What a great title to revisit — John Ford’s ‘Kabuki’ western is less about action and more about form and tradition — especially the way the truth gets plowed under in ‘the West,’ which is of course America reduced to a mythological keepsake. John Wayne, James Stewart and Lee Marvin’s characters seem to know they are playing roles that never change. We might question the values but there’s no denying that said values prevailed as the country’s consensus self-image. Paramount’s new 4K makes a great-looking movie look even better, Pilgrim — and we don’t tolerate no disloyal debates ’bout film grain North of the Picket Wire.
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray
Paramount Presents
1962 / B&w / 1:85 widescreen / 123 min. / Street Date May 17, 2022 / Available from Amazon
Starring: John Wayne, James Stewart, Vera Miles, Lee Marvin, Edmond O’Brien, Andy Devine, Ken Murray, John Carradine, Jeanette Nolan,...
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray
Paramount Presents
1962 / B&w / 1:85 widescreen / 123 min. / Street Date May 17, 2022 / Available from Amazon
Starring: John Wayne, James Stewart, Vera Miles, Lee Marvin, Edmond O’Brien, Andy Devine, Ken Murray, John Carradine, Jeanette Nolan,...
- 5/14/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
One of the most glamorous / unsavory films noir ever, this creepy tale of a master con-man undone by warped ambition was planned as a career-altering role for the big star Tyrone Power. Power plumbs the depths of personal degradation in terms that even today skew to the squeamish side of human experience. Almost as fascinating are the women Power uses, arrayed in dynamic contrast: Coleen Gray, Joan Blondell and Helen Walker. Yes, this is the movie about ‘The Geek’… Hollywood hadn’t been this intimate with the seamy underside of carnival life since Tod Browning’s Freaks. The disc extras include top contributions from James Ursini and Alain Silver, Imogen Sara Smith and even Coleen Gray.
Nightmare Alley
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1078
1947 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 111 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date May 25, 2021 / 39.95
Starring: Tyrone Power, Coleen Gray, Joan Blondell, Helen Walker, Taylor Holmes, Mike Mazurki, Ian Keith,...
Nightmare Alley
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1078
1947 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 111 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date May 25, 2021 / 39.95
Starring: Tyrone Power, Coleen Gray, Joan Blondell, Helen Walker, Taylor Holmes, Mike Mazurki, Ian Keith,...
- 5/11/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
With his exaggerated visuals, eye-popping color and frantic characterizations, Frank Tashlin has been promoted to a genuine ‘fifties icon. This freewheeling comedy hits on the Top Tashlin fetish subjects: Hollywood glitz, Madison Avenue neurosis, dynamic women, wimpy men and… and… bosoms, dammit. As the bubbly yet calculating sex symbol Rita Marlowe, Jayne Mansfield places career issues way ahead of anything to do with sex. Tony Randall receives his first leading film role as a Mad Man who’ll jump through hoops to keep an account. But the surprise is Betsy Drake, who more than anyone represents the conflicts facing the pre-feminist ’50s woman: she defines success her own way.
Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1957 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 93 min. / Street Date Feb 19, 2019 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95
Starring: Tony Randall, Jayne Mansfield, Betsy Drake, Joan Blondell, John Williams, Henry Jones, Mickey Hargitay.
Cinematography: Joseph MacDonald
Film...
Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1957 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 93 min. / Street Date Feb 19, 2019 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95
Starring: Tony Randall, Jayne Mansfield, Betsy Drake, Joan Blondell, John Williams, Henry Jones, Mickey Hargitay.
Cinematography: Joseph MacDonald
Film...
- 3/9/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Nunnally Johnson hands us a well-written spy & hostage drama set in Cold War Berlin, with plenty of intrigue and good humor to boot. Gregory Peck is the troubled negotiator and Broderick Crawford a Yankee galoot sticking his nose where it isn’t wanted. This one has been out of reach for quite a while — and it works up some fun suspense.
Night People
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1954 / Color / 2:55 widescreen / 93 min. / Street Date July 25, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Gregory Peck, Broderick Crawford, Anita Björk, Rita Gam, Walter Abel, Buddy Ebsen, Max Showalter, Jill Esmond, Peter van Eyck, Marianne Koch, Hugh McDermott, Paul Carpenter, Lionel Murton, Ottow Reichow.
Cinematography: Charles G. Clarke
Film Editor: Dorothy Spencer
Original Music: Cyril Mockridge
Story by Jed Harris, Tom Reed
Associate Producer Gerd Oswald
Written, Directed and Produced by Nunnally Johnson
An intelligent cold war thriller about distrust and passive aggression across the East-West divide in Berlin,...
Night People
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1954 / Color / 2:55 widescreen / 93 min. / Street Date July 25, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Gregory Peck, Broderick Crawford, Anita Björk, Rita Gam, Walter Abel, Buddy Ebsen, Max Showalter, Jill Esmond, Peter van Eyck, Marianne Koch, Hugh McDermott, Paul Carpenter, Lionel Murton, Ottow Reichow.
Cinematography: Charles G. Clarke
Film Editor: Dorothy Spencer
Original Music: Cyril Mockridge
Story by Jed Harris, Tom Reed
Associate Producer Gerd Oswald
Written, Directed and Produced by Nunnally Johnson
An intelligent cold war thriller about distrust and passive aggression across the East-West divide in Berlin,...
- 7/31/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Sean Wilson Jan 16, 2017
From the BBC's Sherlock, through Disney, Hans Zimmer and Young Sherlock Holmes: we salute the music of Mr Holmes...
Few characters have enjoyed as much reinvention as Arthur Conan Doyle's sleuth Sherlock Holmes, an enduring icon who is as much bound up with the history of cinema (and indeed stage, TV and radio) as he is with literature. Indeed, adaptations of Holmes stories stretch right the way back to the earliest days of film at the start of the 20th century. Fittingly enough given Holmes' penchant for a violin serenade, the musical scores to his adventures are as richly varied as the outcomes to his mysteries are unexpected. Here are Holmes' musical highlights, from Buster Keaton through to Benedict Cumberbatch.
Sherlock Jr. (1924)
Not, strictly speaking, a Sherlock movie but as the title implies, the legacy of the character casts a long shadow over Buster Keaton's silent classic.
From the BBC's Sherlock, through Disney, Hans Zimmer and Young Sherlock Holmes: we salute the music of Mr Holmes...
Few characters have enjoyed as much reinvention as Arthur Conan Doyle's sleuth Sherlock Holmes, an enduring icon who is as much bound up with the history of cinema (and indeed stage, TV and radio) as he is with literature. Indeed, adaptations of Holmes stories stretch right the way back to the earliest days of film at the start of the 20th century. Fittingly enough given Holmes' penchant for a violin serenade, the musical scores to his adventures are as richly varied as the outcomes to his mysteries are unexpected. Here are Holmes' musical highlights, from Buster Keaton through to Benedict Cumberbatch.
Sherlock Jr. (1924)
Not, strictly speaking, a Sherlock movie but as the title implies, the legacy of the character casts a long shadow over Buster Keaton's silent classic.
- 1/15/2017
- Den of Geek
Yes, it is a perfect title for a horror picture, but it belongs to an early film noir -- or as we discover, a murder thriller that previews the classic '40s noir visual look. Victor Mature is the man on the spot for a killing, Betty Grable and Carole Landis are a pair of sisters in danger, and Laird Cregar is the creepiest police detective in the history of the force. I Wake Up Screaming Blu-ray Kl Studio Classics 1941 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 82 min. / Street Date November 1, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Betty Grable, Victor Mature, Carole Landis, Laird Cregar, William Gargan, Alan Mowbray, Allyn Joslyn, Elisha Cook Jr. Cinematography Edward Cronjager Art Direction Richard Day, Nathan Juran Film Editor Robert L. Simpson Original Music Cyril J. Mockridge, Harold Barlow Written by Dwight Taylor from the novel by Steve Fisher Directed by H. Bruce Humberstone
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
My,...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
My,...
- 10/29/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Richard Brooks' exciting Humphrey Bogart picture is one of the best newspaper sagas ever. An editor deals with a gangster threat and a domestic crisis even as greedy heirs are selling his paper out from under him. Commentator Eddie Muller drives home the film's essential civics lesson about what we've lost -- a functioning free press. Deadline - U.S.A. Blu-ray Kl Studio Classics 1952 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 87 min. / Street Date July 26, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Humphrey Bogart, Ethel Barrymore, Kim Hunter, Ed Begley, Warren Stevens, Paul Stewart, Martin Gabel, Joe De Santis, Audrey Christie, Jim Backus, Willis Bouchey, Joseph Crehan, Lawrence Dobkin, John Doucette, Paul Dubov, William Forrest, Dabbs Greer, Thomas Browne Henry, Paul Maxey, Ann McCrea, Kasia Orzazewski, Tom Powers, Joe Sawyer, William Self, Phillip Terry, Carleton Young. Cinematography Milton Krasner Film Editor William B.Murphy Original Music Cyril J. Mockridge Produced by Sol C. Siegel...
- 9/2/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Leave it to director William Wellman to direct the most compelling social justice movie of the 1940s. Taken from a bestselling novel, it's a wrenching examination of the workings of a natural American phenomenon, the Lynch Mob. The Ox-Bow Incident Blu-ray Kl Studio Classics 1942 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 75 min. / Street Date July 12, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Henry Fonda, Dana Andrews, Mary Beth Hughes, Anthony Quinn, William Eythe, Harry Morgan, Jane Darwell, Matt Briggs, Harry Davenport, Frank Conroy, Marc Lawrence Cinematography Arthur Miller Art Direction James Basevi, Richard Day Film Editor Allen McNeil Original Music Cyril J. Mockridge Written and Produced by Lamar Trotti from a novel by Walter Van Tilburg Clark Directed by William A. Wellman
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
In the first scene of this grim feature, Henry Fonda stumbles out of a saloon street and throws up in the street. Apparently that was the reaction shared...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
In the first scene of this grim feature, Henry Fonda stumbles out of a saloon street and throws up in the street. Apparently that was the reaction shared...
- 8/22/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Wonderful isn't a good enough word to describe this joyful, funny and visually intoxicating Alice Faye musical by Busby Berkeley. Decades later it became part of a big Camp revival, but the real draw is still the Benny Goodman swing music, delightful performers like Carmen Miranda, and Berkeley's bizarre Technicolor visions. The Gang's All Here Blu-ray Twilight Time 1943 / Color / 1:37 Academy / 103 min. / Street Date July 19, 2016 / Available from Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95 Starring Alice Faye, Carmen Miranda, Phil Baker, Benny Goodman and Orchestra, Eugene Pallette, Charlotte Greenwood, Edward Everett Horton, Tony De Marco, James Ellison, Sheila Ryan, Dave Willock, Jeanne Crain, Frank Faylen, June Haver, Adele Jergens. Cinematography Edward Cronjager Special Effects Fred Sersen Original Music Harry Warren, Leo Robin, Hugo Friedhofer, Arthur Lange, Cyril J. Mockridge, Alfred Newman, Gene Rose Written by Walter Bullock, Nancy Wintner, George Root Jr., Tom Bridges Produced by William LeBaron Directed by Busby Berkeley
Reviewed...
Reviewed...
- 7/29/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Otto Preminger looks at police corruption and comes up with a classy noir starring Dana Andrews as a rogue cop and Gene Tierney as the woman whose father he accidentally frames for murder. With Karl Malden, Gary Merrill and velvety-slick B&W cinematography by Joseph Lashelle. Where the Sidewalk Ends Blu-ray Twilight Time Limited Edition 1950 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 95 min. / Ship Date February 9, 2016 / available through Twilight Time Movies / 29.95 Starring Dana Andrews, Gene Tierney, Gary Merrill, Bert Freed, Tom Tully, Karl Malden, Ruth Donnelly, Craig Stevens. Cinematography Joseph Lashelle Art Direction J. Russell Spencer, Lyle Wheeler Film Editor Louis R. Loeffler Original Music Cyril J. Mockridge Written by Ben Hecht, Robert E. Kent, Frank P. Rosenberg, Victor Trivas from the novel Night Cry by William L. Stuart Produced and Directed by Otto Preminger
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Want to see an example of a gloriously polished studio production, a film noir...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Want to see an example of a gloriously polished studio production, a film noir...
- 2/21/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
We've already got a fine domestic disc with both versions of John Ford's fine Henry Fonda western. This Region B UK release duplicates that arrangement with different extras, and throws in a fine HD transfer of an earlier Allan Dwan version of the same story -- with strong similarities -- called Frontier Marshal. It stars Randolph Scott, Nancy Kelly, Cesar Romero and Binnie Barnes and it's very good. My Darling Clementine + Frontier Marshal Region B Blu-ray Arrow Academy (UK) 1946 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 97 + 103 min. (two versions) / Street Date August 17, 2015, 2014 / Amazon UK / £19.99 Starring Henry Fonda, Linda Darnell, Victor Mature, Cathy Downs, Walter Brennan, Tim Holt, Ward Bond, Alan Mowbray, John Ireland, Roy Roberts, Jane Darwell, Grant Withers, J. Farrell MacDonald, Russell Simpson. Cinematography Joe MacDonald Art Direction James Basevi, Lyle Wheeler Film Editor Dorothy Spencer Original Music Cyril Mockridge Written by Samuel G. Engel, Sam Hellman, Winston Miller Produced by Samuel G. Engel,...
- 10/27/2015
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
We still love John Ford's bitter-sentimental look back at the lost Myth of the West. John Wayne and James Stewart are at least thirty years too old for their roles, but everything seems to be happening in a foggy reverie, so what's the difference, Pilgrim? Great comedy and Lee Marvin's marvelous villain, plus the assertive 'print the Legend' message that's been hotly debated ever since. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance Blu-ray Warner Home Video / Paramount 1962 / B&W / 1:85 widescreen / 123 min. / Street Date October 13, 2015 / 14.98 Starring John Wayne, James Stewart, Vera Miles, Lee Marvin, Edmond O'Brien, Andy Devine, Ken Murray, John Carradine, Jeanette Nolan, John Qualen, Willis Bouchey, Carleton Young, Woody Strode, Denver Pyle, Strother Martin, Lee Van Cleef Cinematography William H. Clothier Production Designer Eddie Imazu & Hal Pereira Film Editor Otho Lovering Original Music Cyril J. Mockridge Writing credits James Warner Bellah & Willis Goldbeck from a story by...
- 10/20/2015
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.