia. By the time Rosemary discovers that her
infant son "has his father's eyes" ... well, let's just say the urge
to scream along with her is unbearably intense! One of the few modern horror
films that can claim to be genuinely terrifying, Rosemary's Baby is an
unforgettable movie experience, guaranteed to send chills up your spine. --Jeff
Shannon
TOP PICKS: THE NINTH GATE; FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS;
THE TENANT; REPULSION.
THE SEVENTH SEAL/Ingmar Bergmen
Amazon.com
essential video
Ingmar Bergman's 1956
film has been parodied by everyone from Woody Allen to Bill and Ted's Bogus
Journey, but it remains one of the strangest and richest classics of world
cinema. Max Von Sydow plays a knight returning from the Crusades to encounter
an apocalyptic scenario inspired by the Book of Genesis. He plays chess with
Death (Bengt Ekerot), sees a manacled witch, watches a band of flagellants go
by--all of it foretelling an inevitable end to life. Unabashedly allegorical
and lyrical and existing in a world unto itself, the film is enormously
mesmerizing no matter what one thinks of the weighty meanings Bergman has
attached to it all. The DVD release has English subtitles, audio commentary by
critic Peter Cowie, theatrical trailer, and Bergman's filmography. --Tom
Keogh
Product Description:
After a decade of battling in the Crusades, a knight challenges Death to a
fateful game of chess. More than forty years after its initial release, Ingmar
Bergman's stunning allegory of man's apocalyptic search for meaning remains a
textbook on the art of filmmaking and an essential building block in any
collection. Criterion is proud to present The Seventh Seal in a pristine
new transfer.
TOP PICKS: FANNY AND ALEXANDER; AUTUMN SONATA; CRIES & WHISPERS;
PERSONA; THE MAGICIAN; SHAME; HOUR OF THE WOLF; THE INGMAR BERGMAN SPECIAL
EDITION.
JULIET OF THE SPIRITS/Frederico Fellini
Product
Description:
Writer/director Federico
Fellini tells the tale of a woman (Giulietta Masina) dealing with her husband's
possible infidelity. The result is a surreal and wild investigation into the
psychology of a modern woman. Powered by Nino Rota's haunting score,
"Juliet of the Spirits" was the winner of five Best Foreign Film of
the Year awards and received Academy Award nominations for Best Art Direction
and Costume Design in 1966.
Throughout
the movie, the main character, Juliet, who is an Italian housewife well into
her thirties, becomes disillusioned with life when she is strongly suspicious
that her husband is carrying on an extramarital affair. In trying to confront
her ever-surmounting distrust, Juliet leaves her home to find out if her spouse
is cheating on her. Simultaneously, Juliet is also going on a journey of
self-discovery through astrology, an androgynous fortune-teller, dabblings with
the occult, and acquaintances with multinational, sun-worshipping ladies and
gents of the world. The avenues that Juliet enters as the story proceeds from
one scene to the next all serve as a conglomerated mix that will help her
determine how important her marriage is and whether it is an asset or hindrance
to fulfilling her ultimate needs in life.
TOP
PICKS: LA STRADA; SATYRICON; LA DOLCE VITA; 8˝;
NIGHTS OF CABIRIA; I’M A BORN LIAR; SPIRITS OF THE DEAD; ARMACORD.
ED WOOD/Tim Burton/Johnny Depp
Product
Description:
From Tim Burton,
acclaimed director of BIG FISH, EDWARD SCISSORHANDS, and BATMAN, and the
producer of THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS, comes the hilarious, true-life
story of the wackiest filmmaker in Hollywood history, Ed Wood! Johnny Depp
(PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL, CHOCOLAT, EDWARD
SCISSORHANDS) stars as the high-spirited movieman who refuses to let unfinished
scenes, terrible reviews, and hostile studio executives derail his big-screen
dreams. With an oddball collection of showbiz misfits, Ed takes the art of bad
moviemaking to an all-time low! The all-star cast features Bill Murray (LOST IN
TRANSLATION, THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS), Sarah Jessica Parker (TV's SEX AND THE
CITY), Patricia Arquette (STIGMATA, LITTLE NICKY), and an Academy
Award(R)-winning performance by Martin Landau (Best Supporting Actor, 1994) as
Bela Lugosi. Hailed by critics everywhere, this laugh-packed comedy hit is sure
to entertain everyone!
TOP PICKS: THE NINTH GATE/Johnny Depp.
Amazon.com
essential video
A welcome throwback
to the spooky traditions of Jack Clayton's The Innocents and Robert
Wise's The Haunting, Alejandro Amenábar's The Others favors
atmosphere, sound, and suggestion over flashy special effects. Set in 1945 on a
fog-enshrouded island off the British coast, the film begins with a scream as
Grace (Nicole Kidman) awakens from some unspoken horror, perhaps arising from
her religiously overprotective concern for her young children, Anne (Alakina
Mann) and Nicholas (James Bentley). The children are hypersensitive to light
and have lived in a musty manor with curtains and shutters perpetually drawn.
With Grace's husband presumably lost at war, this ominous setting perfectly
accommodates a sense of dreaded expectation, escalating when three strangers
arrive in response to Grace's yet-unposted request for domestic help. Led by
housekeeper Mrs. Mills (Fionnula Flanagan), this mysterious trio is as closely
tied to the house's history as Grace's family is--as are the past occupants
seen posthumously posed in a long-forgotten photo album.
UMBERTO D/Vittorio De Sicca
"Umberto
D" is Umberto Domenico Ferrari, a retired civil servant unable to live on
his meager pension. His landlady is always after him about paying the rent and
threatens to evict him while she rents out his room to prostitutes during the
day. His only friends in the world are Maria (Maria-Pia Casilio), the pregnant
but unmarried housemaid, and Flick, his little dog. Despairing over his
situation, the old man contemplates suicide.
"Umberto D" is a
classic of the Neo-Realist period in Italian cinema and arguably director
Vittorio de Sica's finest work. The title character is played by Carlo
Battisti, a Professor of Glottology at the University of Florence, who had
never acted before (i.e., ideal casting for the Neo-Realists). This is not a
movie filmed on a studio set but out in the real world, where such details as
Maria's morning ritual of grinding coffee become somewhat transcendent. There
are moments of humor in "Umberto D," but most of the scenes are heartrending
and the film's conclusion creates an ambiguity that speaks to the soul of the
viewer.
TOP PICKS: THE
BICYCLE THIEF/Lamberto Maggiorani; OPEN CITY/Aldo Fabizi; LA TERRA TREMA (The
Earth Trembles)/Giuseppe Arcidiacono.
THE CHARLES
DICKENS COLLECTION
(Oliver Twist / Martin Chuzzlewit / Bleak House / Hard Times /
Great Expectations / Our Mutual Friend) (1995)
Editorial Review
Amazon.com
As can be clearly seen
from the care lavished on these six BBC adaptions of Charles Dickens' novels,
the British love their Dickens! And why not--Dickens is ideally suited to television,
with his elaborate but vigorous plots, each a compendium of comically odious
personalities (and one or two nice folk, just to keep things from getting too
awful). Actors dig into these meaty roles with zeal, delighting in the hairpin
turns from macabre horror to sweet sentiment. The more popular (and most
frequently adapted) of the books at hand--Great Expectations and Oliver
Twist--are the most conventional.
Fortunately, the others are
considerably juicier: Martin Chuzzlewit, a lesser-known but richly
satirical book, has a star-studded production from 1994, featuring Paul
Scofield, Tom Wilkinson, Pete Postlethwaite, and Julia Sawalha, among others.
The wealthy Martin Chuzzlewit, deeply suspicious of all mankind due to being
hounded by greedy, grasping relatives, threatens the happiness of his ward Mary
and his namesake grandson. In addition to the sterling and energetic cast, Chuzzlewit
has outstanding production values, as does the 1998 version of Our Mutual
Friend, which goes to great lengths to evoke the textures of life in
Dickens' London. The mysterious death of a man about to inherit a great fortune
sets in motion a complex plot that intertwines two love stories (it's one of
Dickens' most romantic works), social scheming, and murderous obsession.
Bleak
House, a Kafka-esque story of young innocents caught in an
all-consuming, multi-generational lawsuit, cultivates a rich and potent Gothic
horror; the 19th century seems like an unnerving alien world, through which
lawyers and policemen stride like cruel predators. Diana Rigg is the most
famous face in this 1985 production, but strong performances abound. The final
component of this box set is the most curious: A 1994 version of Hard Times
starring Alan Bates and Richard E. Grant, which turns this dark story--about a
schoolmaster/politician who raises his children on reason at the expense of all
feeling and finally reaps the bitter rewards--into a compact, theatrical
feature film that's so swift it's almost jaunty. Adapted and directed by Peter Barnes
(writer of The Ruling Class), it's the most stylized production of the
bunch, and while lacking the depth and narrative detail of the others, it
effectively cuts to the essence of Dickens. --Bret Fetzer\
ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS—Complete Series 1-3
ABFAB as some of us
fans call it is quite possibly one of the zaniest, craziest, sickest shows to
come out of Britain to date. The premise is simple. There's Edwina (Eddie), her
friend Patsy and Eddie's daughter Saffron (Saffi). Eddie is an overweight,
immature, compulsive, undersexed, selfish, fashion misfit who worships LaCroix
and everything he designs. Patsy is a drunken, non-working, oversexed, chain
smoking, spend thrift, fashionista, self-centered, alcoholic, leach. She's also
Eddie's best friend. Saffi is the plain jane, level headed, smart, prudish,
straight laced dauther of Eddie and her father who happens to be gay has left
her mother for a gay black man. Poor Saffi even though the child of the house
more often than not has to be the adult of the house. She fixes her mom
breakfast when she comes in from a hard night of boozing and partying with
Patsy. Patsy and Saffi hate each other and continually snipe at each other.
Aside from storylines, ABFAB is very difficult to describe because many of the
funniest bits are visual. You have to see and hear everything. One funny
episode has Saffi off to college for the first time. Eddie tries to guilt her
into staying home but it doesn't work. That morning Eddie drives to the college
and barges her way into Saffi's class with a can of something and a can opener
and asks Saffi to open the can for her because she doesn't know how to work the
can opener. Madness. It's very funny.
You should watch all of the episodes because there's not a bit of sanity in any
of them. You've got to have this!
TOP PICKS:
ALL OF THEM!!!
MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS/Agatha Christie/Albert
Finney/Lauren Bacall, etc.
Amazon.com
essential video
Just the name "Orient Express" conjures images of a
bygone era. Add an all-star cast (including Sean Connery, Ingrid Bergman,
Jacqueline Bisset, and Lauren Bacall, to name a few) and Agatha Christie's
delicious plot and how can you go wrong? Particularly if you add in Albert
Finney as Christie's delightfully persnickety sleuth, Hercule Poirot. Someone
has knocked off nasty Richard Widmark on this train trip and, to Poirot's
puzzlement, everyone seems to have a motive--just the setup for a terrific
whodunit. Though it seems like an ensemble film, director Sidney Lumet gives
each of his stars their own solo and each makes the most of it. Bergman went so
far as to win an Oscar for her role. But the real scene-stealer is the
ever-reliable Finney as the eccentric detective who never misses a trick.
--Marshall Fine
TOP PICKS: DEATH ON THE NILE.
REVELATIONS/Stuart
Urban
Synopsis
The son of a billionaire mogul teams up with an
alchemist to unravel the mysteries of the Loculus. But the evil Grand Master
intends to claim the enigmatic box for himself.
The reason I
like [Revelation] so much is because it uses the gnostic images of divine union
required to bring about the rebirthing of the Christ. It shows that the same
process is available today that has always been available, but that also evil
can keep us from uniting. In the case of this film the evil comes in the form
of the modern day Knights Templar who can morph into strange almost wraith-like
beings, and the Catholic Church, who try to take control over our lives and do
these things for us. It is quite a relevant and gnostic film if watched with
the right eyes. It is British and does encompass some of the more
"theatrical" elements of our wisdom tradition such as Rennes le
Chatueau, the Templars, Malta, the Merovingians and more. It is the Da Vinci
Code, without the hype and years ahead of its time.
Philip Gardiner
IVAN THE TERRIBLE, Parts I
and II
Nikolai Cherkasov
Despite having been produced over 60
years ago, IVAN THE TERRIBLE remains one of the most bizarre and compelling
movies ever made. It is filmed in an ultra-expressionist style, despite the
fact that expressionism had long passed its heyday in the 1920’s and early
30’s. Nonetheless, the style fits this almost gothic film perfectly. Religious
and other symbols of power and authority are exaggerated, transformed into
grotesques. The powerless peasantry, mired in the darkest ignorance, is
presented as a frightening presence of menace, ever lurking in the background,
waiting to be harnessed by the next tyrant.
Ivan himself is depicted as an elongated, Nosferatu-type character with
a moral compass so convoluted as to be nonexistent. The mixing of “song &
dance numbers” under the most monstrous circumstances toward the end of Part II
only enhances the mesmerizing quality of the film. It is said that Stalin
attempted to pressure the director to make this masterpiece more “Stalinist
friendly,” but that the filmmaker courageously refused. Unfortunately almost
all other films made during the Stalinist Era reflect the justifiably maligned,
dreary style called “socialist realism.” – Jason Farrow
It's been said that this 1948 classic has been responsible for the ballet lessons of more young girls than any other film. It's not hard to understand why: Michael Powell and Emerich Pressburger's dark fairy tale presents the ballet as an exquisite, magical work of art; but under the theatrics and glory is an all-consuming lifestyle with the power to destroy those who love it perhaps too much. Moira Shearer practically glows as Victoria "Vicky" Page, a young woman consumed by a will to dance who is accepted into the highly prestigious ballet company run by perfectionist Boris Lermontov (Anton Walbrook). Meanwhile, a gifted young composer, Julian Craster (Marius Goring), is brought on board as an orchestra coach, and later conductor and composer of the ballet that will make Vicky's name: The Red Shoes, one of the most beautiful and dramatic dances ever captured on film. Professional and personal jealousies soon pull this creative team apart, however, and Vicky is torn between her love of Julian, her responsibility to Boris, and her need to dance. Powell and Pressburger recast Hans Christian Andersen's sad story as a modern romantic melodrama, highlighted by beautiful dances and shot, not as stage ballets, but rather as expressionist cinematic dramas on impossibly grand sets awash with bold color and beautifully captured in glorious Technicolor by cinematographer Jack Cardiff. It's a brilliant melding of dance and drama as Vicky's real life mirror's the tragic story she danced in the Red Shoes ballet. --Sean Axmaker
THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON’T
THEY?
In the dark
years of the 1930s, dance marathons became popular as a way for desperate
people to compete for prize money. Sometimes the events would drag on for weeks
as contestants pushed themselves far beyond the point of physical, mental, and
emotional exhaustion, the dancers shambling around the floor in a half-dead
stupor. People would then pay to sit in the bleachers, watch the event, and
cheer on their favorites. They Shoot Horses is taken from hard-boiled
pulp writer Horace McCoy's novel of the same name; Jane
Fonda plays a bitter young woman paired up with Michael Sarrazin for the
ordeal. Gig Young portrays the unctuous MC of the event, bringing equal parts
compassion and sleaze to his role. Many of the film's images are unforgettable,
such as "the derby," a heel-and-toe race around the dance floor with
bouncy, lighthearted music to accompany the miserable spectacle. It's a
powerful, tragic period piece that reminds us of the privations of the Great
Depression. In the largest sense, the film has existential overtones that go
far beyond the story of enervated dancers staying on their feet for a month or
more. This film brought home a string of Academy Award nominations for the cast
and director Sydney Pollack and a win for Young. --Jerry Renshaw
THE CAT PEOPLE/CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE
(Val Lewton/Jacques Tourneur)
Oliver Reed
(Kent Smith) was strolling through the zoo, minding his own business, when
suddenly, there she was, sketching a black panther! Her name was Irena (Simone
Simon). Oliver was immediately captivated by her, unable to think of anything /
anyone else. What was it about this shy young girl? What secrets floated behind
those eyes? Oliver soon married Irena. That's when the trouble began. CAT
PEOPLE is Tourneur's masterwork of love, longing, guilt, and fear. Irena is a
tragic figure, doomed by her own inner terrors and torments. Oliver loves her,
but cannot understand Irena's beliefs or her obsessive dread over consummating
their marriage. Does she really believe that she'll turn into a cat? How can
she think this way and still be sane? Enter Dr. Judd… a psychiatrist who sees
Irena. He figures that it's all in her head. Is it? Oliver turns to his friend,
Alice (Jane Randolph) for solice. Irena is suspicious and reveals who / what
she truly is. This is one of those movies that uses strong characters and
atmosphere to build suspense and tell the story. Irena is unforgettable! CURSE
OF THE CAT PEOPLE takes place four years after Irena's final trip to the
panther cage. Oliver and Alice are married and have a daughter. The little girl
is very imaginative and has a "friend" that no one else can see. She
meets an old woman who lives in a big house. The two are fast friends, causing
great pain for the woman's own alienated daughter. Oliver is increasingly
worried about his daughter's fantasy life, especially when she tells him that
her invisible friend's name is Irena! I like this one a lot. Instead of being a
typical sequel full of rushed ideas and Hollywood garbage, COTCP is completely
different in both storyline and approach. It's more of a ghost story through
the eyes of a child. This double bill is well worth owning. Each film is a
classic...
TOP PICKS: THE VAL LEWTON
HORROR COLLECTION.
OCTOBER (TEN DAYS THAT SHOOK
THE WORLD) Grigori Aleksandrov,
Sergei M. Eisenstein
Officially produced to commemorate the 10-year anniversary of the
Russian Revolution, October quickly became another of Sergei
Eisenstein's experiments in film form. As in his masterpiece, Battleship
Potemkin, Eisenstein uses explosive montage to create the spirit of
revolution--in this case, the events in St. Petersburg during the months
leading up to the Bolshevik revolt. Eisenstein's insistence on speaking the
language of pure film (deploying space, shadow, movement, and rhythm to create
his meaning) shoves his mad rush of images straight into the viewer's eye. A
worker's rebellion in the streets, followed by the raising of bridges to
isolate their neighborhood, becomes a visual symphony of panic. The film has
also been known as Ten Days That Shook the World, its release title in
the U.S. (borrowed from the book by John Reed). Its value as propaganda can be
debated, but October is incredibly dynamic as film art. --Robert Horton
Product Description:
Russian director
Sergei Eisenstein's powerful retelling of the 1917 Russian Revolution,
"October" is an acknowledged masterpiece in the use of editing,
lighting, camera placement and mise-en-scene. An absolute must for any film
connoisseurs.
THE LAST EMPEROR/Bernardo Bertolucci
Amazon.com
essential video
Everything that was
good about the 163-minute theatrical release of Bernardo Bertolucci's The
Last Emperor in 1987 is even better in this new 218-minute director's cut.
By contrast, much that was peculiarly distant and lifeless the first time
around isn't really better or worse in this edition. Conclusion: the net gains
are considerable if you invest time to appreciate Bertolucci's full feeling for
the odd story of Pu Yi, China's final monarch. You remember the saga: taken
from his mother at the age of three, Pu Yi is brought into the enclosed walls
of the Forbidden City to replace the real emperor. There he becomes a pampered
prisoner and hollow symbol of an older monarchy that has since given way to a
ruthless, 20th century republic. With his pining loyalists beheaded or kept at
bay by armed soldiers outside the City's walls, Pu Yi is tutored by an English
gentleman (Peter O'Toole) and wed to a kindred spirit (Joan Chen). Eventually
cast from his gated paradise, Pu Yi (wonderfully portrayed in adulthood by John
Lone) becomes, by turns, a playboy, a dupe to the Japanese, and a victim of
China's cultural reforms and re-education programs. This longer cut largely
top-loads the film with greater reason to feel compassion for the emperor, with
his often wordless sense-adventure in the mysteries that could only be known to
one little boy plunged into indecipherable alien decorum, robbed of
self-determination and common sense by his infinite privilege. Added scenes
(including some in the political rehabilitation camp where Pu Yi is held for a
decade) fill out not so much added facts as density of experience. This
improved The Last Emperor is richer in soul and a pronounced sense of
Bertolucci actually directing this film in the most personal and profound
sense. --Tom Keogh
WOMAN IN THE DUNES/Hiroshi Teshigara
A teacher
specialized in the study of insects, searches new species on the beach's sands.
But this metaphor of the hunted prey will work out against him after the
trickery caprices of the fate makes its appearance.
This nightmare's sensation produced by this chilling portrait seems to suggests
us echoes of a poetic and Eastern Kafka, breaths of Taoism, Zen and besides a
life 's philosophy that proclaims the renounce a way of knowledge.
The clash of different visions are expressed with notable coldness; she just
wants to survive; he wants to understand; she suffers, he analyzes; she is
action , he is memory; she is Macbeth, but he is Hamlet; she is a symbol of the
resistance, he investigates the causes. Around them; the claustrophobic
surroundings are invaded by the dryness, moist and the sand. But they will have
to share and live together in this sand' s dwell a delirious parade of the
accumulated human passions. This natural prison will obligate him to do without
about all the superfluous. So in this continuous fight, he will adapt himself
and just at the moment of his liberation, he will do without of the expected
liberation.
A giant, overwhelming and portentous picture that escapes to any possible
previous classification. You must acquire this Super Nova piece of authentic
Universal expression and cosmic overtaking.
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