FILM
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November Classic DVD Roundup |
November Classic DVD Roundup The highlights of another typically full month of older films finally getting a DVD release–or a long-awaited re-release, as the case may be–include a couple of silent classics that have been lovingly and exactingly restored, and the return of Steven Spielberg’s first alien-encounter classic....in all three of its versions from the past three decades.
Battleship Potemkin Kino
directed by Sergel Eisenstein
You’d think that, after eight decades of parody and outright theft, the freshness and originality of Sergei Eisenstein’s classic would dissipate somewhat. But, thanks to a splendid new restoration that makes the film look as perfect as if we were back in 1925 seeing it for the first time, Eisenstein’s profound silent masterpiece is still a monumental achievement. Masterly sequences abound, aside from the widely-imitated and discussed “Odessa Steps” sequence, and the music by Edmund Meisel remains a marvel of cinematic drama. This is easily one of the best DVD releases of this—or any—year.
Extras: "Tracing Battleship Potemkin," 42-minute documentary on restoring the film; original score in 5.1 surround; option to watch film with original Russian intertitles or with English ones.
Bram Stoker’s Dracula Sony
directed by Francis Ford Coppola
starring Gary Oldman, Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder, Sadie Frost
Francis Coppola’s go-for-baroque retelling of the classic horror novel has moments of unearthly beauty–especially in the set design and costumes–but as a full-blooded gothic horror film it remains sketchy. Attempting to finesse the horror into psychology, Coppola comes up short in both areas, despite a grandstanding Gary Oldman in the title role. Sony’s two-disc Special Edition includes a new transfer which has caused controversy among fans, since several scenes have been desaturated of their color: in other words, they’re bloodless. “Dracula” is a dark film, but making it quite literally so may not have been the best idea.
Extras: Coppola introduction and commentary; new featurettes: “The Blood is the Life: The Making of Dracula”; “The Costumes are the Sets: The Design of Eiko Ishioka”; “In-Camera: The Naive Visual Effects of Dracula”; “Methods and Madness: Visualizing Dracula”; 30 minutes of deleted scenes.
Chinatown and The Two Jakes Paramount
directed by: Roman Polanski
starring Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston
Another DVD release of Roman Polanski’s classic mystery “Chinatown”–with its near-perfect Oscar-winning script by Robert Towne–comes equipped with more behind-the-scenes features; the sequel, “The Two Jakes”–also scripted by Towne and directed by the star of both films, Jack Nicholson–finally makes its DVD debut. Although not as memorable as the original–mostly because of the absence of Faye Dunaway (Madeleine Stowe is a merely adequate substitute)–“Jakes” is much better than its rep suggests, and the two movies make a most delectable double bill.
Extras: three featurettes including interviews with Polanski, Towne, Evans and Nicholson (“Chinatown”); featurette including interviews with Nicholson, Towne and Evans (“Jakes”)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind: 30th Anniversary Ultimate Edition Sony
directed by: Steven Spielberg
starring Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffaut, Bob Balaban, Melinda Dillon
I never thought that Steven Spielberg’s celebrated 1977 UFO classic needed any tweaking, but obviously the director disagreed, re-editing the film for a 1980 theatrical re-release; then, for its original DVD release in 2001, he made a “director’s cut” by restoring some of what he trimmed and tightening other sections. This three-disc release brings all the versions together, and those so inclined can study the differences (helpfully, a facsimile of the original theatrical poster contains a timeline of changes among the three versions). Still, this remains Spielberg’s first–and in many ways best–exploration of child-like wonder in the face of the unfathomable.
Extras: new 30-minute interview with Spielberg; vintage featurettes and making-of documentary. But what happened to the 11 deleted scenes from the previous release?
I Am Cuba Milestone
directed by: Mikhail Kalatozov
starring Sergio Corrieri, Salvador Wood
Mikhail Kalatozov, best-known for his 1957 classic “The Cranes Are Flying,” made “I Am Cuba” in 1964; it was almost immediately suppressed by Soviet authorities. It’s easy to see why: although it purports to support the Castro revolution that brought Communism to Cuba, the movie also revels in the “decadence” of Batista’s capitalist paradise. Whatever its political allegiances, it’s simply a joy to watch, with Sergei Urusevsky’s amazingly fluid camerawork and Nina Glagoleva’s astonishingly precise editing combining to create a one-of-a-kind time-capsule study of a society in flux. Milestone’s restoration is first-rate, as are the additional two discs’ worth of special features and the cigar-box packaging.
Extras: 2 full-length documentaries “The Siberian Mammoth” and “Film about Mikhail Kalatozov”; interviews with Martin Scorsese and co-author Yevgeney Yevtushenko.
I Was Nineteen and Trace of Stones First Run
directed by: Konrad Wolf and Frank Beyer
Here are two more landmark films from the DEFA Film Library, which has unearthed several gems of historical and dramatic interest from postwar German cinema. “I Was Nineteen” is director Konrad Wolf’s fictionalized account of his experiences as a Russian soldier of German descent returning home with the victorious Allied army, and “Trace of Stones” explores the social and political implications when a construction site foreman falls in love with a young party functionary.
Extras: newsreels (“I Was 19”); actress Krystyna Stypulkowska interview (“Trace of Stones”).
Killer of Sheep Milestone
directed by Charles Burnett
starring Henry G. Sanders, Kaycee Moore, Charles Bracy, Angela Burnett
Charles Burnett’s first feature (made in 1977) was included on the first list of American films preserved by the Library of Congress. This nearly plotless and undramatic movie is so authentic and unforced that it seems like a cinema verite portrait: the result is an honest portrayal of a side of America—working-class blacks—rarely seen onscreen. Too bad Burnett never lived up to its promise, as his subsequent films have shown.
Extras: commentary by Burnett and Richard Pena; 4 Burnett short films; new actor interviews; two versions of Burnett’s feature, “My Brother’s Wedding.”
Knights of the Teutonic Order Facets
directed by Aleksander Ford
starring Andrzej Szalawski and Grazyna Staniszewska
Aleksander Ford’s epic about the fight for independence in medieval Poland, based on the classic novel by Henryk Sienkiewicz, was made in 1960 and contains some of the largest-scale sequences ever seen in a Polish film, including several astoundingly choreographed battles. But, even with its huge dramatic canvas, Ford never loses sight of the individual characters, making this similar to “Lawrence of Arabia” (which it preceded by two years) in its dovetailing of the personal and the epic. Too bad the print of this authentic Polish masterpiece is in such bad shape: ideally, “Knights of the Teutonic Order” should be seen on a big screen in a perfect-looking print.
Leading Ladies Collection, Volume 2 Warners
directed by Joanne Woodward and George Cukor
starring Susan Hayward, Sandy Dennis, Candice Bergen, Diane Keaton, Patty Duke
Warners has packaged another group of films into a set with the tenuous connection of “leading ladies”: sur, w hy not? Here we have Susan Hayward (“I’ll Cry Tomorrow”), Joanne Woodward (“A Big Hand for the Little Lady”), Sandy Dennis (“Up the Down Staircase”), Diane Keaton (“Shoot the Moon”) and Candice Bergen and Jacqueline Bisset (“Rich and Famous”). Of these five, only two really have any interest: “Rich and Famous” is George Cukor’s final film, a frothy if slight adaptation of the play “Old Acquaintance”; but “Shoot the Moon” is an unearthed gem, Alan Parker’s adult, unflinching look at a crumbling marriage, with Keaton and Albert Finney marvelous as the flawed couple. This may be Keaton’s finest performance–her scene in a bathtub singing the Beatles’ “If I Fell” is a heartbreaking moment)–but also of note is Bo Goldman’s cracklingly good script. You can get “Shoot the Moon” on its own, which is my recommendation.
Extras: musical short, vintage newsreel and TV excerpts (“I’ll Cry Tomorrow”); vintage location featurette (“Rich and Famous”); Parker and Goldman commentary (“Shoot the Moon”).
Monsieur Hire Kino
directed by Patrice Leconte
starring Michel Blanc, Sandrine Bonnaire, Luc Thuillier, André Wilms
Patrice Leconte has always been attracted to loners and others on the fringes of society. “Monsieur Hire” was the first—and best—Leconte film to plausibly explore such a character: based on a Georges Simenon novel, this story of a middle-aged man who lives alone, his obsession with a young female neighbor, and a murder for which he is suspected, slowly accumulates its power through Simenon’s and Leconte’s economy of means: the pared-down plot meets the pared-down director. The result is thoroughly satisfying, with great–and greatly understated–performances by Michel Blanc and Sandrine Bonnaire for good measure.
Extras: short interview with Leconte.
Nosferatu Kino
directed by F.W. Murnau
starring Max Schreck, Gustav von Wangenheim, Greta Schröder, Alexander Granach
F.W. Murnau’s classic take on “Dracula” has actually gained in stature in the 80-plus years since its release in 1922. I’m sure part of the reason is the extensive, glorious restoration included on this disc, giving the film staggering visual power, but it’s also due to Murnau’s genius at visualizing this story without resorting to the clichés later films on the subject (including Coppola’s, above, and Herzog) seem to have not been able to avoid. It’s also nice to hear Hans Erdmann’s original music in its original orchestration.
Extras: Original score available in 5.1 Surround; “The Language of Shadows,” a 52-minute making-of documentary; short doc “Nosferatu: An Historic Film Meets Digital Restoration”; option to watch the film with original German intertitles (with subtitles) or with English ones.
O Lucky Man! Warners
directed by Lindsay Anderson
starring Malcolm McDowell, Ralph Richardson, Rachel Roberts, Arthur Lowe
Lindsay Anderson’s ambitious follow-up to his 1968 youth rebellion drama, “If...” again follows Nick Travis–once more persuasively enacted by Malcolm McDowell –starting to make his way in the business world. As an allegory of Britain, this 1973 drama is less than subtle, but as a vehicle for the brilliant, unpredictable acting of McDowell (Anderson’s muse of sorts), it’s memorably exciting. The musical interludes of Alan Price would have had more staying power if more than a few of the songs had musical or satirical bite.
Extras: “O Lucky Malcolm!” career retrospective documentary; commentary by McDowell, Price and screenwriter David Sherwin.
The Princess Bride – 20th Anniversary Edition MGM
directed by Rob Reiner
starring Cary Elwes, Robin Wright Penn, Chris Sarandon, Christopher Guest
For my money, this is Rob Reiner’s best film, which really isn’t saying much: a fractured fairy tale from the cynical (and slightly leaky) pen of William Goldman, “The Princess Bride” usually takes the easy way out with its musty sight gags, soap-opera romance and by-the-numbers action sequences. But it somehow works, notably for two underrated reasons: Robin Wright’s magical, lovely performance as the heroine; and Mark Knopfler’s charming, sugar-free musical score. Of course, we also have self-conscious turns by Billy Crystal, Peter Falk, Andre the Giant and Wallace Shawn; still, for once, Reiner doesn’t drag the material down to his mediocre level.
Extras: 3 new featurettes; DVD game; reversible storybook with two versions of the story.
Stalin By Those Who Knew Him Facets
directed by Semyon Aranovich
This boxed set brings together a trio of remarkable documentaries by Semyon Aranovich–1990’s “I Was Stalin’s Bodyguard” and 1989’s “I Worked for Stalin” peel away the secrecy behind the brutal dictator’s tactics with insightful and eye-opening interviews with men who were there; and 1990’s “The Anna Akhmatova File” is an overview of the politically oppressed life of Russia’s most important 20th century poet. The Iron Curtain is revealed for the oppressive, murderous ideology it was by these films, which created a firestorm of controversy in Russia when first shown–and their power has not worn off, either.
A Woman Without Love
Facets
directed by: Luis Bunuel
starring Roberto Canedo, Dolores Del Rio, Columba Dominguez, Pedro Armendáriz
Maybe Luis Bunuel’s least memorable film during his self-imposed exile in Mexico, this soap opera about an unhappy wife’s brief affair has none of the subversive wit distinguishing several of his other Mexican features. The themes of sexuality, class division and religion which Bunuel delighted in—and which reached their apogee after Bunuel left Mexico—are nowhere in sight in this creaky melodrama. Bunuel completists will want this, but others should check out Facets’ discs of two other Mexico-era films–“Susana” and “The Brute” to see how Bunuel could transcend inferior dramatic material. (Too bad the prints for all three discs are unrestored.)
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