Is Joseph Losey’s elusive, maudit masterpiece really a masterpiece? Stanley Baker’s foolish lout of a writer ruins his life pursuing the wanton Jeanne Moreau, and it’s hard to tell if she’s punishing him or he’s punishing himself. Losey’s directing skills are in top form on location in Venice and Rome for this absorbing art film. Pi’s overdue and very welcome disc sorts out the multiple release versions for the first time, and in so doing finally makes the show critically accessible. Co-starring (swoon) Virna Lisi and James Villiers.
Eve
Region B Blu-ray
Powerhouse Indicator
1962 / B&w / 1:85 widescreen / 126 109, 108 min. / Eva, The Devil’s Woman / Street Date October 19, 2020 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £15.99
Starring: Jeanne Moreau, Stanley Baker, Virna Lisi, James Villiers, Riccardo Garrone, Lisa Gastoni, Checco Rissone, Enzo Fiermonte, Nona Medici, Roberto Paoletti, Alexis Revidis, Evi Rigano.
Cinematography: Gianni Di Venanzo, Henri Decaë
Film...
Eve
Region B Blu-ray
Powerhouse Indicator
1962 / B&w / 1:85 widescreen / 126 109, 108 min. / Eva, The Devil’s Woman / Street Date October 19, 2020 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £15.99
Starring: Jeanne Moreau, Stanley Baker, Virna Lisi, James Villiers, Riccardo Garrone, Lisa Gastoni, Checco Rissone, Enzo Fiermonte, Nona Medici, Roberto Paoletti, Alexis Revidis, Evi Rigano.
Cinematography: Gianni Di Venanzo, Henri Decaë
Film...
- 9/26/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Why do crime caper films have so much appeal? Are we all closet criminals, eager to watch less timid souls risk life and limb to get the big payout and live happily ever after? Peter Yates’ stylish re-telling of England’s Great Train Robbery makes for an excitingly detailed, nonsense-free heist straight from real life, with a just-the-facts clarity. The show begins with an influential car chase — straight through the heart of London.
Robbery
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1967 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 110 min. / Street Date May 21, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Stanley Baker, Joanna Pettet, James Booth, Frank Finlay, Barry Foster, William Marlowe, Clinton Greyn, George Sewell, Glynn Edwards, Julie Ege.
Cinematography: Douglas Slocombe
Film Editor: Reginald Beck
Original Music: Johnny Keating
Written by Edward Boyd, George Markstein, Peter Yates, from a story by Gerald Wilson
Produced by Stanley Baker, Michael Deeley
Directed by Peter Yates
I’d always heard about Peter Yates’ Robbery,...
Robbery
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1967 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 110 min. / Street Date May 21, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Stanley Baker, Joanna Pettet, James Booth, Frank Finlay, Barry Foster, William Marlowe, Clinton Greyn, George Sewell, Glynn Edwards, Julie Ege.
Cinematography: Douglas Slocombe
Film Editor: Reginald Beck
Original Music: Johnny Keating
Written by Edward Boyd, George Markstein, Peter Yates, from a story by Gerald Wilson
Produced by Stanley Baker, Michael Deeley
Directed by Peter Yates
I’d always heard about Peter Yates’ Robbery,...
- 5/7/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Joseph Losey doesn't normally make trendy, lighthearted genre films, and in this SuperSpy epic we find out why -- an impressive production and great music don't compensate for a lack of pace and dynamism, not to mention a narrow sense of humor. Yet it's a lounge classic, and a perverse favorite of spy movie fans. Modesty Blaise Blu-ray Kl Studio Classics 1966 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 119 min. / Street Date August 23, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Monica Vitti, Terence Stamp, Dirk Bogarde, Harry Andrews, Michael Craig, Clive Revill, Alexander Knox, Rossella Falk, Scilla Gabel, Tina Marquand Cinematography Jack Hildyard Production Designer Richard MacDonald, Jack Shampan Film Editor Reginald Beck Original Music John Dankworth Written by Evan Jones from a novel by Peter O'Donnell and a comic strip by Jim Holdaway Produced by Joseph Janni Directed by Joseph Losey
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
When I first reviewed a DVD of Modesty Blaise fourteen years ago,...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
When I first reviewed a DVD of Modesty Blaise fourteen years ago,...
- 7/29/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Where was Leonard Pinth Garnell when we needed him? Joseph Losey is often accused of pretension but in this case he may be guilty. Robert Shaw and Malcolm McDowell are escapees scrambling across a rocky terrain, pursued by a helicopter that seems satisfied to just harass them. Keeping the audience in the dark doesn't reap any dramatic or thematic benefit that I can see. Figures in a Landscape Blu-ray Kl Studio Classics 1970 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 110 min. / Street Date January 12, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Robert Shaw, Malcolm McDowell, Roger Lloyd Pack, Pamela Brown. Cinematography Henri Alekan, Peter Suschitzky, Guy Tabary Film Editor Reginald Beck Art Direction Ted Tester Original Music Richard Rodney Bennett Written by Robert Shaw from the novel by Barry England Produced by John Kohn Directed by Joseph Losey
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Joseph Losey is a gold mine for film criticism but a real problem for simple film reviewing.
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Joseph Losey is a gold mine for film criticism but a real problem for simple film reviewing.
- 1/16/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Rex Harrison hat on TCM: ‘My Fair Lady,’ ‘Anna and the King of Siam’ Rex Harrison is Turner Classic Movies’ final "Summer Under the Stars" star today, August 31, 2013. TCM is currently showing George Cukor’s lavish My Fair Lady (1964), an Academy Award-winning musical that has (in my humble opinion) unfairly lost quite a bit of its prestige in the last several decades. Rex Harrison, invariably a major ham whether playing Saladin, the King of Siam, Julius Caesar, the ghost of a dead sea captain, or Richard Burton’s lover, is for once flawlessly cast as Professor Henry Higgins, who on stage transformed Julie Andrews from cockney duckling to diction-master swan and who in the movie version does the same for Audrey Hepburn. Harrison, by the way, was the year’s Best Actor Oscar winner. (See also: "Audrey Hepburn vs. Julie Andrews: Biggest Oscar Snubs.") Following My Fair Lady, Rex Harrison...
- 8/31/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
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