Two films by nouvelle roman novelist-turned-filmmaker Alain Robbe-Grillet make their American home video debut this week: Trans-Europ-Express (Kino / Redemption, Blu-ray, DVD), his 1966 genre lark with Jean-Louis Trintignant as a drug smuggler and as an actor playing a drug smuggler, and Successive Slidings of Pleasure (Kino / Redemption, Blu-ray, DVD), a 1974 erotic thriller set in a sadomasochistic world of murder, bondage, cops, nuns, and a convent that serves as a prison. Both are newly mastered from 35mm elements and feature video interviews with Robbe-Grillet. More on these in a later feature.
Jules and Jim (Criterion, Blu-ray+DVD Dual-Format) is another Criterion upgrade of a previously released DVD, debuting on Blu-ray mastered from a new, restored 2K digital film transfer and released in a dual-format edition. An intense and reckless Jeanne Moreau delivers a performance steeped in mystery and enigma in Francois Truffaut’s tale of friendship and love. Oskar Werner is the Austrian Jules, a vibrant young biologist on slow, melancholy slide while Henri Serre plays his best friend, the enigmatic, introspective Parisian writer Jim. A scandal upon its release for its unapologetic treatment of a menage-a-trois, the film contrasts the stylistic freedom of nouvelle vague techniques (zooms, flash-cuts, handheld shots taken literally on the run) in the scenes of carefree youth with a somber, subdued approach for the “adult” years of impermanence. The handsome period piece jackrabbits through the story with concentrated scenes interspersed with newsreel footage and montages, pulled together by an interpretive “literary” narrator who layers the film with an added richness.
Carried over from the earlier DVD edition are two commentary tracks (one by co-writer Jean Gruault, Truffaut collaborator Suzanne Schiffman, editor Claudine Bouche, and Truffaut scholar Annette Insdorf, the other featuring actress Jeanne Moreau and Truffaut biographer Serge Toubiana), excerpts from the 1985 documentary The Key to Jules and Jim about the author Henri-Pierre Roche, an episode of Cineaste de notre temps from 1965 dedicated to Truffaut, and a segment from the series L’Invitie du Dimanche from 1969 with Truffaut, Moreau, and filmmaker Jean Renoir, footage of Truffaut interviewed by Richard Roud at the 1977 New York Film Festival, excerpts from Truffaut’s presentation at a 1979 American Film Institute “Dialogue on Film,” a 1980 archival audio interview with Truffaut conducted by Claude-Jean Philippe, video interviews with cinematographer Raoul Coutard and co-writer Jean Gruault, and a video conversation between scholars Robert Stam and Dudley Andrew. The accompanying booklet features an essay by critic John Powers, a 1981 piece by Truffaut on Roché, and script notes from Truffaut to co-screenwriter Gruault.
The disc was actually released earlier this month but the review copy arrived just this week. New from Criterion this week is their release of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1940 thriller Foreign Correspondent (Criterion, Blu-ray+DVD Dual-Format), mastered from a new 2K digital restoration, and the Blu-ray upgrade of Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox (Criterion, Blu-ray+DVD Dual-Format). Both, of course, feature generous supplements.
It feels odd to write that Crimes and Misdemeanors (Twilight Time, Blu-Ray) is my favorite Woody Allen film. It certainly doesn’t make me feel good, though it does offer a mix of despair and elation, and it may be a tad heavy (and yes, perhaps even heavyhanded) at times. Yet I think it’s one of his masterpieces, with characters that live with such a power within their defining contradictions and a theme that reminds us that life isn’t fair and how we deal with the unfairness is the measure of our humanity. Martin Landau received his second Academy Award nomination for his understated performance of an adulterer who is ‘persuaded’ (by Jerry Orbach) to let a hitman take care of a problem, namely the mistress (Anjelica Huston) who refuses to go away. In a parallel story Allen is a documentary filmmaker who falls for his attractive producer (Mia Farrow) while shooting a distasteful project that he sabotages out of juvenile pique. The bittersweet turns simply bitter as it builds towards the climax, but even amidst all the emotional damage, Allen still finds a spark of hope. It’s one of his masterpieces. Sven Nykvist shoots the film with a mix of warmth and remove. And remember: if it bends, it’s funny. If it breaks, it’s not funny. Features Twilight Time’s trademark isolated musical score and an eight-page booklet with an essay by Julie Kirgo. Limited to 3000 copies, available exclusively from Screen Archives and TCM.
Allen stars in but does not direct The Front (Twilight Time, Blu-Ray), playing a part-time cashier and bookie who agrees to “front” for a blacklisted writer (Michael Murphy) during the communist witch-hunts of the 1950s, putting his name on TV scripts and taking a fee for his efforts. This low key drama was written by Walter Bernstein and directed by Martin Ritt, who were both blacklisted themselves, as were co-stars Zero Mostel (who gives a powerful performance as a TV comic under the thumb of HUAC) and Herschel Bernardi. This Twilight Time release includes commentary by actress Andrea Marcovicci.
Also from Twilight Time: Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (Twilight Time, Blu-Ray), directed by Michael Cimino and starring Clint Eastwood (who also produces) and Jeff Bridges (with commentary by film historians Lem Dobbs, Julie Kirgo and Nick Redman); the 1966 World War I fight pilot drama The Blue Max (Twilight Time, Blu-Ray) with George Peppard as an ruthlessly ambitious German flier (with musical commentary by Jon Burlingame, Kirgo and Redman); and The Eddy Duchin Story (Twilight Time, Blu-Ray) with Tyrone Power as the celebrated bandleader and Kim Novak as the love of his life. All Twilight Time release offer an isolated musical score and an eight-page booklet with essays by Julie Kirgo and are limited to 3000 copies and available exclusively from Screen Archives and TCM.
Darkman (Shout Factory, Blu-ray) was Sam Raimi’s first real studio film, a colorful comic-book of a movie inspired by Gothic horror icons, caped superheroes and grindhouse action movies. Liam Neeson stars as a disfigured scientist who survives a laboratory explosion and prowls the night under a cape like a mutant Batman by way of Phantom of the Opera. It’s a little shaggy when compared to his Spider-Man movies. This is more of the anything-goes approach of Army of Darkness: endearingly sloppy with details and filled with inventive flourishes and a playful approach to shuffling genre conventions. Frances McDormand is the love of his life (giving it a “Beauty and the Beast” twist with no fairy-tale ending) and Colin Friels the glad-handing industrialist with a criminal streak but Larry Drake makes the biggest impression as the beady-eyed heavy with a jowly face, a posh sense of fashion, and a pocket cigar cutter that doubles as a portable guillotine for the fingers of his victims. Raimi seems to have tried out everything in this film that he could never before afford to. There’s plenty of humor strewn through the film, some of it downright bleak, but Raimi keeps it centered on his tormented, tortured hero, a tragic figure in a pulp adventure where modern crime meets mad scientist mayhem. The crazy-quilt quality sometimes loses the tone but his sensibility and energy carry the film.
This isn’t the film’s first Blu-ray release but Shout Factory’s edition is mastered from a new HD transfer and features new commentary by cinematographer Bill Pope and new interviews with Liam Neeson, Frances McDormand, Larry Drake, henchmen Danny Hicks and Dan Bell, make-up artist Tony Gardner, and production designer Randy Ser and art director Philip Dagort, plus archival interviews and featurettes.
Rocky: Heavyweight Collection (MGM, Blu-ray) – After a string of bit parts and supporting roles, Sylvester Stallone wrote Rocky (1976), the underdog tale of a small-time Philadelphia club boxer plucked from obscurity and offered a chance to fight the champ, Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers), in the fairy-tale shot of a lifetime. Stallone sold it on the condition that he play the lead. It worked. It became an underdog hit, earned ten Academy Award nominations, won the Oscar for Best Picture and Best Director (John G. Avildsen), and launched Stallone’s screen career. Talia Shire is Adrian, Burt Young is small time loan shark Paulie, and Burgess Meredith is the crotchety old trainer Mickey who thinks Rocky’s pet turtles would make good soup.
Stallone directed the next three in the series himself: the rematch of Rocky II (1979), Rocky III (1982), with heavyweight champ Rocky taking on the hungry, angry challenger Clubber Lang (Mr. T), and Rocky IV (1985) with Rocky turning cold warrior to take on the brutal Russian champ (Dolph Lundgren) after he kills Apollo in the ring. John G. Avildsen returns to helm Rocky V (1990), which drops the family back into hard times and forces Rocky into retirement and taking on a protégé (Tommy Morrison). The series comes to a belated close with Rocky Balboa (2006), which takes his rough-hewn but pure-of-heart boxer out of retirement and back in the ring for an exhibition bout with a cocky champion (Antonio Tarver) thirty years his junior. Burt Young is back as Paulie while Milo Ventimiglia takes over as Rocky’s son, who is less than thrilled about the old man’s return to the ring. Stallone once again scripts and directs and pounds sides of beef in obligatory training montage: “Gonna Fly Now” indeed.
Six films on six discs in a tightly-packed case. New to this edition is the featurette “8mm Home Movies of Rocky” narrated by John G. Avildsen and his production assistant (and future Troma auteur) Lloyd Kaufman. Carried over from the previous Rocky Blu-ray release are three commentary tracks (one by Stallone, one by trainer Lou Duva and commentator Bert Sugar, and a vintage track featuring Avildsen, producers Irvin Winkler and Robert Chartoff, actors Talia Shire, Carl Weathers and Burt Young and Steadicam inventor Garrett Brown), the three-part documentary “In The Ring,” brief video commentary by Stallone, plus numerous featurettes, interviews, tributes, and other archival supplements.
Chicago: Diamond Edition (Lionsgate, Blu-ray+DVD Combo, Digital HD) – The spirit of Bob Fosse can be felt in the razzle dazzle, if not director Rob Marshall’s often distracting rat-a-tat editing, of the screen version of the exuberantly cynical musical he created for the stage with Fred Ebb and John Kander. Inspired by the real-life media circus that fed on a pair of indicted murderesses in 1920s Chicago, Renee Zellweger is Roxie “I wanna be a star” Hart (less Fosse’s brassy showgirl than corrupted innocent in this version) and Catherine Zeta-Jones is all strutting, sneering diva as “specialty act” star Velma Kelly. Richard Gere is the charming snake of a lawyer who juggles his clients according to their media marquee value. Bill Condon’s screenplay is clever and punchy, though it lacks the venom of Fosse’s original, and it gives Marshall a structure that manages to straddle modern and classic musical styles. The splashy musical numbers give the entire cast a moment in the spotlight, including Queen Latifah (as the cheerfully corrupt prison matron ‘Mama’ Morton) and sad-sack sucker John C. Reilly (who delivers “Mr. Cellophane” as a pouting hobo-clown). And yes, they all do their own singing and dancing. It won six Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress (Catherine Zeta-Jones), and pretty much rebooted the Hollywood movie musical.
It’s been previously released on Blu-ray but the new “Diamond Edition” is newly remastered and adds a Dolby TrueHD 7.1 sound mix and a new documentary to the package: “Chicago in the Spotlight: A Retrospective with Cast and Crew,” a comprehensive 14-part production that exhaustively chronicles the production and runs more than 140 minutes. It’s exclusive to the Blu-ray disc in the combo pack, which also includes a DVD and an UltraViolet Digital HD version of the film. Carried over from the previous release are commentary by director Rob Marshall and screenwriter Bill Condon, almost an hour of extended musical performances, a deleted musical number, and the 27-minute featurette “From Stage to Screen: The History of Chicago.”
The Cinema of Jean Rollin: The Vampire Collection (Kino, Blu-ray, DVD) boxes up four films previously released separately: The Nude Vampire, The Shiver of the Vampires, The Rape of the Vampire, and Requiem for a Vampire. I’m a fan and I reviewed these discs when they were first releases: The Nude Vampire and The Shiver of the Vampires here and The Rape of the Vampire and Requiem for a Vampire here.
More releases:
The Jungle Book Diamond Edition (Disney, Blu-ray+DVD Combo, DVD, Digital HD)
Bad Dreams / Visiting Hours Double Feature (Shout Factory, Blu-ray)
Deep Roots + Starlet Nights (Vinegar Syndrome, DVD)
Nurse Dorm Girl: Sticky Fingers (Impulse, DVD)
Sex Hunter: 1980 (Impulse, DVD)
Calendar of upcoming releases on Blu-ray, DVD, Digital, and VOD