In a month that includes Thanksgiving I am always grateful for more crackpot Blu-ray treats. This month we have releases from the sublime to the subversive. From restorations of great films like Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Conformist; Peter Bogdanovich’s The Last Picture Show and Martin Scorsese’s Mean Streets, to enjoyably trashy epics like The Carpetbaggers; a tense TV movie by Steven Spielberg; a bizarrely entertaining Tod Browning film; a fiendish one from Claude Chabrol; and for desert- two of the vilest, most disreputable horror movies ever made- Mark of the Devil and Bloodsucking Freaks. What more could you give thanks for? Now pass the goddamn gravy.
The Carpetbaggers (Kino Lorber) Harold Robbins’ sprawling novel about the dynamic but dastardly tycoon Jonas Cord (modeled vaguely after Howard Hughes) was the kind of potboiler that parents hid under their bed from their kids because of all the adult content. So, it’s astonishing that the film version by Edward Dmytryk was able to streamline that massive novel into a scrappy, sexy, wildly enjoyable film. Much of that can be attributed to the smart screenplay by John Michael Hayes (and Robbins) which crackles with sardonic wit. George Peppard is a little too perfect as the ruthless Jonas Cord, who carves out an empire in planes and the film industry, but leaves scores of miserable women in his wake. Carroll Baker is phenomenal as his father’s merry widow, who becomes a major (Jean Harlow-like) film star and an unhappy lush. Gorgeous Elizabeth Ashley, with that deep, throaty voice, plays Cord’s unhappy wife. And Martha Hyer plays a former prostitute that Jonas molds into a movie star. Alan Ladd is weathered-looking and great as the Western film star Nevada Smith, who has a dark past. This is the kind of film I can watch repeatedly and it’s always a blast, if only to watch Carroll Baker, as the tragic Rina Marlowe, hanging off a chandelier with a champagne glass in one hand. A 4K scan from the original 35mm camera negative, the film looks great and includes an informative and incredibly fun audio commentary by David Del Valle and David DeCoteau, who discuss how difficult George Peppard was on the set, how wonderful Carroll Baker is and how frail Alan Ladd was making the film. Just the best!
The Devil Doll (Warner Archive) Lionel Barrymore plays a former banker and family man falsely accused of embezzlement and murder by his three duplicitous partners and sent to Devil’s Island for 17 years. He escapes with a crazed scientist who shrinks dogs and people to doll-size and controls them with his mind. The banker returns to Paris to get revenge and runs a toys store dressed like an old woman, sending out his “little people” to rob and paralyze his prey. He also watches from afar his lovely daughter (Maureen O’Sullivan), who works in a laundry and is tragically bitter about her father. Director Tod Browning’s lesser-known film is a real treat- with a tremendous performance by Barrymore and a script co-written by Erich von Stroheim. Wonderfully weird, with remarkable special effects for the time and surprisingly moving as it is macabre. With two fabulous vintage 30s cartoons from Warner Brothers.
Off Balance (Cauldron) A sort-of “giallo” by director Reggero Deodato (Cannibal Holocaust) about a world-famous pianist Robert Dominici (Michael York) diagnosed with a rare disease that causes rapid aging. He suffers wild swings of rage as his condition worsens and begins a series of violent killings, taunting the police on the phone after each one. There is little mystery to who the killer is right from the get-go, but what’s interesting is the sympathy you have for Robert, despite the hideous crimes. This is a very strange film which Deodato originally was proud of but then, in later interviews, dismissed simply because he was forced to accept actress Edwige Fenech in the part of the in-peril girlfriend. Well, that’s bullshit- Fenech is always terrific and makes the most of her small part. The film is problematic, but still fascinating and I have been trying to see it for years (under the title Phantom of Death), so this gorgeous, uncut, restored in 2K from the negative restoration is a thrill. York is sensational and sadly ended up actually suffering from a rare blood disease himself. (Mercifully he had a successful stem cell transplant at the Mayo Clinic). With excellent, informative and engaging commentary by Troy Howarth and Eugenio Ercolani.
The Last Picture Show (Criterion) A sense of bittersweet melancholy permeates Peter Bogdanovich’s brilliant 1971 adaptation of the Larry McMurtry novel set in a windblown, dying Texas town in the early 1950s as young friends navigate love, sex and friendship. Ben Johnson is unforgettable as Sam the Lion, the fatherly force that holds the town together, owning the pool hall, the diner and Royal movie theater- which, believe me, are the only things to do in town for young friends Duane (Jeff Bridges), Sonny (Timothy Bottoms) and the sweet, mentally challenged Billy (Sam Bottoms). Duane is in love with the cool, teenage beauty Jacy (Cybill Shepherd), but Jacy’s mother (an incandescent Ellen Burstyn), wants her to hold out for someone more substantial (even though she drinks and sleeps around herself, unsatisfied in her own marriage). Sonny begins an affair with the lonely, unhappy wife of the high school coach (played with heartbreaking poignance by Cloris Leachman, who won an Oscar for her performance). The masterful black and white cinematography is by Robert Surtees. The film still packs a punch thanks to the sharp direction and all the incredible performances (not forgetting Eileen Brennan as the tart-talking but tender-hearted waitress). This 4K restoration on Criterion is revelatory- and the disc offers Bogdanovich’s sequel Texasville (1990) in two versions- the color, theatrical release and the black & white director’s cut which is preferable (which reunites Bridges, Burstyn, Bottoms, Brennan, Shepherd and Leachman as their original characters, many years later).
Mean Streets (Criterion) This kinetic blast of raw energy on film was the 1973 movie that catapulted the career of Martin Scorsese. The story of small-time hoods and friends on the mean streets of Little Italy reverberates with the music, the dark humor and the violence of their lives. Harvey Keitel is magnificent is the devoutly Catholic Charlie and Robert De Niro burns a hole in the screen as the volatile, off-the-wall, live-wire Johnny Boy, who Charlie is forever cleaning up after. There is so much that feels achingly personal about the movie. An unforgettable, great film, now getting the 4K Criterion treatment with a restoration approved by Scorsese and long-time collaborator and brilliant editor Thelma Schoonmaker. It comes with selected scene commentary, a conversation with Richard Linklater, a promotional video made at the time of the film’s 1973 release. You’ll never ever hear “Mickey’s Monkey” (by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles) without thinking of this film again.
Bloodsucking Freaks (Vinegar Syndrome) I had a good friend who would call the box office of a theater on 42ndstreet repeatedly in order to ask what movie was playing just to hear the cashier say: “Bloodsucking Freaks at 2, 4, 6, 8 & 10.” The original title of the film was “Sardu: Master of the Screaming Virgins,” or “The Incredible Torture Show,” but when Troma got their hands on the film for distribution it got changed to the maniacally memorable Bloodsucking Freaks. This new 4K UHD uncut restoration is from the 35mm internegative and comes with a host of extras. Seamus O’Brien plays the great “Sardu” the host of a Grand Guignol “Theater of the Macabre” in Soho, NYC. But the naked girls his grinning, sadistic dwarf henchman (Luis De Jesus) brings on stage and tortures in front of the audience are actually real. He also runs a white slavery ring; has chained cannibalistic girls in the basement and has a disreputable doctor (Ernie Pysher) on call who takes payment out in trade. The doctor does illicit operations on the enslaved girls while singing opera (he even drills a hole in the head of one and drinks her brains out with a straw). Sardu kidnaps a famed ballerina from Lincoln Center and forces her to kick in the head of a nasty theater critic. It’s all very Herschell Gordon Lewis (The Wizard of Gore) with similar bad gore jokes and reveling in hateful misogyny. Fortunately, the effete Seamus O’Brien, with his beard, turtleneck and mirrored pendant hanging around his neck is such a hoot it’s hard to hate the film. Sadly, O’Brien was stabbed to death by a burglar a year later and died at 44. I had the misfortune of having lunch with director Joel M. Reed and he was much more repulsive, vile and horrible than his enjoyably off-the-wall film.
The Conformist (Raro Video) Bernardo Bertolucci’s masterpiece about a repressed man who rises to power in fascist 1938 Italy. Jean-Louis Trintignant is sensational as the weak-willed Marcello, who has a pathological need to “conform” and ends up working for Mussolini while courting a beautiful woman Giulia (Stefania Sandrelli). He is assigned to kill a former professor causing problems for the fascists, which becomes complicated when he becomes entangled with the scholar’s beautiful wife (Dominque Sanda). Sanda is unforgettable in the movie (especially in her sexy tango with Giulia, and a hair-raising forest chase). The always mesmerizing Pierre Clementi plays a shady former chauffeur from Marcello’s past who holds the key to his repression. This has been on Blu-ray before but finally is given a proper restoration which enhances the astonishing visuals from master cinematographer Vittorio Storaro. With a great score by Georges Delerue. When I managed a repertory cinema in Provincetown, we used to play The Conformist every summer to sold-out crowds and I would sit at the top of the stairs watching that film over and over- always hypnotized by its beauty and power.
La Ceremonie (Criterion) A wealthy French family hire a housekeeper named Sophie (Sandrine Bonnaire) to manage their country estate located on an isolated island. No, this is not Merchant/Ivory– it’s Claude Chabrol, the French master of murder and malice. “Our serious Sophie,” is how the employer (Jacqueline Bisset) refers to her new servant, and indeed, Sophie is an odd duck. She is shy, loves watching TV in her room, has a fondness for chocolate and a paranoia that the family will discover her inability to read which brings her into contact with Jeanne (Isabelle Huppert), a fast-talking postal worker with a dark past who takes Sophie under her wing much to the family’s disapproval. From the first frame, you wait in nervous anticipation for something dreadful to occur and Chabrol delivers in spectacular fashion. Bonnaire, Huppert, Bisset are sensational, and I think it’s one of Chabrol’s best- his icy, cool style chills you to the core.
Mark of the Devil (Vinegar Syndrome) A 4K UHD multi-disc restoration of one of the first films to be marketed with a vomit bag handed out to audience members and rated “V for violence.” This gruesome German import stars Herbert Lom as a sadistic judge in 18th Century Austria who ferrets out witches by torturing women. Tongues are ripped out; limbs are torn from their sockets- it’s gleefully gruesome. With Udo Kier and the creepy-looking Reggie Nalder. This is a 3 disc 4K UHD Blu-ray set, newly scanned from the 35mm original negative. This amazing box set includes extras like commentary with director Michael Armstrong and copious extras. (I proudly still have my vomit bag pinned to my kitchen wall).
Duel (Universal) This wildly suspenseful 1971 television movie-of-the-week was a hint of things-to-come from director Steven Spielberg. It stars Dennis Weaver as a salesman and motorist on the Californian highway who is terrorized by large 40-ton truck. This faceless menace keeps reappearing in all sorts of deadly ways. Spielberg handles this simple premise beautifully- it’s a paranoid nightmare of a film from beginning to fiery end. If you’ve never owned this, here’s your chance to watch it in 4K and with extras like a conversation with Spielberg and the bonus extra: Richard Matheson: The Writing of Duel. Matheson was the author of The Incredible Shrinking Man, I Am Legend and wrote exemplary screenplays for Roger Corman, not to mention the other incredibly memorable TV-movie- Trilogy of Terror.
The Perfume of the Lady in Black (Raro Video) Hallucinatory, dream-like 1974 Italian psychological thriller directed by Francesco Barilli starring Mimsy Farmer as a chemist for a perfume company living in a gorgeous flat in Rome who suffers a series of strange visions and is slowly driven mad. Very, very, strange, with gorgeous art direction and an ending more shocking than anything you can imagine. There’s a great sense of paranoia and dread in this unique film, and Mimsy Farmer, as always, is sensational.
