‘Sunset Boulevard,’ ‘Read My Lips,’ ‘The Beat That My Heart Skipped,’ ‘Vermiglio,’ ‘Save The Tiger,’ ‘Best Little Whorehouse In Texas’ on 4K/Blu

4K-UHDs and Blu-rays to treat yourself to!

Sunset Boulevard — 4K-UHD/Blu-ray — Paramount

The recent triumph of Jamie Lloyd’s revival of Sunset Blvd on the West End and Broadway, starring the smashing Tony-and Olivier-winner Nicole Scherzinger, has generated new interest in the original Billy Wilder-directed motion picture, Sunset Boulevard--always a good thing. And now Paramount has put out a must-have 75th Anniversary 4K-UHD edition.

Released in 1950, Sunset Boulevard is easily one of the best  and most significant films of all-time and, except for a few detractors who felt Wilder was biting the hand that fed him, the film was a critical and commercial success, nominated for 11 Academy Awards and winning three (Best Story and Screenplay for Charles Brackett, Wilder and D.M. Marshman, Jr), Best Art Direction and Best Score (Franz Waxman).

One could argue it should have won a bucketload of little gold men, but the pic was up against All About Eve. Bette Davis and Gloria Swanson lost the Best Actress trophy to the gifted Judy Holliday for Born Yesterday, in what many thought might have resulted from a split vote. Davis famously blamed Anne Baxter’s insistence on going Lead for her loss. In addition to Swanson, William Holden, Erich von Stroheim and Nancy Olson were all nominated for acting awards

The iconic work, viewed through today’s lens, shows that Hollywood hasn’t really changed. Much of the film is still bold and startling from writer/protagonist Joe Gilles’s sardonic from-the-grave narration to the shot of him floating in the swimming pool to everything about Swanson’s Norma Desmond and her legendary scenes to Cecil B. DeMille’s potent cameo.

The clever, stinging dialogue, written by Wilder, with frequent partner Charles Brackett and D.M. Marshman, is still timely. “You know a dozen press agents working overtime can do terrible things to the human spirit.” “Great stars have great egos.” “I am big, it’s the pictures that got small!”

This is Swanson’s tour de force, ironic because it was offered to at least four actresses before George Cukor suggested her, to Wilder. Mae West, Greta Garbo, Pola Negri, Norma Shearer and Mary Pickford all declined. West wanted to write her own dialogue.

Marlon Brando, Fred MacMurray and Montgomery Clift were considered before the role of Joe went to Holden, who would go on to make two more films with Wilder, Stalag 17, which brought him the 1953 Best Actor Academy Award, and the underrated, little seen gem, Fedora, released in 1978.

This disc includes previously released special features that total about 2 ½ hours and provide some wonderful insights into all aspects of the film, including its legacy. Highlights include archival footage of Swanson who quite poignantly discusses the reactions to the first screening of Sunset, where legendary actors like Mary Pickford were in tears because the film gave them hope for future work.

There is an odd, recurring overlap with material on many of the featurettes which was off-putting. And I found that some of the expert opinions about the film curious and questionable, specifically, Ed Sikov, author of Sunset Boulevard: The Life and Times of Billy Wilder, who has a skewed view of Norma that is borderline misogynistic. I take issue with her being called demented—perhaps, near the film’s end, but she’s living in a world that was created for her. That might make her delusional (to people who don’t live in that world) but not demented.

It would have been nice for Paramount to have done some updating with newer comments on this gem. Also, the absence of any interviews with Wilder is unforgivable.

The picture and sound quality are fantastic.

This Sunset Boulevard 4K is a must for all lovers of the medium.

Read My Lips (Sur mes lèvres) — 4K-UHD/Blu-ray — Criterion 

Emmanuelle Devos’s strangely endearing, César-winning performance is at the heart of Jacques Audiard’s third feature, Read My Lips.

Whether you were Team Emilia Pérez last year or not (and I was not), you must admit Audiard has a singular filmmaking style, never veering obvious with story.

He and co-writer Tonino Benacquista fashioned a narrative that ping pongs back and forth from the humdrum business offices to the criminal underworld of Paris with such ease, sometimes you’re not sure which is which.

The film follows two of societies outcasts, Carla (Emmanuelle Devos), an undervalued, hard-of-hearing worker at a construction company, who often finds herself made fun of behind her back—which she is aware of because she has the keen ability to perfectly lip read. Carla takes on way too much responsibility and is told by her boss to hire an intern to help out.

Enter sexypants Paul (Vincent Cassel), an ex-con who has no office skills, but Carla hires him anyway since she’s attracted to his rough and badass nature.

The two soon find themselves embroiled in a scheme to commit a crime to get Paul out of debt. Suffice to say, things don’t go to plan.

Audiard loves to genre blend and that was obvious early on. Here he whips together elements of noir, romantic comedy and gritty thriller and dishes out a most delicious cinematic soufflé.

Devos and Cassel make a fab team.

Devos spent a decade in mostly supporting roles before Read My Lips, which won her the César Award for Best Actress.

Cassel, son of actor Jean-Pierre Cassel went on to quite the international career He had already made a splash in Mathieu Kassovitz’s La Haine (1995) and Shekhar Kapur’s Oscar-winning Elizabeth (1998) as gay Henry, Doc d’Anjou, opposite Cate Blanchett. Read My Lips brought him his third César Award nomination. He’d eventually win for Jean-François Richet’s Mesrine in 2008.

The film looks and sounds fab via a new 4K digital restoration, supervised and approved by Audiard and director of photography Mathieu Vadepied, with a terrific 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack.

The fab Blu-ray special features include a new afterword by Audiard, audio commentary with actors Cassel and Devos, a program about the making of the film featuring interviews with Audiard, Vadepied and Benacquista, an interview with composer Alexandre Desplat, deleted scenes and the trailer.

 https://www.criterion.com/films/30400-read-my-lips

The Beat That My Heart Skipped (De battre mon cœur s’est arrêté) — Blu-ray — Criterion

Jacques Audiard’s fourth feature was his international breakthrough, winning a whopping eight César Awards including Best Film and Best Director.

Another neo-noir, thrillerish, dark comedy-drama, the narrative follows Thomas Seyr (a phenomenal Romain Duris) who lives between two very diverse worlds: his reality as a shady dealing real-estate broker and his dream to be a classical pianist. The film is remake of James Toback’s 1978 indie, Fingers, starring Harvey Kietel—and is an improvement on the original.

Tom often does his father’s dirty work but decides to take piano lesson from a Chinese virtuoso Miao Lin (Linh Dan Pham), who speaks no English—something that would make his late pianist mother proud.

Can Tom escape his current seedy world for the one he longs for? It’s toxic patriarchy vs. maternal salvation.

The Beat That My Heart Skipped is a showcase for the incredibly talented Duris, who gained worldwide recognition for his mesmerizing work. He went on to star in Dans Paris, Heartbreaker, The New Girlfriend, All the Money in the World and most recently The Animal Kingdom and The Three Musketeers: D’Artagnan & Milady.

The disc boasts a High-definition digital master, approved by Audiard, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. The images are pretty strong. The sound features Alexandre Desplat’s lovely score.

The impressive special features include a new interview with Audiard, interviews with co-screenwriter Tonino Benacquista and Desplat, the 2005 Berlinale press conference (terrific stuff), deleted scenes, rehearsal footage and the trailer.

Hoping a 4K with a better transfer is forthcoming.

https://www.criterion.com/films/32256-the-beat-that-my-heart-skipped

Vermiglio  — Blu-ray — Criterion

Winner of the Grand Jury prize at last year’s Venice Film Festival, Maura Delpero’s ravishing, transfixing second narrative feature, Vermiglio, was Italy’s International Feature Oscar submission but was, surprisingly overlooked.

Delpero delivers an authentic, immersive story about a mountain family living in the titular remote Italian Alps village, on the eve of the end of WW2, where everyday survival issues take precedent over the battles being fought in the central mountains of Italy. That is until two soldiers, one local and one Sicilian, arrive, having escaped the Nazis.

The learned and cultured patriarch/town teacher (Tomasso Ragno) lives with his dutiful wife, and eight children including the shy Lucia (Martina Scrinzi) who is sweet on the good-looking Sicilian deserter, Pietro (Giuseppe De Domenico). The two embark on a strange but sweet courtship.

The wise, eldest son Dino (impressive newcomer Patrick Gardner) is his father’s greatest disappointment. The middle daughter Ada (Rachele Potrich) is figuring out who she is sexually, with all the shame that comes with being female and Catholic.

There are a few other subplots, including Ada’s relationship with the town flirt and rebel rouser, Virginia (a wonderfully unhinged Carlotta Gamba).

And there’s a shocking twist that speaks volumes to the themes involving old customs vs. modernization.

Broken into four segments, Vermiglio, boasts both trained and amateur actors, blending together perfectly.

Vermiglio is an exquisite cinematic achievement about complicated familial dynamics where matriarchy must often gently battle patriarchy for the sake of her children.

Criterion had done a splendid job with the transfer to Blu-ray perfectly capturing the gorgeous cinematography by Mikhail Krichman.

The DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track sounds great and enhances the wonderful score by Matteo Franceschini.

The disc features are sparse with just one short conversation with Delpero. My chat with her can be viewed HERE.

https://www.criterion.com/films/34803-vermiglio

Save the Tiger – Blu-ray — Kino Lorber

“They can’t lock you up for just thinking about something—not yet anyway!”

Jack Lemmon as Harry Stoner in Save the Tiger

In his day, Harry Stoner lived quite a lucrative life: Tudor mansion, heated swimming pool, maid, car phone. But Harry’s fashion business is in great need of funding,and he seems to have run out of options. So, his fix is to hire an arsonist to burn down one of his factories. His partner, Phil Greene (Jack Gilford, Oscar nominated) is morally appalled by the idea and most of John G. Avildsen’s 1973 movie, Save the Tiger, involves the back-forth, should-we, shouldn’t-we?

The film contains a lot of nostalgia talk about how the old days were so much better and less complicated, the kind of conversation that can be overheard whenever middle-aged men get together—regardless the decade.

Harry is also disgusted by America’s moral decay, even if he’s contributing to it—and, also, aware of that glaring fact.

It’s interesting to view Save the Tiger today to see how history does repeat over and over again in terms of social and political turmoil.

Jack Lemmon won his second Oscar for Save the Tiger, a choice that was a surprise at the time considering his competition included more critically acclaimed performances like Al Pacino in Serpico (who won the Golden Globe), Robert Redford in The Sting (which copped Best Picture), Marlon Brando in Last Tango in Paris (NY Film Critics Circle victor) and Jack Nicholson in The Last Detail (BAFTA and Cannes Film Fest winner).

In re-watching, I can understand why he won. It’s a ferocious turn, and he’s especially extraordinary in a late scene where Harry has spent the night with a hippie hitchhiker, played superbly by Laurie Heineman, who would go onto win a Daytime Emmy for Another World. It’s a riveting sequence that both depicts the generation gap but then attempts to bridge it.

Lemmon would receive a total of eight Oscar nominations in his career and should have bested Dusin Hoffman (Kramer vs. snooze…) for his amazing work in The China Syndrome in 1979.

The Blu-ray via a brand-new HD Master from a 4K scan of the 35mm original camera negative, looks grainily good. Special features include an archival audio commentary by Avildsen and writer/producer Steve Shargan and a new commentary track by author Dwayne Epstein as well as the theatrical trailer.

Save the Tiger is not a great film. It’s mediocre-at-best director incredulously has an Oscar for the ridiculously overrated mess, Rocky, which he in no way deserved. But it is an interesting morality piece at a time when a crook was in the White House, the American people were more anxious, stressed and divided than ever and everything was going to shit. Sound familiar?

https://kinolorber.com/product/save-the-tiger-special-edition

The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas – Blu-ray – Kino Lorber

Colin Higgins made two comedy classics before succumbing to an AIDS-related illness in 1988, Foul Play and 9 to 5, the latter, most certainly, his best film. He had previously penned both Harold and Maude and Silver Streak.

In 1982 he took on adapting the Broadway smash, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. Now, this is another movie I saw in my youth and loved, despite the fact that it completely deviates from the source material and bastardizes it in order to accommodate it’s two stars (NEVER a good idea).

Seeing it again, today, the faults leapfrog off the screen but so do the fun moments—it’s a truly mixed bag, both entertaining and wince-inducing.

The original stage version, with a book by Larry L. King & Peter Masterson and music & lyrics by Carol Hall told the semi-true story of Miss Mona and the real-life ‘chicken ranch’ brothel in La Grange, Texas, that had been in operation for more than a century, but forced to close down when a crusading televangelist made their illegal activities public.

The film takes the basic plot, adds a long-standing affair between the leads, tosses in many ridiculous antics for Dom DeLuise, gets rid of too many of the great stage songs, and, most egregiously, slaps on a happy ending where Mona is literally swept off her feet and carried away.

Two songs are especially missed, “No Lies” and “The Bus from Amarillo,” which explains so much about the central character. Instead, Parton wrote the silly “Sneakin’ Around,” and recycled  (from her early ‘70s album) but potent “I Will Always Love You,” later to be a massive hit for Whitney Houston off The Bodyguard Soundtrack.

Higgins allows for way too much improvisation from Reynolds and Parton, especially in a cringy fishing scene.

The highlights include Parton’s fab entrance with “A Lil’ Ole Bitty Pissant Country Place,” the poignant “Hard Candy Christmas,” and the homoerotic football number, “The Aggie Song.” Yum.

Also, the wonderful Charles Durning received his first (of two) Oscar nominations for basically one song, “The Sidestep,” a number that still hold great political resonance today. Durning also co-starred in Tootsie that same year, which probably contributed to the nod.

This is a disappointing Blu-ray as was the original 2016 Universal release with too many fuzzy-framed moments. It does improve on the original slightly. I’m surmising that the original camera negative no longer exists (from a 1982 release, how sad!) because this is noted to be a brand-new HD master from a 2K scan of the 35mm interpositive (a second generation created from the original).

The sound, however, is terrific.

Special Features include two new audio commentaries, one by film historians Paul Anthony Nelson & Perri Cummings and another by authors Bryan Reesman and Max Evry as well as a short archival doc The Making of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, four minutes of outtakes and the trailer.

https://kinolorber.com/product/the-best-little-whorehouse-in-texas-special-edition

See my review of the Foul Play 4K HERE.