From the rediscovery of a gritty 1980 New York thriller, to a four-pack of films from the legendary Greta Garbo, September Blu-ray releases reinforce the truth that home media is still going strong. There are also rare cult films offered, Ida Lupino as a “Tiger Mom” to her younger sister, a terrific Francois Ozon film from 2013, even a 3-D Paul Naschy-starring wolfman film and a Cold War paranoia double-bill. Not to mention one of the most notorious exploitation titles- Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS. Well, they do say September is “Harvest Month.” Talk about a gonzo, glorious gathering.
Night of the Juggler (Kino Lorber) I’m happy this gritty, 1980 action film, filmed on the mean streets of Manhattan at that time, gets a rediscovery. Originally directed by Sidney J. Furie, who shot the first half hour chronologically. But when the lead (James Brolin) got badly injured and the film went on hiatus he was replaced by Robert Butler when the film resumed. A bearded, bushy-haired James Brolin plays Sean Boyd, a truck driver (and ex-cop) living in the city with his 15-year-old daughter Barbara (Linda Miller). Cliff Gorman plays Gus, a raging, racist, psychotic creep who brazenly kidnaps Sean’s daughter on the street, mistaking her for the daughter of a real estate magnate. After that, Sean chases Gus and his daughter relentlessly across Manhattan. Through seedy Times Square and into the dangerous Bronx. Dan Hedaya plays a twisted police Sgt., Mandy Patinkin is hilarious as a loony cabbie, lovely Julie Carmen plays a woman who works in a dog pound who helps Sean search for clues as to where his daughter is. Richard Castellano, as a weary cop, sighs, “I got a feelin’ it’s gonna be another goddamn New York day.” Look for Warhol alumni Tally Brown as a peep show owner. Adult film star Sharon Mitchell plays a Times Square exotic dancer and wonderful actress Dorothy Lyman shows up briefly as a nurse. It’s a quintessential time capsule of NYC of 1980 and a blast to watch. Included is a new interview with James Brolin and one with Julie Carmen too. There’s also a great extra on Sidney J. Furie by Daniel Kremer, the author of a terrific book on the director’s life and career. The 4k UHD disc looks just incredible.
Greta Garbo Collection 4 Pack (Warner Archive) Glorious Greta Garbo is celebrated with four of her top sound films remastered on Blu-ray. The Swedish silent screen beauty uttered her first sound dialogue in Anna Christie, a 1930 film adaptation of a Eugene O’Neill play about a broken woman (Garbo), with a checkered past, who reunites with her long-lost father, an alcoholic skipper of a coal barge. Her first words on screen are ordering a drink in a waterfront bar, “Give me a whiskey, ginger ale on the side- and don’t be stingy, baby.” This was nominated for several Academy Awards including one for Garbo as Best Actress. Ninotchka is a sparkling 1939 romantic comedy directed by Ernst Lubitsch with a witty screenplay partially written by Billy Wilder. Garbo stars as a steely, humor-impaired Russian envoy arriving in Paris to find out what happened to three agents who were sent to sell jewelry confiscated during the Russian Revolution. “Garbo laughs” was the tag line for this breezy, enjoyable film, co-starring Melvyn Douglas. Camille was the grand 1936 MGM adaptation of the Alexandre Dumas tear-jerker starring Garbo as the doomed courtesan in mid 19-Century Paris. Expertly directed by George Cukor. Handsome Robert Taylor is the man from a good family she tragically falls in love with. The final film is Queen Christina, director Rouben Mamoulian’s 1933 classic about Queen Christina of Sweden who is forced to choose between her love for a Spanish envoy (John Gilbert) and her duty to her people. The scene where she “memorizes the room” of an inn after a night of passion is extraordinary. And the last shot- a close up of her face looking out from the bow of a ship is haunting. (The director told her to keep her mind a blank during that scene but because it’s Garbo the audience reads a multitude of emotions). I remember seeing this one on the big screen at a repertory theater and being overwhelmed by Garbo’s almost supernatural power on screen. Seeing these films again on Blu-ray only reinforce my awe of her.
Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS (Kino Lorber) One of the most notorious exploitation movies of all time- secretly shot on the Hogan’s Heroes set. Buxom Dyanne Thorne stars as a sadistic Nazi commandant of Medical Camp 9. “Once a prisoner has slept with me, he’ll never sleep with another woman!” Ilsa boasts. Sex, sadism and lots of castration made this indefensible 1975 sick puppy a cult hit. I had the privilege of meeting Dyanne Thorne at a Chiller Theatre convention and she was incredibly gracious, funny and absolutely lovely. Fully restored from the original negative this Blu-ray has archival commentary by Dyanne Thorne and director Don Edmonds. There’s new audio commentary by Kat Ellinger and an interview with director Edmonds also.
Invasion U.S.A. (Film Masters) The Commies are Coming! The Commies are Coming! Invasion U.S.A. is about a group of people in a bar are hypnotized by a stranger’s (Dan O’Herlihy) swirling snifter of brandy and imagine the country is suddenly invaded without warning. Filled with stock footage and infused with plenty of Cold War paranoia. The “Enemy Agents” drop A-bombs, take over San Francisco and blow up Boulder Dam. If that isn’t wild enough, the film includes two actresses who played Lois Lane (Phillis Coates & Noel Neill). Others in the cast are Gerald Mohr and Peggy Castle. This 2-disc set also includes Rocket Attack U.S.A. (1960) directed by Barry Mahon about an intelligence officer attempt to steal Sputnik secrets only to have the Soviets retaliate by dropping a bomb on Manhattan. “We cannot let this be- the end!” if the final title card. Included is the hilarious Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode riffing on Rocket Attack U.S.A. They also include over 115 minutes of Atomic-era propaganda shorts. And a featurette on Gerald Mohr with an interview with Gerald’s son Tony Mohr.
The Hard Way (Warner Archive) Ida Lupino is fierce as hell as the scheming Helen Chernan, determined to get her younger, attractive sister Katie (Joan Leslie) out of the soot-choked steel factory town of Greenhill. She gets Katie married to one half of a vaudeville team (Jack Carson & Dennis Morgan) and then ruthlessly maneuvers Katie into fame and fortune on the New York stage. But her machinations end up destroying lives and making everyone miserable in the end. The movie begins as a flashback with Helen in the hospital being questioned by the police after jumping off a waterfront pier. Directed by Vincent Sherman, this was supposedly based on Ginger Rogers and her mother. Typically, Warner Brothers at its finest, the Blu-ray looks extraordinary and includes a Lux Radio Theater production of The Hard Way starring Miriam Hopkins and Anne Baxter and some vintage cartoons that are hilarious.
Castle of Evil (Vinegar Syndrome) Six people are summoned by boat to the island castle of Montego for the reading of the will of electronics evil genius Kovic (William Thourlby). The diabolical servant Lupe (Shelley Morrison) welcomes them and then watches all from close circuit monitors in the basement. She also has a live gecko on her shoulder, tied with a golden thread attached to a broach. A robotic version of Kovic (including the disfigured face from a lab explosion) stalks the guests in this enjoyably junky 1966 horror film directed by Francis D. Lyon (Destination Inner Space). Among the arrivals to the island are butch, heroic Scott Brady, thoughtful Hugh Marlowe, frightened Lisa Gaye, suspicious hothead David Brian and Virginia Mayo (in a flaming red dress) who sings a boozy rendition of “Frankie & Johnny.” Ernest Sarracino as Tunki, another reluctant guest, admits about Kovic, “I long for the day when I can walk on his grave!” Not so fast. An extra includes Professor Paul V. M. Flesher of the American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming, home to the archives of Francis D. Lyons. Lyons began as an editor and then branched out to directing and in 1966 creating United Pictures Corporation, making the first color pictures for television. There are two audio commentaries (one with film historians Jonathan Rigby and Kevin Lyons, the other with Bill Bria and Ashley Coffin from “Bill & Ashley’s Terror Theater” podcast). According to the ads “Funeral expenses guaranteed by a Major North American Insurance Company,” in case “you dropped dead while watching.” Trust me, they never had to pay out.
Frankenstein’s Bloody Terror 3-D (Kino Lorber) The first of the Paul Naschy– Waldemar Daninsky/Hombre Lobo films where he is bitten by a werewolf and chained away in a crypt during full moons to keep him from killing when he transforms into a beast. He sends for a Dr. Mikhelov and his wife, who he believes can scientifically help end the curse. But unfortunately, they turn out to be satanic vampires who sink their fangs into his good friend and his girlfriend. Full of great gothic atmosphere, this was dramatically cut down by American producer Sam Sherman who added the dumb title (there’s no Frankenstein even in the movie, and Sherman stuck “bloody” in practically every drive-in title he produced). There’s a great audio commentary by Troy Howarth, who wrote a sensational book about Paul Naschy: Human Beasts, who is joined by other Naschy historians: Troy Guinn & Rodney Barnett. Painstakingly restored by the 3-D Film Archiveand presented in 3-D (if you are still lucky to have a 3-D TV), but also in anaglyphic (the red/green 3-D glasses are provided with the disc).
Scoop (Kino Lorber) Scarlett Johansson is an absolute delight in Woody Allen’s underrated 2006 comedy. She plays Sondra Pransky, an American journalism student visiting in London who is coaxed on stage for a magic trick by Sid Waterman, the amazing “Splendini” (Woody Allen). During the illusion, she encounters the spirit of a recently deceased journalist (Ian McShane), who gives her a big scoop- that the wealthy son of a Lord- Peter Lyman (Hugh Jackman) is really the “Tarot Card Killer,” who has strangled many prostitutes. She persuades a jittery, reluctant Sid into pretending to be her father and worms her way into the handsome aristocrat’s life, falling madly for him, which really complicates things. Even Sid isn’t so sure this “tip from beyond” is right on the money. “Not everything in this world is sinister, you know. Just practically everything.”
Veerana: Vengeance of the Vampire (Mondo Macabro) A loony 1988 Bollywood vampire film. When a vampire/witch is hanged by villagers, an evil wizard puts her spirit in the body of a sweet young girl named Jasmin. Her mother warns, “Since Jasmin was found in the forest she’s completely changed…Children play with dolls. But Jasmin buries her dolls in the ground for fun.” Shortly afterwards, Mommy is found hanging and Uncle sends Jasmin to Bombay where she grows into a beautiful young woman (except possessed by evil). This being a Bollywood film she even sings in the bathtub and dances lasciviously around her bedroom. The movie throws in The Exorcist where she transforms into a hideous beast occasionally and her head rotates 360 degrees. The idea of a female seductress stabbing and draining men of their blood was shocking for audiences at the time and censorship problems delayed its release for years. The lead actress “Jasmin” never made another film and her whereabouts is a mystery to this day.
The Punishment (Mondo Macabro) French arthouse “S & M” cinema along the lines of The Story of O, supposedly based on a scandalous novel by “Xaviere.” A young woman- Britt (Karin Schubert)- arrives in Paris and is swept up by elegant, wealthy Francoise (Claudie Lange) who dresses her in fabulous clothes, moves her into a beautiful home. But the catch is, Francois is controlled by the mysterious Manuel (Georges Geret), who pimps out Britt’s body to wealthy clients. When one complains that Britt cried during lovemaking, she is taken to a strange house in Lyon, locked nude in a room and is forced to accept all sorts of sick punishments from weird creeps until she becomes a model of submission. This movie, directed by Pierre-Alain Jolivet, is brimming with psychedelic erotica, copious amounts of nudity and all sorts of sordid scenarios, and was rarely seen since it premiered in 1973. This is a 4k restoration from the original uncut print. Supposedly the female author Xaviere dangerously escaped the world she described in her book and was in fear for her life. One of the extras is with composer Bookie Binkley (who also plays the handsome hit man at the end of the film), the other is with the camera operator Noel Very and with writer Jean-Luc Marret, who wrote a “fictionalized” biography of Karin Schubert, who, in real life, drifted into hard core films (to pay for treatment for her drug-addicted son).
Sexomania/Lady Desire (Mondo Macabro). Sexomania is a 1974 Greek erotic melodrama about troubled Lena (Maria Ioannidou), who writes a detailed letter to her husband confessing to him about her secret sex life. She plans to shoot herself when suddenly there is a knock on her door by the next-door neighbor who needs to borrow some pliers. She sleeps with him instead and doesn’t commit suicide. Her husband consults a therapist and they try to get at the root of Lena’s sexual problems by exploring her past. The film is a series of flashbacks of her sordid escapades. A riot of ugly 70s fashion and hideous furniture and a series of clunky choreographed sex scenes. In other words- great fun! The extra feature is Lady Desire (aka I Blame My Body), a black & white Greek drama about a reclusive, pill-popping heiress named Christina. There is a burglary of all her jewelry and heirlooms while she was out and a police officer interrogates Christina trying to get to the mystery of the crime. The story she tells doesn’t jibe with any witness statements. Can he also unravel the mystery that is Christina while he’s at it?
Young & Beautiful (IFC Films) Swimming Pool’s director Francois Ozon’s intriguing 2013 film, undeservedly slammed at Cannes at the time, begins with Isabelle (the sullenly gorgeous Marine Vacth), losing her virginity on a beach vacation with her family on the eve of her 17th birthday. Her sexual awakening takes a bizarre turn when she returns to school in the fall and begins meeting a series of anonymous men in hotel rooms for money. This slide into prostitution has serious ramifications but gives her an illicit thrill and power that normal dating does not. There is a superb scene at the end with the great Charlotte Rampling that sums up the movie; it’s tender, melancholic and magnificent.
