It’s a nearly perfect tale of identity swaps and royal intrigues: Ronald Colman’s voice is velvet smooth as the poet-rogue François Villon, who uses his wits when dealing with Basil Rathbone’s (very strangely played) Louis XI. The real charm comes with lady-in-waiting Frances Dee (swoon) and the peasant firebrand Ellen Drew (double swoon). And don’t forget the sophisticated, semi-satirical screenplay by Preston Sturges. The refreshing Blu-ray discovery comes with a commentary by Julie Kirgo.
If I Were King
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1938 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 101 min. / Street Date February 7, 2023 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Ronald Colman, Basil Rathbone, Frances Dee, Ellen Drew, C.V. France, Henry Wilcoxon, Heather Thatcher, Stanley Ridges, Alma Lloyd, Sidney Toler, John Miljan, Montagu Love, May Beatty, Henry Brandon, Darryl Hickman.
Cinematography: Theodore Sparkuhl
Costumer: Edith Head
Art Directors: Hans Drier, John Goodman
Film Editor: Hugh Bennett
Visual Effects: Gordon Jennings
Original Music:...
If I Were King
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1938 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 101 min. / Street Date February 7, 2023 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Ronald Colman, Basil Rathbone, Frances Dee, Ellen Drew, C.V. France, Henry Wilcoxon, Heather Thatcher, Stanley Ridges, Alma Lloyd, Sidney Toler, John Miljan, Montagu Love, May Beatty, Henry Brandon, Darryl Hickman.
Cinematography: Theodore Sparkuhl
Costumer: Edith Head
Art Directors: Hans Drier, John Goodman
Film Editor: Hugh Bennett
Visual Effects: Gordon Jennings
Original Music:...
- 2/18/2023
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Kino reaches into the Universal Vault for vintage Paramount and Universal thrillers. This ‘noir’ collection surprises us — it contains one terrific example of the style, newly-hatched and looking very different for its year. The other two titles are in B&w (check), and revolve around murders (check). But if there were a TV quiz show called ‘Noir or Not Noir’ they’d shape up as third-tier also-rans. The talent on view is impressive, especially the leading ladies: Claire Trevor, Louise Platt, Merle Oberon, Ella Raines, and Gale Sondergaard. Kino appoints the film with good commentators: Jason A. Ney, Anthony Slide, Kelly Robinson.
Film Noir the Dark Side of Cinema VIII
Street of Chance, Enter Arsene Lupin, Temptation
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1942-1946 / 1:37 Academy / 266 minutes / Street Date July 19, 2022 / available through Kino Lorber / 49.95
Starring: Burgess Meredith, Claire Trevor; Charles Korvin, Ella Raines; Merle Oberon, George Brent.
Directed by Jack Hively, Ford Beebe,...
Film Noir the Dark Side of Cinema VIII
Street of Chance, Enter Arsene Lupin, Temptation
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1942-1946 / 1:37 Academy / 266 minutes / Street Date July 19, 2022 / available through Kino Lorber / 49.95
Starring: Burgess Meredith, Claire Trevor; Charles Korvin, Ella Raines; Merle Oberon, George Brent.
Directed by Jack Hively, Ford Beebe,...
- 7/19/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Let’s shout our approval of this foursome of vintage noirs, all of which have been scarce since Eddie Muller was old enough to rob candy stores. Three Paramounts and one Universal give us four notable directors and a gallery of attractive stars, including a swoon-worthy array of actresses: Marta Toren, Loretta Young, Susan Hayward, Gail Russell, Frances Farmer and Marina Berti. The selection includes one of the key ‘just prior to the official style’ titles, a thriller with supernatural overtones, a ‘woman in jeopardy’ story and a gangster tale reportedly inspired by Lucky Luciano.
Kino Noir Times Four
Blu-ray
Among the Living, Night Has a Thousand Eyes, The Accused, Deported
Kl Studio Classics
1941-1950 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / Street Date November 16, 2021 / available through Kino Lorber / Separate Purchases / 24.95 each
Starring: Albert Dekker, Susan Hayward; Edward G. Robinson, Gail Russell; Loretta Young, Robert Cummings, Wendell Corey; Jeff Chandler, Marta Toren.
Directed by Stuart Heisler,...
Kino Noir Times Four
Blu-ray
Among the Living, Night Has a Thousand Eyes, The Accused, Deported
Kl Studio Classics
1941-1950 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / Street Date November 16, 2021 / available through Kino Lorber / Separate Purchases / 24.95 each
Starring: Albert Dekker, Susan Hayward; Edward G. Robinson, Gail Russell; Loretta Young, Robert Cummings, Wendell Corey; Jeff Chandler, Marta Toren.
Directed by Stuart Heisler,...
- 11/27/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Normal 0 false false false En-us X-none X-none
“Double Trouble”
By Raymond Benson
Crime stories about twins are usually compelling, despite the sameness (no pun intended) about them. Among the Living, a 1941 potboiler from Paramount, is a short (only 69 minutes!) thriller that, with a few cuts, might have been an episode of an Alfred Hitchcock Presents or similar anthology television program. It moves quickly, holds interest, and contains a reasonably dynamic performance from Albert Dekker as twins—one of them “normal,” and the other insane.
Dekker had an admirable career in Hollywood for three decades, usually working in supporting roles. He is perhaps best known as the titular character in Dr. Cyclops (1940). Landing a dual starring part in Among the Living was likely a result of his appearance in Cyclops.
The old Raden home is supposedly haunted, barely looked after by the elderly Black caretaker, Pompey (Ernest Whitman). Old man Raden,...
“Double Trouble”
By Raymond Benson
Crime stories about twins are usually compelling, despite the sameness (no pun intended) about them. Among the Living, a 1941 potboiler from Paramount, is a short (only 69 minutes!) thriller that, with a few cuts, might have been an episode of an Alfred Hitchcock Presents or similar anthology television program. It moves quickly, holds interest, and contains a reasonably dynamic performance from Albert Dekker as twins—one of them “normal,” and the other insane.
Dekker had an admirable career in Hollywood for three decades, usually working in supporting roles. He is perhaps best known as the titular character in Dr. Cyclops (1940). Landing a dual starring part in Among the Living was likely a result of his appearance in Cyclops.
The old Raden home is supposedly haunted, barely looked after by the elderly Black caretaker, Pompey (Ernest Whitman). Old man Raden,...
- 11/11/2021
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Never heard of Wake Island? Its fall terrified Americans at Christmas of 1941. The war’s just begun, we’re definitely not winning, and the assignment was to make a movie about a tragic defeat that might be the first of many tragic defeats for the U.S.A.. Paramount’s careful morale-builder doesn’t exaggerate or sentimentalize the brutal fall of a tiny atoll in the Pacific, and stands as an example of filmmaking reaching for hope in the face of disaster.
Wake Island
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1942 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 88 min. / Street Date August 18, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Brian Donlevy, Robert Preston, Macdonald Carey, William Bendix, Albert Dekker, Walter Abel, Mikhail Rasumny, Rod Cameron, Bill Goodwin, Damian O’Flynn, Frank Albertson, Hugh Beaumont, Barbara Britton, Hillary Brooke, Dane Clark, Frank Faylen, Mary Field, Alan Hale Jr., Richard Loo, James Millican, Jack Mulhall, Keith Richards, Phillip Terry, Mary Thomas,...
Wake Island
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1942 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 88 min. / Street Date August 18, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Brian Donlevy, Robert Preston, Macdonald Carey, William Bendix, Albert Dekker, Walter Abel, Mikhail Rasumny, Rod Cameron, Bill Goodwin, Damian O’Flynn, Frank Albertson, Hugh Beaumont, Barbara Britton, Hillary Brooke, Dane Clark, Frank Faylen, Mary Field, Alan Hale Jr., Richard Loo, James Millican, Jack Mulhall, Keith Richards, Phillip Terry, Mary Thomas,...
- 8/4/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Murder, He Says
Blu ray
Kino Lorber
1945 / 1.33:1 / 94 min.
Starring Fred MacMurray, Marjorie Main, Peter Whitney
Cinematography by Theodor Sparkuhl
Directed by George Marshall
The Snopes family were a collection of Southern-fried scoundrels introduced by William Faulkner in 1940’s The Hamlet. Over the course of three novels and several short stories, the clan proved themselves capable of just about any atrocity. They were so comically loathsome they could have been kissing cousins to Mamie, Mert and Bert: the Fleagle family – a slapstick version of the Snopes. Even the local sheriff is terrified of the Fleagles and a greenhorn census taker from the big city is about to find out why.
Fred MacMurray plays Pete Marshall, the eager beaver field man for the Trotter Poll who’s searching for a missing colleague last seen headed toward the Fleagle house, way, way out in the woods (where presumably no one can hear...
Blu ray
Kino Lorber
1945 / 1.33:1 / 94 min.
Starring Fred MacMurray, Marjorie Main, Peter Whitney
Cinematography by Theodor Sparkuhl
Directed by George Marshall
The Snopes family were a collection of Southern-fried scoundrels introduced by William Faulkner in 1940’s The Hamlet. Over the course of three novels and several short stories, the clan proved themselves capable of just about any atrocity. They were so comically loathsome they could have been kissing cousins to Mamie, Mert and Bert: the Fleagle family – a slapstick version of the Snopes. Even the local sheriff is terrified of the Fleagles and a greenhorn census taker from the big city is about to find out why.
Fred MacMurray plays Pete Marshall, the eager beaver field man for the Trotter Poll who’s searching for a missing colleague last seen headed toward the Fleagle house, way, way out in the woods (where presumably no one can hear...
- 3/28/2020
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
“A Gallant Gesture”
By Raymond Benson
The novel Beau Geste by Percival Christopher Wren was published in 1924 and has been adapted to film no less than four times and parodied a few instances as well. It’s a classic story of the French Foreign Legionnaires set in the years between the turn of the 20th Century and the First World War, and for nearly a hundred years it has been deemed one of the great adventure tales.
The 1939 adaptation, directed by William A. Wellman, was the second filmed version and is generally considered the best and certainly most well-known variation (the first was a silent picture made in 1926 and starring Ronald Colman). With an outstanding cast that includes Gary Cooper, Ray Milland, Robert Preston, Brian Donlevy, Susan Hayward, J. Carrol Naish, Broderick Crawford, Albert Dekker, and even a young Donald O’Connor, Beau Geste is indeed a rousing “Arabian” action flick,...
By Raymond Benson
The novel Beau Geste by Percival Christopher Wren was published in 1924 and has been adapted to film no less than four times and parodied a few instances as well. It’s a classic story of the French Foreign Legionnaires set in the years between the turn of the 20th Century and the First World War, and for nearly a hundred years it has been deemed one of the great adventure tales.
The 1939 adaptation, directed by William A. Wellman, was the second filmed version and is generally considered the best and certainly most well-known variation (the first was a silent picture made in 1926 and starring Ronald Colman). With an outstanding cast that includes Gary Cooper, Ray Milland, Robert Preston, Brian Donlevy, Susan Hayward, J. Carrol Naish, Broderick Crawford, Albert Dekker, and even a young Donald O’Connor, Beau Geste is indeed a rousing “Arabian” action flick,...
- 3/25/2020
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
It's the time-honored tale of the cuckolded lover, his heartless woman and 'the other guy,' told in terms that Émile Zola would endorse. Jean Renoir's first full-length talkie is a little masterpiece of social observation and indifference to sentimental niceties. Michel Simon is terrific as the clerk who has a tough time with illicit love. La chienne Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 818 1931 / B&W / 1:19 flat full frame / 96 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date June 14, 2016 / 39.95 Starring Michel Simon, Janie Marèse, Georges Flamant, Magdeleine Bérubet, Roger Gaillard. Cinematography Theodore Sparkuhl Film Editor Marguerite Renoir Written by Jean Renoir, André Mouézy-Éon from the book by Georges de la Fouchardière Produced by Pierre Braunberger, Roger Richebé Directed by Jean Renoir
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
We American film students learned about Jean Renoir's La chienne only in the context of its remake. It's an earlier version of the book by Georges de la Fouchardière, that was also adapted for Fritz Lang's 1945 noir Scarlet Street. Renoir's film has never been readily available here in the States, an oversight now corrected with Criterion's new Blu-ray. The good news is that the French restoration of this tale of vice and virtue is beyond good -- the movie looks absolutely new. The even better news is that the movie is a revelation, the equal of Renoir's Boudu Saved from Drowning. This is the kind of movie that might suffer in a bad presentation -- the ability to soak up its atmosphere and detail makes all the difference. Yes, the title does translate as The Bitch, a straight-up vulgarism. The story parallels most of the same events of the Lang version. A puppet theater prologue tells us that story has no moral, no lesson to be learned. Company cashier clerk Maurice Legrand (Michel Simon) is a meek, henpecked husband and a Sunday painter. Maurice's wife Adèle (Magdaleine Bérubet) harangues him about her beloved first husband, to whom he'll never measure up; work colleagues make fun of the meek Maurice behind his back. Late at night Maurice meets Lucienne Pelletier (Janie Marèse), who he does not realize is the sometime-prostitute of Dédé (Georges Flamant), a vain, brutish punk who takes the money she squeezes from the men she meets and beds. He beats her for good measure, but she seems to enjoy it. Maurice has soon installed Lucienne in a love nest. He tells Adèle that he's thrown his paintings away, but instead puts them on the walls of Lucienne's apartment. She and Dédé have the mistaken impression that Maurice is rich, but he keeps her by stealing money from his wife, and eventually, the office safe. Then something unusual happens. Dédé tries to sell Maurice's paintings as the work of Lucienne, and has success. She is soon signing his paintings as a supposedly well-known American artist named Clara Wood. Critic Langelard (Alexandre Rignault of Eyes without a Face) promotes 'Clara's' art because she offers him sexual favors. Dédé makes much better money pimping Lucienne in the art world, than he did on the street. Far too naturalistic, 'earthy' and sordid for anything Hollywood might have produced in 1931, Renoir's La chienne turns a 'way of all flesh' tale into a sharp criticism of society. The milquetoast Maurice Legrand is too naïve to realize that he's being had by Lucienne, a femme fatale well versed in hooking wealthy, vulnerable clients. Lucienne herself is a romantic fool, hopelessly in love, or lust, with a man who treats her like dirt. The more abuse Dédé dishes out, she just comes back for more. When Maurice declares his desire to take Lucienne away, she laughs in his face without a shred of sympathy or basic respect. Stories like this do not have happy endings, and La chienne's main task is to imply that the art world is as big a racket as prostitution. 'Clara Wood's' paintings become big sellers because Dédé pimps Lucienne to a critic willing to praise them for sex. The art dealer and the critic collude to tout 'Clara's' paintings to new clients, one of whom we see getting quality time with the artist as well. As director Renoir was of course the son of the famous painter Auguste Renoir, it's easy to see a personal connection in the critical view of Art as a business. Renoir used live location audio, adding greatly to the film's realism. As there was not as yet any audio mixing for French films, the tracks are beautifully miked to pick up ambient sounds. We even hear the clacking of Lucienne's shoes on the cobblestoned streets. Theodor Sparkuhl's night exteriors are every bit as sophisticated as later low-key, deep focus work in '30s poetic realism and '40s film noir. The rain we see in some scenes may be real as well. The film isn't about crime and retribution, but the grand ironies of 'the oldest story,' a foolish love that leads to murder. The tale turns comic when Maurice has to deal with a man from Adèle's past, who turns up unexpectedly and then figures in the even more ironic ending. The three main characters are just terrific. Michel Simon is a very different character than his bohemian Boudu from the following year. The actor is also far thinner than we're used to seeing him, in films made just a few years later. Janie Marèse is as dangerous a female as ever hooked a man. Lucienne's unreasoning, limitless love for Dédé makes her pure poison for a defenseless fellow like Maurice. Georges Flamant also demonstrates great skill as a thorough, unrepentant louse. Comparing La chienne with Lang's Scarlet Street sets the difference between the humanist and determinist filmmakers in strong relief. Both Renoir and Lang see the events as an unstoppable consequence of human nature, but Renoir's view is much warmer. Maurice lives in a full spectrum of human interaction, even if most people take him for a fool. But he's essentially a warm and accepting person, and his one moment of violent rage is fully understandable. When all is said and done, with his life ruined, Maurice can still laugh at the absurdity of it all. Life goes on, somehow. Lang's version is a chilly noir thesis that makes its innocent hero (Edward G. Robinson) a more innocent victim, not only of Joan Bennett's cheap tart, but of his employers and society itself. His rich boss doesn't even have to hide the fancy woman he keeps on the side, whereas Robinson's wife keeps him around mainly to wash dishes. As one expects from Lang, the plot twists are sharper, wickedly ironic and cruelly merciless. Lang doesn't believe in 'live and let live'.' Haunted by what he's done, his poor hero goes insane. Life does not go on. Renoir's film has a music theme under the titles but I believe the rest of its music is organic, always with a source in the scenes. The beautifully filmed murder takes place with a ballad singer entertaining in the street. Unable to protest when his wife compares him unfavorably to her first husband, the long-lost soldier, Maurice instead sings a mocking children's song about a soldier who went to war and didn't come back. [When we screened La chienne, my wife jumped up immediately at the sound of the song. It has a nearly identical Spanish counterpart, "Mambrú Se Fue A La Guerra." Mambrú went to war, and if he comes back it'll only be at Easter and Christmas. Most likely, it'll be never. To my mind it's a great children's song because it reflects the reality of war glory. There's the Sunday Savant culture lesson for you.] The Criterion Collection's Blu-ray of La chienne is simply terrific -- it looks much better than many expensively restored American movies from this year. The producer must have kept the picture and audio masters in perfect conditions. The rich images display a modulated granularity that heavy digital processing would surely have removed. Being from 1931 the sound does carry a light surface noise. The extras explain that a few lines recorded on location are weak, but I didn't notice as I of course was reading the English subtitles. It's a welcome disc indeed. Christopher Faulkner hosts the 25-minute overview featurette. He covers the love triangle that developed among the actors during filming, and the sad fate of the film's star Janie Marèse. Faulkner places the film in Jean Renoir's career, explaining that in the 1920s the director was often adjudged a dilettante. He had to prove himself before the producers would let him do a sound feature. Here in its entirety is Renoir's short (50 minute) film On purge bébé from the same year, a talkie Renoir was obliged to film to prove he could handle sound. The title translates as Baby's Laxative -- it's a comedy from a play by George Feydeau, about a manufacturer of chamber pots whose son is constipated! Michel Simon is a visitor to the house, where Baby's parents carry on a marriage squabble suitable for a music hall farce. Playing a small supporting part is a young Fernandel. On purge bébé must have been kept in the same magic film can as the main feature, for it is fully restored and just as perfect. Jean Renoir offers one of those introductions filmed for French TV in the early '60. Much rarer is a 90-minute 1967 TV show hosted by Jacques Rivette, in which both Jean Renoir and Michel Simon reminisce about their careers and La chienne. The precise, informative insert essay is by Ginette Vincendeau; and the attractive cover art is by 'Blutch.' Criterion's disc producer is Elizabeth Pauker. On a scale of Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor, La chienne Blu-ray rates: Movie: Excellent Video: Excellent very surprisingly so Sound: Excellent Supplements: Introduction to the film from 1961 by director Jean Renoir, New interview with Renoir scholar Christopher Faulkner, New restoration of On purge bébé (1931), Jean Renoir le patron: 'Michel Simon' a 95-minute 1967 French television program featuring a conversation between Renoir and Simon, directed by Jacques Rivette, Essay by film scholar Ginette Vincendeau. Deaf and Hearing-impaired Friendly? Yes; Subtitles: English Packaging: Keep case Reviewed: June 12, 2016 (5139chie)
Visit DVD Savant's Main Column Page Glenn Erickson answers most reader mail: dvdsavant@mindspring.com
Text © Copyright 2016 Glenn Erickson...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
We American film students learned about Jean Renoir's La chienne only in the context of its remake. It's an earlier version of the book by Georges de la Fouchardière, that was also adapted for Fritz Lang's 1945 noir Scarlet Street. Renoir's film has never been readily available here in the States, an oversight now corrected with Criterion's new Blu-ray. The good news is that the French restoration of this tale of vice and virtue is beyond good -- the movie looks absolutely new. The even better news is that the movie is a revelation, the equal of Renoir's Boudu Saved from Drowning. This is the kind of movie that might suffer in a bad presentation -- the ability to soak up its atmosphere and detail makes all the difference. Yes, the title does translate as The Bitch, a straight-up vulgarism. The story parallels most of the same events of the Lang version. A puppet theater prologue tells us that story has no moral, no lesson to be learned. Company cashier clerk Maurice Legrand (Michel Simon) is a meek, henpecked husband and a Sunday painter. Maurice's wife Adèle (Magdaleine Bérubet) harangues him about her beloved first husband, to whom he'll never measure up; work colleagues make fun of the meek Maurice behind his back. Late at night Maurice meets Lucienne Pelletier (Janie Marèse), who he does not realize is the sometime-prostitute of Dédé (Georges Flamant), a vain, brutish punk who takes the money she squeezes from the men she meets and beds. He beats her for good measure, but she seems to enjoy it. Maurice has soon installed Lucienne in a love nest. He tells Adèle that he's thrown his paintings away, but instead puts them on the walls of Lucienne's apartment. She and Dédé have the mistaken impression that Maurice is rich, but he keeps her by stealing money from his wife, and eventually, the office safe. Then something unusual happens. Dédé tries to sell Maurice's paintings as the work of Lucienne, and has success. She is soon signing his paintings as a supposedly well-known American artist named Clara Wood. Critic Langelard (Alexandre Rignault of Eyes without a Face) promotes 'Clara's' art because she offers him sexual favors. Dédé makes much better money pimping Lucienne in the art world, than he did on the street. Far too naturalistic, 'earthy' and sordid for anything Hollywood might have produced in 1931, Renoir's La chienne turns a 'way of all flesh' tale into a sharp criticism of society. The milquetoast Maurice Legrand is too naïve to realize that he's being had by Lucienne, a femme fatale well versed in hooking wealthy, vulnerable clients. Lucienne herself is a romantic fool, hopelessly in love, or lust, with a man who treats her like dirt. The more abuse Dédé dishes out, she just comes back for more. When Maurice declares his desire to take Lucienne away, she laughs in his face without a shred of sympathy or basic respect. Stories like this do not have happy endings, and La chienne's main task is to imply that the art world is as big a racket as prostitution. 'Clara Wood's' paintings become big sellers because Dédé pimps Lucienne to a critic willing to praise them for sex. The art dealer and the critic collude to tout 'Clara's' paintings to new clients, one of whom we see getting quality time with the artist as well. As director Renoir was of course the son of the famous painter Auguste Renoir, it's easy to see a personal connection in the critical view of Art as a business. Renoir used live location audio, adding greatly to the film's realism. As there was not as yet any audio mixing for French films, the tracks are beautifully miked to pick up ambient sounds. We even hear the clacking of Lucienne's shoes on the cobblestoned streets. Theodor Sparkuhl's night exteriors are every bit as sophisticated as later low-key, deep focus work in '30s poetic realism and '40s film noir. The rain we see in some scenes may be real as well. The film isn't about crime and retribution, but the grand ironies of 'the oldest story,' a foolish love that leads to murder. The tale turns comic when Maurice has to deal with a man from Adèle's past, who turns up unexpectedly and then figures in the even more ironic ending. The three main characters are just terrific. Michel Simon is a very different character than his bohemian Boudu from the following year. The actor is also far thinner than we're used to seeing him, in films made just a few years later. Janie Marèse is as dangerous a female as ever hooked a man. Lucienne's unreasoning, limitless love for Dédé makes her pure poison for a defenseless fellow like Maurice. Georges Flamant also demonstrates great skill as a thorough, unrepentant louse. Comparing La chienne with Lang's Scarlet Street sets the difference between the humanist and determinist filmmakers in strong relief. Both Renoir and Lang see the events as an unstoppable consequence of human nature, but Renoir's view is much warmer. Maurice lives in a full spectrum of human interaction, even if most people take him for a fool. But he's essentially a warm and accepting person, and his one moment of violent rage is fully understandable. When all is said and done, with his life ruined, Maurice can still laugh at the absurdity of it all. Life goes on, somehow. Lang's version is a chilly noir thesis that makes its innocent hero (Edward G. Robinson) a more innocent victim, not only of Joan Bennett's cheap tart, but of his employers and society itself. His rich boss doesn't even have to hide the fancy woman he keeps on the side, whereas Robinson's wife keeps him around mainly to wash dishes. As one expects from Lang, the plot twists are sharper, wickedly ironic and cruelly merciless. Lang doesn't believe in 'live and let live'.' Haunted by what he's done, his poor hero goes insane. Life does not go on. Renoir's film has a music theme under the titles but I believe the rest of its music is organic, always with a source in the scenes. The beautifully filmed murder takes place with a ballad singer entertaining in the street. Unable to protest when his wife compares him unfavorably to her first husband, the long-lost soldier, Maurice instead sings a mocking children's song about a soldier who went to war and didn't come back. [When we screened La chienne, my wife jumped up immediately at the sound of the song. It has a nearly identical Spanish counterpart, "Mambrú Se Fue A La Guerra." Mambrú went to war, and if he comes back it'll only be at Easter and Christmas. Most likely, it'll be never. To my mind it's a great children's song because it reflects the reality of war glory. There's the Sunday Savant culture lesson for you.] The Criterion Collection's Blu-ray of La chienne is simply terrific -- it looks much better than many expensively restored American movies from this year. The producer must have kept the picture and audio masters in perfect conditions. The rich images display a modulated granularity that heavy digital processing would surely have removed. Being from 1931 the sound does carry a light surface noise. The extras explain that a few lines recorded on location are weak, but I didn't notice as I of course was reading the English subtitles. It's a welcome disc indeed. Christopher Faulkner hosts the 25-minute overview featurette. He covers the love triangle that developed among the actors during filming, and the sad fate of the film's star Janie Marèse. Faulkner places the film in Jean Renoir's career, explaining that in the 1920s the director was often adjudged a dilettante. He had to prove himself before the producers would let him do a sound feature. Here in its entirety is Renoir's short (50 minute) film On purge bébé from the same year, a talkie Renoir was obliged to film to prove he could handle sound. The title translates as Baby's Laxative -- it's a comedy from a play by George Feydeau, about a manufacturer of chamber pots whose son is constipated! Michel Simon is a visitor to the house, where Baby's parents carry on a marriage squabble suitable for a music hall farce. Playing a small supporting part is a young Fernandel. On purge bébé must have been kept in the same magic film can as the main feature, for it is fully restored and just as perfect. Jean Renoir offers one of those introductions filmed for French TV in the early '60. Much rarer is a 90-minute 1967 TV show hosted by Jacques Rivette, in which both Jean Renoir and Michel Simon reminisce about their careers and La chienne. The precise, informative insert essay is by Ginette Vincendeau; and the attractive cover art is by 'Blutch.' Criterion's disc producer is Elizabeth Pauker. On a scale of Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor, La chienne Blu-ray rates: Movie: Excellent Video: Excellent very surprisingly so Sound: Excellent Supplements: Introduction to the film from 1961 by director Jean Renoir, New interview with Renoir scholar Christopher Faulkner, New restoration of On purge bébé (1931), Jean Renoir le patron: 'Michel Simon' a 95-minute 1967 French television program featuring a conversation between Renoir and Simon, directed by Jacques Rivette, Essay by film scholar Ginette Vincendeau. Deaf and Hearing-impaired Friendly? Yes; Subtitles: English Packaging: Keep case Reviewed: June 12, 2016 (5139chie)
Visit DVD Savant's Main Column Page Glenn Erickson answers most reader mail: dvdsavant@mindspring.com
Text © Copyright 2016 Glenn Erickson...
- 6/14/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Liam O'Flaherty's novel The Informer, in which an Ira man rats on a comrade for the reward money and endures a night of agonizing guilt, punishment and redemption, has been filmed thrice, and all three versions are of interest. Jules Dassin's proto-blaxploitation version, Uptight! (1968), is the least impressive, but does boast fine performances by screenwriters Jason Bernard and Ruby Dee, who take lead roles, and the always imposing Raymond St. Jacques and Roscoe Lee Browne. The climax, scored to Booker T. and the M.G.'s "Time is Tight" (a.k.a. The Blues Brothers' theme) is pretty exciting, once you get over the shock.
John Ford's 1935 The Informer is the most faithful and famed, though its reputation is not as high as it once was. At times the Rko production, with its Max Steiner score and hulking performance from Victor McLaglan, recalls King Kong (McLaglan...
John Ford's 1935 The Informer is the most faithful and famed, though its reputation is not as high as it once was. At times the Rko production, with its Max Steiner score and hulking performance from Victor McLaglan, recalls King Kong (McLaglan...
- 6/13/2013
- by David Cairns
- MUBI
...Or: The Inventiveness of Filmcraft: How to Slide a Camera Down a Dune.
The finale of William Wellman's Beau Geste (1939), featuring Ray Milland and Robert Preston; cinematography by Theodor Sparkuhl and Archie Stout:
The finale of Raymond Lee's Dragon Inn (1992), featuring Brigitte Lin, Tony Leung Ka Fai, Maggie Cheung and Donnie Yen; cinematography by Lau Moon-tong and Chow Gam-wing:
Part of our series Similar Images.
The finale of William Wellman's Beau Geste (1939), featuring Ray Milland and Robert Preston; cinematography by Theodor Sparkuhl and Archie Stout:
The finale of Raymond Lee's Dragon Inn (1992), featuring Brigitte Lin, Tony Leung Ka Fai, Maggie Cheung and Donnie Yen; cinematography by Lau Moon-tong and Chow Gam-wing:
Part of our series Similar Images.
- 3/5/2012
- MUBI
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