New 4K-UHD and Blu-ray discs.
Shoeshine (Sciuscià) — 4K-UHD/Blu-ray — Criterion
One of the pioneers of Italian Neorealism cinema was Vittorio De Sica. His landmark 1948 film Bicycle Thieves (Ladri di biciclette) is the work often most cited as the definitive example of the movement. But two years earlier he made his breakthrough masterpiece, Shoeshine (Sciuscià). Both films were given special Oscars, which would lead to the creation of the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar (now Best International Feature). Shoeshine was the very first movie to be bestowed such an honor.
This gloriously gritty and humane work sheds light on the terrible state of postwar life in Rome, specifically for impoverished youth. Best friends and street kids Giuseppe (Rinaldo Smordoni) and Pasquale (Franco Interlenghi) are trying to raise money to purchase a horse, by shining shoes. But they get involved in a scheme to rob a fortune teller and are hauled off to a horrific juvenile detention center where their loyalty to each other is put to the test.
De Sica exposes the harsh and brutal treatment of these boys at these types of reformatories, where children are completely neglected by their families, bullied by the center employees, manipulated by other inmates and discarded by the judicial system.
The director also examines notions of masculinity in the post-Mussolini era, where ideas about power and respect still had cultural resonance.
The auteur was famous for using non-professional actors and getting the most naturalistic performance from them. Both Interlenghi and Smordoni are superb. Interlenghi would go on to a career working with major directors like Fellini in I Vitelloni (1953), Antonioni in I Vinti (1953) Mankiewicz in The Barefoot Contessa (1954) and Rossellini in General della Rovere (1959) and Garibaldi(1961). Smordoni would only appear in two more movies.
Shoeshine is a bitter, moving, riveting work and Criterion has done a truly masterful job with a new 4K restoration by The Film Foundation and Cineteca di Bologna, who have restored the film to its former black-and-white glory, with Edgar Elmer’s stark and stunning cinematography allowing the viewer access into this unforgiving world, via the two boy’s perspective.
The sound is fine, with the expected reliance on post-dubbing. The subtitle translation sometimes sanitizes the actual dialogue a bit too much–I am somewhat fluent in Italian and some dialects.
Extras include an informative new program on Shoeshine and Italian Neorealism, featuring film scholars Paola Bonifazio and Catherine O’Rawe, that details how De Sica got such incredible performances out of his nonprofessional actors as well as discussing themes in Neorealist works of the period by De Sica and Rossellini.
Interesting to note that the idea for the film came from De Sica spending time with two real shoeshine boys but then deeming them “too ugly” to play their filmic counterparts. He required more photogenic figures.
The feature also reminds us that many neorealism filmmakers, like De Sica, created the illusion that their films depicted realism, but the actual movies are meticulously crafted.
Sciuscià 70 (2016) is a wonderful hour-long documentary by Mimmo Verdesca, marking the film’s 70th anniversary, and featuring interviews with both lead actors, all these years later, discussing the film in great detail.
A brief radio broadcast from 1946 featuring De Sica is also included.
Criterion is to be commended for a 4K edition that does justice to this important cinematic work.
https://www.criterion.com/films/34329-shoeshine
Xanadu – 4K-UHD/Blu-ray — Kino Lorber
Two original musicals opened in the summer of 1980 that were expected to dominate the box office the way Grease did in 1978. Both had fairly large budgets but ended up looking like they were made on the cheap. Both were critical and box office flops, inspiring the creation of the Golden Raspberry Awards. The films were, Can’t Stop the Music and Xanadu. And both of these curios have been recently given the Kino Lorber 4K treatment.
Pulling off the band-aid, Can’t Stop the Music is just bad, campy, but bad on almost every level. Xanadu, surprisingly, holds up pretty well and is a better film than its legacy would have you believe.
That isn’t to say it’s perfect.
There are way too many uninspired musical moment. Considering the quality of the songs written for the film, by John Farrar and Jeff Lynne of ELO–songs like “Magic,” “Suddenly,” and “All Over the World,” that were huge chart-toppers are given tepid stagings. Yet the “Dancin’” sequence, where swing meets rock, is inspiring and the final “Xanadu” number has some fantastic moments—when the camera stays on its star: ON-J. And speaking of…
Worth the price of the disc is watching Olivia Newton-John hoofing it with the legendary Gene Kelly in the “Whenever You’re Away from Me” number. I mean, wow. This also marked the last time Kelly would ever dance onscreen.
The film’s premise is certainly fascinating—a muse comes to life to inspire an artist, only to fall in love with him—but the execution leaves a lot to be desired. Decades later, in 2007, Farrar, Lynne and playwright Douglas Carter Beane would incorporate aspects of the movie, Clash of the Titans and Greek mythology into the Broadway musical version and flesh out the satiric story much more.
The film, itself, was actually inspired by the 1947 Rita Hayworth movie, Down to Earth. And the movie does attempt to say a few interesting things about inspiration, pursuing one’s dream as well as honoring the old ways, but also being open to innovation.
What holds the film together is Newton-John’s charm and vivacity. She’s a natural onscreen. It’s a shame that filmmakers rarely knew what to do with her. (Two of a Kind is a prime example of how her talents were wasted). Playing a muse is not easy, and she manages to find the ethereal/human balance.
Kelly, reprising his role of nightclub owner Danny McGuire from 1944’s Cover Girl, opposite Hayworth, isn’t given enough to do, but does more than solid work.
Michael Beck (The Warriors), bless his heart, looks great in jean shorts, but doesn’t have the chops to transcend bad material.
Richard Christian Danus and Marc Reid Rubel—who and who?—are credited with the crappy screenplay. And Robert Greenwald provides the lackluster direction. He would go on to do acclaimed work on TV, like The Burning Bed.
Kino Lorber’s disc is a brand new HDR/Dolby Vision Master – from a 4K scan of the 35mm original camera negative and looks good—but there are still some fuzzy scenes and shots—especially in that final sequence. And the cheesy ’80s effects look even worse on 4K.
The sound is awesome and there are options to listen to the original 4.0 stereo mix, the DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround or the DTS-HD MA 2.0 stereo mix.
The 4K disc also has quite a number of goodies, beginning with four new audio commentaries by: Greenwald, (moderated by Douglas Hosdale), filmmaker Jennifer Clymer and film historian Nathaniel Thompson, film historians David Del Valle & Krystov Charles, and film historian Samm Deighan. The Greenwald track is more an interview than an actual commentary, but worthwhile, nonetheless.
The Blu-ray boasts a newly mastered vintage 1980 Sizzle Reel, TV spots, radio spots and a 2009 27-min doc, Going Back to Xanadu, disappointing since it doesn’t include Newton-John or Beck.
For those fans, like me, who can’t get the infectious songs out of your head, this movie will always be a treat…and a missed opportunity.
https://kinolorber.com/product/xanadu-4kuhd
Exclusive — Blu-ray — Kino Lorber
Frances Farmer was a promising young stage and screen actress in the 1930s whose life took a terrible turn. Jessica Lange brilliantly embodied her in the Oscar-nominated feature, Frances, released in 1982–and you can read my review of the Blu-ray HERE.
Glimpses of Farmer’s raw, tough yet fragile spirit are on display in Alexander Hall’s curious newspaper melodrama, Exclusive, released in 1937 and given a fabulous Blu-ray treatment by Kino Lorber.
Farmer plays ambitious journalist Vina Swain, the daughter of a senior reporter (Charles Ruggles). Vina is betrothed to an idealistic young journo, Ralph Houston (Fred MacMurray), who works with her father. The two men are battling the local gangster, Charles Gillette (Lloyd Nolan), who has just gotten away with many shady dealings and has purchased a rival newspaper so he can take them to task for trying to put him away. In a truly odd twist, Vina goes to work for Gillette, and this idiotic decision leads to both her and her father being placed in peril.
Hall, who would be nominated for a Best Director Oscar a few years later for Here Comes Mr. Jordan (later remade by Warren Beatty as Heaven Can Wait), does his best with a messy, disjointed script (attributed to Jack Moffitt, Sidney Salkow and Rian James) that feels like key scenes are missing, with many moments ending too abruptly.
The Vina character’s choices and motivations are all over the place, yet Farmer, who was a last-minute replacement for Carole Lombard, does her best and delivers a decent performance.
The Blu-ray features an informative audio commentary by film scholar Jason A. Ney and Jeffrey Kauffman, who has written extensively on Farmer.
Exclusive is a minor entry into the media ethics film canon but is worthwhile for its cast and Hall’s insistence on unearthing societal corruption, in an often-gritty manner.
https://kinolorber.com/product/exclusive
The Great Gatsby — Blu-ray — Kino Lorber
“I’m frightfully clever sometimes, but I’m not very intelligent.”
Daisy Buchanan, as portrayed by Betty Field, in Elliott Nugent’s 1949 film version of The Great Gatsby, screenplay by Richard Maibaum and Cyril Hume
This ridiculously self-reflexive line is indicative of all that is wrong with the very first sound film adaptation of the hugely popular F. Scott Fitzgerald novel—that, and the added bells and whistles, including silly embellished flashbacks that place the titular character at the forefront of the work from the get-go—going wildly against the grain of the novel. And the moralized narrative to keep the evil Breen office (production code) happy. Add a dull-as dishwater Daisy and a boring and bored Nick, who becomes a secondary character instead of the protagonist, and you have a version that is almost not worth your time. Almost.
Yes, the lack of fidelity to the source material is beyond frustrating. Leave it to Hollywood to think they can improve on a classic. Alas, the book was not yet considered such. It was certainly not yet ranked as one of the greatest American novels. That would slowly happen in the 1960s and 1970s, so by the time the Jack Clayton film was made (the best adaptation to date written by Francis Ford Coppola), in 1974, the work was held in the highest regard.
So, if you can accept this Gatsby as an intriguing, if misguided, curio, it definitely merits a looksee. And there are some good performances. Okay, two. Alan Ladd (forever known for Shane) gives us a less paradoxical Gatsby than the novel, but one who wears his heart on his sleeve. His pushiness is paramount. And Ladd’s sincerity makes up for the fact that Field’s Daisy is supremely uninteresting. Nor is she clever.
The second performance that rates a special mention is a blink-and-you-miss-her Shelley Winters as Myrtle Wilson. She rocks the very few scenes she has and it’s obvious why two years later, she would catapult to stardom–and the first of many Oscar nominations–for A Place in the Sun. Myrtle can be an easy scene stealer in the right hands, as Karen Black proved in the Clayton film, winning a Supporting Golden Globe for her work, but somehow being denied an Oscar nomination.
This Gatsby is bizarrely shot in a Noir fashion that doesn’t really capture the jazz infused roaring twenties. The director has no visual dazzle and there are a number of poorly constructed shots where the cuts just don’t match.
The transfer (from a 4K scan) looks terrific with few blemishes. The extras include a new audio commentary by film historian Paul Talbot, as well as a chat with David Ladd where he discusses his dad’s career.
Much like the current Broadway musical, this Gatsby may not be great, but it’s worth a look, if only to see where and how it went wrong.
https://kinolorber.com/product/the-great-gatsby
Poseidon — 4K-UHD — Arrow
Full disclosure: I am a huge fan of the two greatest disaster films of all-time (go ahead, try and argue with me) The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno. To this CGI-infested day, nothing tops these classics. So, you really need a good reason to attempt a remake of either—or an exciting new take—or special effects that are off-the-charts spectacular. At the very least, give us equally compelling characters we can root for. And a cast of stellar actors!
Unfortunately, the 2006 remake—although it was billed as another screen adaptation of Paul Gallico’s 1969 novel—falls short on all of the above. I will say that the Oscar-nominated visual effects, when not overly digitized, are often impressive and sometimes even eye-poppingly.
Oscar-nominated director Wolfgang Peterson proved his thriller metal in films like Das Boot (1981), Outbreak (1995) and The Perfect Storm (2001). And I would cite Troy (2004) as an underrated gem. But here he seems to be going through the action-adventure motions with no real attention to clarity or plot. It doesn’t help that the mediocre screenplay, by Mark Protosevich, eschews originality and character development for tropes and cliches—such a missed opportunity on the part of Warner Brothers–looking to score at the box office with an inept story—one that did not pay off. The film lost close to $100 million.
The general narrative of Poseidon follows the original film, where passengers and crew are readying to celebrate New Year’s Eve on the luxury liner—although this version takes place in 2006. But shortly after midnight, a rogue wave (as opposed to a tidal wave caused by an earthquake in the ’72 flick—highly more believable) strikes the vessel, turning the ship over. A few passengers smartly decide to journey upward towards possible survival, while the rest of the dunderclods on board remain below—and are annihilated shortly by crashing waves of water.
Who will survive? Well, six people. Only. That was also the magic number in the original Ronald Neame-directed gem.
The ensemble included Kurt Russell, Josh Lucas, Richard Dreyfuss, Andre Braugher and Emmy Rossum. The cast isn’t bad, except for an a one-note Kevin Dillon, they’re just unable to make lemonade out of the paltry lemons the screenplay gives them. The one stand-out is Mike Vogel, who lights up the screen and turns a nothing role into something meaty.
In the Irwin Allen produced original, screenwriters Stirling Silliphant and Wendell Mayes managed to pen truly memorable and compelling characters in the first 30 minutes of the film. It didn’t hurt that they were embodied by Oscar-winning actors like Gene Hackman, Ernest Borgnine, Shelley Winters, Jack Albertson and Red Buttons as well as seasoned thesps such as Roddy McDowall (who shamefully was never even nominated for an Oscar), Stella Stevens and Leslie Nielsen.
Poseidon doesn’t allow us to care about any of these characters or their stories.
Incidentally, there was also a 2005 two-episode TV-movie made, starring Adam Baldwin, Rutger Hauer and Steve Guttenberg. The less said about that one the better.
Arrow has done a fab job with the transfer. The visuals are magnificent, and the sound quality is top-notch as well.
For fans, there are a few cool new interviews to enjoy with cinematographer John Seale, production designer William Sandell, visual effects supervisor Boyd Shermis and make-up effects on-set supervisor Michael Deak. In addition, there is a new retrospective on the film by Heath Holland, as well as interviews with the cast and other goodies!
https://www.arrowvideo.com/4k/poseidon-limited-edition-4k-uhd/16808519.html
Silent Scream — 4K-UHD/Blu-ray — Kino Lorber
Released in November of 1979, Denny Harris’s WTF feature, Silent Scream, kinda almost ruins my theory that no truly bad films were released in that year. But there are elements of this slasher mess that are interesting—most of it in the final reel.
This was my very first viewing of Silent Scream, thanks to Kino Lorber’s 4K release, and it’s a fairly dull sit until the denouement, with very few scares and head scratching scenes that lead nowhere.
The films lead, Rebecca Balding, was a co-star on ABC’s controversial yet hilarious sitcom, Soap—still one of the best comedies ever produced—at the time. She played the love interest of Billy Crystal’s gay character Jodie. And she’s certainly pleasant enough here but isn’t given much to do. Her character, Scotty, is a young college student, who moves into a Victorian boarding house, with an ocean view, run by a strange old woman (Yvonne De Carlo, shamefully wasted). Scotty strikes up a relationship with hottie Jack (Steve Doubet). And people start to die, but not until 30 minutes have painfully transpired. It all leads to a wacky reveal, where Barbara Steele, as a mysterious figure, gets to let loose and camp it up.
It’s nice to watch Doubet struts around in tight jeans. Ladies and gay men will be most appreciative— so there was that.
The most intriguing facts about the movie are revealed in the plethora of terrific special features, where we learn that the production was plagued with reshoots, recasting and rewrites galore. Apparently, the first cut was a mess with extraneous characters and a plot that made little sense, so a great deal of it was redone and, except for the quartet of young actors, new thesps were brought in including some names (De Carlo, Steele, Cameron Mitchell and, in a throwaway role, Avery Schreiber).
Perhaps if they were able to do a third version, some semblance of coherence would be present?
I will say that the restoration—from a 4K scan of the original 35mm original camera negative and mastered in HDR10—is excellent, making the look of the pic one of its best qualities.
The host of fab treats begin with two separate audio commentaries, one by writers Jim and Ken Wheat and Balding and a second by Barbara Steele moderated by film historian David Del Valle. On the Blu-ray you will find the 40-minute Scream of Success – 30 Years Later featurette, from 2009, where Balding and the Wheat Brothers chat about what they recall from the shoot. Then in The Original Script featurette, the trio discuss what they remember about…the original script! There’s a short piece with the brothers about their (not-so-illustrious) career and a really brief clip of Balding waxing about hers.
Director Denny Harris died in 2007, shortly before the prep work on the first DVD was being prepared, and Kino has included a fascinating audio interview with him recorded shortly before his death. He never made a second feature.
https://kinolorber.com/product/silent-scream-4kuhd
