*** DVD CORNER ***

[king ubu]

I have seen both Metropolis (in a gloriously restored edition, from Berlin, I think, 2002) and M in a theatre, last year or so - terrific films!

Bought this one, recently:

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I just saw this for the first time a couple of days ago. It is a profoundly moving, beautiful film. I went out and bought it the next day. The Criterion Collection DVD is fantastic!

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I was in trance when I left the theatre after the film had finished. Definitely one of my very very dearest films. The home edition here has two DVDs, the first with the film, the second with deleted scenes (including director's audio comments), interviews with Wong and some of the main actors, stills, trailers, posters... quite nicely done.

I would recommend seing this film in a theatre first, though. I haven't dared watching the first DVD yet, being afraid of disillusion. Not sure the colour scheme and everything works out on the small screen...

Oh, and those south of the border songs by Nat Cole are sooooo beautiful! So are Maggie Cheung's dresses...

[brownie]

'M' is a true masterpiece.

I have strong reservations about the content of 'Metropolis'. No wonder that one of the first items on Joseph Goebbel's agenda after Hitler took power was to meet Fritz Lang and ask him to direct more of this type of films.

From what I remember of past readings, Lang left Germany soon after this appointment.

[king ubu]

'M' is a true masterpiece.

I have strong reservations about the content of 'Metropolis'. No wonder that one of the first items on Joseph Goebbel's agenda after Hitler took power was to meet Fritz Lang and ask him to direct more of this type of films.

From what I remember of past readings, Lang left Germany soon after this appointment.

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I think you're right.

However, you can't deny that as a piece of art, "Metropolis" *is* fascinating, no? And all those modern hollywood flicks making use of the vertical (like that stupid sci-fi film that put Milla Jovovich on the map) owe a lot to "Metropolis" (in fact they just stole from it).

[brownie]

I won't even deny that 'Metropolis' is a masterpiece. Just that its content cannot be overlooked.

Hope the new Paris Cinematheque will show this soon.

My first viewing of the film was at a Fritz Lang retrospective at the Cinematheque of Henri Langlois days. I was stunned by the film...in various ways!

[sal]

Anyone have any other Fritz Lang recommendations besides "M" and "Metropolis"? The only other ones I've seen on DVD are the Dr. Mabuse movies. Any good?

[king ubu]

I have no idea what is out on DVD, but here are a few other favourites:

"Man Hunt" (1941 - picture above taken from that film)

"The Woman in the Window" (1944 - one of the most beautifully photographed, and image-wise, not necessarily story-wise, darkest noirs I've seen)

There are more that I've seen, but these two are the ones that come to mind immediately (besides M and Metropolis and the Mabuse ones).

I think I've also seen "Scarlet Street", but I don't have any vivid memories, same, I think, for "Ministry of Fear". Then there's "Hangmen also die", a curiosity, rather than a great film. Poor BB (not Brigitte Bardot, mind me, but the author of the famous "Ballade...") was one of the script writers of that one.

[king ubu]

I won't even deny that 'Metropolis' is a masterpiece. Just that its content cannot be overlooked.

Hope the new Paris Cinematheque will show this soon.

My first viewing of the film was at a Fritz Lang retrospective at the Cinematheque of Henri Langlois days. I was stunned by the film...in various ways!

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Too true, yes!

And go catch it again. I think the restored version was done by the Berlin or Munich Filmmuseum or whatever there is... they will certainly show that one at the Cinemateque!

[BERIGAN]

Anyone have any other Fritz Lang recommendations besides "M" and "Metropolis"?  The only other ones I've seen on DVD are the Dr. Mabuse movies.  Any good?

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The Big Heat is worth checking out for sure...

http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=1:5428~C

[brownie]

Anyone have any other Fritz Lang recommendations besides "M" and "Metropolis"?  The only other ones I've seen on DVD are the Dr. Mabuse movies.  Any good?

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The Big Heat is worth checking out for sure...

http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=1:5428~C

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'Big Heat' is a must-see film. With a number of incredible scenes and great acting (love Gloria Graham in that one!).

But most of the films Lang directed in Hollywood are highly recommended.

Lang started very strong when he went there. 'Fury' (with Spencer Tracy) and 'You only Live Once' (with Henry Fonda and Sylvia Sydney are gripping indictement of the judiciary system.

The war films ('Hangmen Also Die', 'Cloak and Dagger' with a superb performance by Gary Cooper, and 'Ministry of Fear') are genuine masterpieces too.

Skip 'American Guerrilla in the Philippines', a rare bad one from Lang.

More masterpieces are the two films he directed by Joan Bennett 'The Woman in the Window' (with Edward G. Robinson) and 'Scarlet Street'.

And my favorite of them all: 'Moonfleet' with Stewart Granger and George Sanders, a late film in his career but one of his more personal epic.

[kinuta]

Big Heat is a great noir tour de force and a must have in any classic film collection.

[Stefan Wood]

"Woman in the Window" should be reissued on dvd. I had a VHS copy some time ago, and I think I wore it our from playing it many times. Scarlet Street needs to have a definitive remastering job, as it is public domain and all the copies I have seen are washed out and too much contrast.

[BERIGAN]

next Tuesday!

http://www.dvdplanet.com/product_listing.a...9772&format=DVD

[ghost of miles]

Hallelujah! Just got notice that this is finally coming out on DVD:

Hill Street Blues Season 1

[Guest Chaney]

Out November 15, 2005

Harold Lloyd Project Trailer

[Kalo]

Anyone have any other Fritz Lang recommendations besides "M" and "Metropolis"?  The only other ones I've seen on DVD are the Dr. Mabuse movies.  Any good?

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The Big Heat is worth checking out for sure...

http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=1:5428~C

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'Big Heat' is a must-see film. With a number of incredible scenes and great acting (love Gloria Graham in that one!).

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And don't forget Lee Marvin. The Big Heat is essential noir!

Edited October 17, 2005 by Kalo

[Kalo]

  Out November 15, 2005 

Harold Lloyd Project Trailer

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Count me in on this one, too.

[brownie]

And don't forget Lee Marvin. The Big Heat is essential noir!

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I'm trying to forget him every time I see the film

The stuff of nightmares...

[BruceH]

The Big Heat is essential noir!

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True enough, though oddly, it took me awhile to warm up to. If you'll pardon the expression.

[Adam]

Out tomorrow. Very exciting.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000AYEIJ...&s=dvd&v=glance

Edited October 17, 2005 by Adam

[BERIGAN]

They are practically giving them away! http://www.deepdiscountdvd.com/studio.cfm?mainStudioid=17

[ejp626]

I'm excited that the Harold Lloyd collection is finally coming out. I won't get it immediately, but within the next few years.

It may have been discussed already but Criterion has confirmed that they will indeed be rereleasing Playtime in 2006, and there will be a Tati box set as well. Presumably this will be the 70 mm print. I think I heard that their Jour de Fete is (will be) superior to the British release in that it will have a b & w and color version of the film. I wonder if they will put out Traffik as well -- probably not. In any case, I just learned there is a site to buy the 70 mm version of Playtime already (from France), though I think I will wait. This is the site: Playtime from alapage

I really didn't enjoy Playtime the first time I saw it, but I kept thinking about it. It kind of got under my skin -- why didn't I recognize it as a masterpiece? I do think it is a film that needs to be seen twice (at least), despite having almost no plot. I suppose a number of us feel the same way about late Coltrane or Ayler, that it really makes you work at it to understand what is going on, but there is a payoff once you reach that point. Seeing it in 70 mm in the theatre also helped in order to pick up on all the visual jokes and puns. In fact, now that I have visited France a few times (I never had been prior to watching Playtime), every time I see a French pharmacy (with the glowing plus sign) I think of Playtime where there is a glowing circle instead. Tati also has something to offer when thinking about how the French interacted with "modernity" in the 1960s -- something more profound than the modern world stinks, which is how he is typically read. Ah well, watch it if you get a chance and see if it is a movie that stays with you.

[Kalo]

It may have been discussed already but Criterion has confirmed that they will indeed be rereleasing Playtime in 2006, and there will be a Tati box set as well.  Presumably this will be the 70 mm print.  I think I heard that their Jour de Fete is (will be) superior to the British release in that it will have a b & w and color version of the film. 

I really didn't enjoy Playtime the first time I saw it, but I kept thinking about it.  It kind of got under my skin -- why didn't I recognize it as a masterpiece?  I do think it is a film that needs to be seen twice (at least), despite having almost no plot.  I suppose a number of us feel the same way about late Coltrane or Ayler, that it really makes you work at it to understand what is going on, but there is a payoff once you reach that point.  Seeing it in 70 mm in the theatre also helped in order to pick up on all the visual jokes and puns.  In fact, now that I have visited France a few times (I never had been prior to watching Playtime), every time I see a French pharmacy (with the glowing plus sign) I think of Playtime where there is a glowing circle instead.  Tati also has something to offer when thinking about how the French interacted with "modernity" in the 1960s -- something more profound than the modern world stinks, which is how he is typically read.  Ah well, watch it if you get a chance and see if it is a movie that stays with you.

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Great News!

Playtime is one of my all-time favorite movies, right near the top of my top ten. I agree that it's more than just a movie. It's really an essay on how to look at the world, a film that will re-wire your brain if you give it a chance. Definitely must be seen more than once, and on the big screen if at all possible. I hope that they do reissue Trafic, an underrated film in my opinion, with some big laughs, and thought-provoking as well. Sure, it's a retreat from Playtime in many ways, but nobody's gone further in that direction than Tati in Playtime. If Trafic had come before Playtime, it would have a much greater reputation (but then it wouldn't have had that great moon landing sequence).

[Kalo]

I recently bought the Val Lewton Collection boxed set, which was mentioned with much anticipation earlier in this thread.

I will attest that this is great stuff, among the best "B-movies" ever; needless to say, much better than many "A-films."

I had seen Cat People and liked it. And I had been blown away by the definitively downbeat The Seventh Victim, famous for featuring an ominous shower scene over a decade before Hitchcock'sPsycho.

I had long heard of the legendary status of I Walked With a Zombie, but I was still mightily impressed by it after finally seeing it. Among other things, despite being a B-movie horror flick, it convincingly deals with the historical weight of slavery in the Western hemisphere -- a horror story if there ever was one. I Walked With a Zombie, ludicrous title and all, is up there with the best B-movies ever made. I'm talking Out of the Past, perhaps the definitive film noir, and the Randolph Scott/Budd Boetticher western Ride Lonesome, which boasts one of the finest, most cathartic closing shots of any film ever. ...Zombie's closing shot rivals it, but in a way that is steeped with despair rather than triumph.

The unpromisingly tited Curse of the Cat People is an inside look into the psyche of a very young girl trying to make sense of the world. James Agee, the first canonized film critic in American letters, was taken aback by the startling sensitivity of this supposed exploitation flick. In my opinion, it's upthere with Night of the Hunter as both a scary movie and as a portrait of childhood concerns.

A great set, and I haven't even watched the last three films, which were vehicles for horror star Boris Karloff, one of my childhood idols.

[Guy Berger]

[ghost of miles]

I recently bought the Val Lewton Collection boxed set, which was mentioned with much anticipation earlier in this thread.

I had long heard of the legendary status of I Walked With a Zombie, but I was still mightily impressed by it after finally seeing it. Among other things, despite being a B-movie horror flick, it convincingly deals with the historical weight of slavery in the Western hemisphere -- a horror story if there ever was one.  I Walked With a Zombie, ludicrous title and all, is up there with the best B-movies ever made. I'm talking Out of the Past, perhaps the definitive film noir, and the Randolph Scott/Budd Boetticher western Ride Lonesome, which boasts one of the finest, most cathartic closing shots of any film ever. ...Zombie's closing shot rivals it, but in a way that is steeped with despair rather than triumph.

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Kalo,

I got this set as well. My wife & I watched ZOMBIE Saturday night and enjoyed it so much that we watched it again last night with a friend. In fact, I was going to post about it today, but you beat me to it. I agree with everything you say--a stunningly good film, and rife with the theme of colonialism.