I cannot think of a better valentine than any of the Blu-ray releases this month. From two separate 4K UHD releases of (Italian horror maestro) Dario Argento films, to a gorgeous upgrade of a Mario Bava “giallo” thriller, to a racy pre-Code Tarzan film, to an even racier Jean Harlow/Clark Gable melodrama, to a glorious restoration of an influential, surreal gay classic by James Bidgood, to a little-known Eddie Bracken & Veronica Lake mystery to a stunning French action fantasy to a Doris Day and Gordon MacRae period musical comedy. Then there is the glorious film of the hit Broadway show of Stephen Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along. Delicious. And better than cavity-inducing chocolate, indeed.
The Stendahl Syndrome (Vinegar Syndrome) A 4K UHD/Blu-ray 2-disc set of Italian horror director Dario Argento’s 1996 last true masterpiece. The director’s daughter (Asia Argento) is haunting as a police detective searching for a serial killer in Italy. She also has a syndrome that makes her overwhelmed while looking at art. The opening scene where she passes out while staring at a painting in the Uffizi gallery is hallucinatory. With a gorgeous score by Ennio Morricone. It’s a brutal film and nightmarishly intense at times, but it’s also unforgettable. Newly restored and scanned from the original 35mm camera negative, this comes with copious extras including a lengthy interview with Dario Argento, excellent audio commentary by film historians Eugenio Ercolani, Troy Howarth and Nathaniel Thompson. An extra about special effects wizard Sergio Stivaletti; a lengthy interview with Asia Argento. And a 40-page book with great essays, not to mention a beautiful slipcover and reversible Blu-ray sleeve art.
A Bay of Blood (Severin) (aka Twitch of The Death Nerve) A wealthy countess is murdered and what follows is a series of bloody killings that really mask a greedy siege by all the relatives set to inherit the wealthy property around a lake. Surprisingly gory for its time, this 1971 Mario Bava directed movie was the precursor to the body-count films of the 80s. Darkly witty and just a blast. Starring Claudine Auger, Luigi Pistilli, and long-time Pasolini best friend Laura Betti, this only gets better with repeated viewings. This is an amazing 5-disc limited edition set which includes three different versions of the film (2 discs are 4K UHD) and a bonus CD of the soundtrack. There are also over 4 hours of special features and several audio commentaries. Included is an interview with Mario Bava’s son Lamberto (also the assistant director on this film and future director of Demons). An interview with fabulous former child star Nicoletta Elmo, who also appeared in Dario Argento’s Deep Red and Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein. A terrific interview with film historian Stephen Thrower and one extra of director Joe Dante on Mario Bava’s career. If ever there was a must-own Blu-ray box set this is it.
Tarzan and His Mate (Warner Archive) Arguably the best of the Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan series thanks to the lovely Maureen O’Sullivan as his loving wife Jane. Based on the books by Edgar Rice Burroughs, this 1934 action film was still geared to more adult audiences, and the pre-Code sequences (like Jane swimming totally nude and violent encounters with native cannibal tribes) make the film an eye-opener to say the least. The plot is about the intrusion to this idyllic jungle life by some greedy Englishman on safari, set on collecting valuable ivory tusks from the elephant burial ground. Just terrific from beginning to end, with O’Sullivan at her most sublime. This disc looks extraordinary too.
By the Light of the Silvery Moon (Warner Archive) Tuneful 1953 follow-up to On Moonlight Bay, this Warner Brothers musical is also based on Booth Tarkington stories, and stars a luminous Doris Day as Marjorie Winfield, the tomboyish daughter of a banker and his family in 1910 Indiana. Returning are Leon Ames and Rosemary DeCamp as the loving parents and the always wonderful Mary Wickes as the tart-tongued housekeeper. Handsome Gordon MacRae is also back as Bill Sherman, returning from fighting in World War I and now engaged to Marjorie. Billy Gray plays the trouble-making son Wesley, who now considers himself a private eye and has a pet turkey. Some of the songs include, “If You Were the Only Girl (in the World),” “Ain’t We Got Fun,” and, of course, “By the Light of the Silvery Moon.” Much like Meet Me in St. Louis, it’s a picture postcard of Americana that never was. But who cares, just as long as Doris and Gordon keep singing.
Pink Narcissus (Strand) The 1971 gay cult classic by James Bidgood follows the surreal, bejeweled dreams of pouty-lipped teen beauty (Bobby Kendall) as he imagines himself a matador, a harem boy and a leather-jacked cyclist. There was great mystery for many years as to who was the creator of this film. Long attributed to “Anonymous,” this was the passion project and unique vision of James Bidgood, who spent 7 years on this labor of love- creating the sets and costumes in his Times Square apartment. Only to have it taken away and edited by others. This poetic, erotic reverie echoes the work of Kenneth Anger (Scorpio Rising), Jack Smith (Flaming Creatures) and Cocteau (but with cock). His homoerotic photographs for 60s’s beefcake magazines like The Young Physique and Demi-Gods were often stills of Bobby Kendall in Pink Narcissus. They have been an inspiration to countless artists and photographers. This is a gorgeous new restoration of a sexy, mad masterpiece.
Red Dust (Warner Archive) “You talk too much but you’re a cute little trick at that.” says rubber plantation foreman Dennis Carson (Clark Gable) to Vantine (Jean Harlow) as they spar in this pre-Code melodrama. Vantine is on the run from authorities in Saigon and shows up at the plantation to lay low, which is set in French Indochina during monsoon season. Gary Willis (Gene Raymond), an engineer, also shows up suffering from fever along with his classy, uptight wife Barbara (Mary Astor). Besides wild winds, thunderous storms and a man-eating tiger, Vantine and Barbara lock horns over Carson’s affection in this steamy blast. The chemistry between Clark Gable and Jean Harlow is off the charts- the second of six movies they made together. Harlow’s way with snappy dialogue is utterly priceless- it’s impossible not to root for her. Digitally cleaned-up, this 1932 film directed by Victor Fleming (Gone with the Wind/The Wizard of Oz) looks phenomenal on Blu-ray. There’s a great moment when Jean Harlow is cleaning out the parrot cage and she looks at the bird and sarcastically says, “What have you been eating- cement?”
Hold That Blonde! (Kino Lorber) Frenetic 1945 comedy/crime film starring Eddie Bracken as Ogden Spencer Trulow III, a hopeless kleptomaniac who is told by a psychiatrist (George Zucco) that he can be cured if he falls in love again. Unfortunately, he falls for Sally Marlin (lovely Veronica Lake), after stealing her compact which contains the combination of a Long Island safe housing the famed Romanoff jewels. She has been forced to work alongside an unscrupulous mob out to steal the necklace. Bracken is all spastic and manic in the role, and the fabulous Willie Best plays his exasperated servant. There’s even a hanging-off-the-side-of-a-skyscraper moment right out of a Harold Lloyd silent comedy in this fast and furious caper. Directed by George Marshall (The Ghost Breakers).
Brotherhood of the Wolf (Shout! Factory) New 4K UHD Blu-ray of a spectacular French fantasy/action epic beautifully directed by Chrtistophe Gans (with stunning cinematography by Dan Laustsen) that successfully mixes martial arts and mythic monsters. Set in 18th Century France where a fearsome beast is killing off women and children in the countryside, the King sends in a botanist (handsome Samuel Le Bihan) and his faithful Indian companion (renowned martial arts master Mark Dacascos), who uncovers a secret society protecting and sending out this bloodthirsty creature. Fabulous action sequences- the movie may look like Dangerous Liasons but it feels like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Wolf. Jim Henson’s “Creature Shop” created a ferocious and unforgettable monster and gorgeous Monica Bellucci stands out as a mysterious courtesan with a particularly lethal fan.
Dead of Night (Kino Lorber) A new 4K scan from the original camera negative, this is a sterling restoration of a classic 1945 British omnibus of terror tales with a wraparound story about a group of strangers gathered at a country estate. There’s a young couple who purchase an antique and extremely haunted mirror, a racing car driver with deadly premonitions, etc. But the indelible entry is one about a ventriloquist (Michael Redgrave) and his dummy with a fiendish mind of its own. Ealing Studios brought 4 great directors to helm each story and Redgrave’s performance is a thing of haunting beauty. The disc includes a 75-minute documentary on the film and audio commentary by Tim Lucas.
The Phantom of the Opera (Vinegar Syndrome) Italian master Dario Argento has a go at the famed Gaston Leroux novel about a madman (handsome Julian Sands) who hides in the bowels of an opera house and becomes fixated on a singer. Asia Argento plays Christine, the beautiful soprano and stand-in for the corpulent diva (wonderfully played by Nadia Rinaldi). This gothic romance deviates a lot from the original story. And rats play a bigger part. In this incarnation as a baby the Phantom was found floating in the sewers in a basket and rescued by rats. He lives in the caves deep beneath the Paris Opera house and murders those who discover his lair. He also isn’t disfigured, as in most other versions, and has long hair and a leather cape. Christine is torn between her love for a rich nobleman and the Phantom, who she visits in his underground palace and makes love to. Argento already did a variation of the same theme in his brutal but brilliant- Opera. Shot in Budapest, the production design, cinematography and score are wonderful, and since it is a director I revere I always return to his lesser-liked films in order to discover their strengths. This also includes the Italian language version, which does help a lot. This 4K UHD & Blu-ray set looks extraordinary and comes with great audio commentary by film historians Troy Howarth & Nathaniel Thompson (who rather like this movie, which is a relief). The Phantom of the Opera starring Claude Rains was a favorite film of a young Argento and the origin of this movie came from a contest where fans wrote in the film they most wished the director would do. There’s a fabulous interview with actress Nadia Rinaldi about her experience making the movie, plus interviews with director Argento and daughter Asia.
Merrily We Roll Along (Sony) I can’t tell you how many different productions of this show I attended through the years. I was always saddened that the show never seemed to work. The score by Stephen Sondheim was glorious. The book by George Furth was terrific. It was originally based on a 1934 play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart with an inspired premise- it’s about three inseparable friends, all with artistic aspirations and what happens to them over the years- but told backwards. It wasn’t until Maria Friedman’s directorial genius and the powerhouse cast (Jonathan Groff, Daniel Radcliffe and Lindsay Mendez) did the show finally come together brilliantly. After a wildly successful run on Broadway, mercifully Friedman filmed the production and the close-ups really add emotional power to the story. We begin in California in 1976 with Franklin (Jonathan Groff), a successful Hollywood producer celebrating his latest success. Mary (Lindsay Mendez), a novelist, has flown out for the event but is now a bitter alcoholic and antagonistic to the guests. And Charley (Daniel Radcliffe) is still writing plays in New York, but sadly, his friendship with Franklin irreparably damaged. When we get to the end of the show with the three, all young, wide-eyed, optimistic and drunk on their dreams, it’s all the more heartbreaking.