Yet another 3-D Blu-ray treat — the 3-D Film Archive restores a rare English production, an international crime tale in 3-D. Dennis O’Keefe’s T-Man helps Scotland Yard track down a gang of smugglers that kidnaps and murders to force an Atom scientist to perfect his manufacturing formula for synthetic diamonds. You know, just like the silicon chip business. The widescreen 3-D is excellent, especially in two action set pieces. Margaret Sheridan co-stars. It’s almost a premiere, as the movie was never publicly exhibited in 3-D. Kino also provides an anaglyphic encoding with a pair of red-cyan glasses as an alternate 3-D option. Plus good extras about the 3-D process.
The Diamond Wizard 3-D
3-D Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1954 / B&w / 1:66 widescreen / 83 min. / Street Date November 15, 2022 / Available at Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Dennis O’Keefe, Margaret Sheridan, Philip Friend, Alan Wheatley, Francis De Wolff, Eric Berry, Gudrun Ure, Paul Hardtmuth,...
The Diamond Wizard 3-D
3-D Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1954 / B&w / 1:66 widescreen / 83 min. / Street Date November 15, 2022 / Available at Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Dennis O’Keefe, Margaret Sheridan, Philip Friend, Alan Wheatley, Francis De Wolff, Eric Berry, Gudrun Ure, Paul Hardtmuth,...
- 11/1/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Let loose some airy English film aesthetes with a big budget, a French film studio and a theme somewhere between Marcel Proust and Jean Cocteau, and back comes this strange, slightly off-balance but extremely impressive objet d’art. Eric Portman is really good, Edana Romney not so much. English actresses Barbara Mullen and Joan Maude compensate greatly — they’re haunting, actually. For his first job of direction Terence Young gives us a flash of Christopher Lee in his first film, along with pretty Lois Maxwell. Content-wise the film has the screwiest construction … its style and obsessions are split between the two films presently rated the best ever made! Expect something different: the baroque style may prompt some viewers to reach for the ‘eject’ button.
Corridor of Mirrors
Blu-ray
1948 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 96 min. / Street Date October 19, 2021 / Available from /
Starring: Eric Portman, Edana Romney, Barbara Mullen, Hugh Sinclair, Bruce Belfrage, Alan Wheatley,...
Corridor of Mirrors
Blu-ray
1948 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 96 min. / Street Date October 19, 2021 / Available from /
Starring: Eric Portman, Edana Romney, Barbara Mullen, Hugh Sinclair, Bruce Belfrage, Alan Wheatley,...
- 10/16/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
A review for a movie not on video disc. CineSavant bears down hard on a now-obscure UK thriller that proves a crossroads for several key themes of modern terror: Nazis, bacteriological warfare and paranoid conspiracies. ‘007’– associated writer Jack Whittingham scripted a tale that connects old-school espionage to visionary super-crimes against humanity, the thriller genre of ‘The Unthinkable.’ Who’s the threat? An innocuous little doctor with a horrendous secret background and a somewhat preposterous ability to go undetected as he kills to assume and protect a new identity. The techno-chiller was released in 1948 yet seems screamingly relevant now.
Counterblast
Blu-ray
Savant Revival Screening Review
1948 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 98, 90 min. / The Devil’s Plot / Not On Home Video
Starring: Robert Beatty, Mervyn Johns, Nova Pilbeam, Margaretta Scott, Sybille Binder, Marie Lohr, Karel Stepanek, Alan Wheatley, Gladys Henson, John Salew, Anthony Eustrel, Peter Madden, Archie Duncan, Olive Sloane.
Cinematography: Moray Grant, James Wilson...
Counterblast
Blu-ray
Savant Revival Screening Review
1948 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 98, 90 min. / The Devil’s Plot / Not On Home Video
Starring: Robert Beatty, Mervyn Johns, Nova Pilbeam, Margaretta Scott, Sybille Binder, Marie Lohr, Karel Stepanek, Alan Wheatley, Gladys Henson, John Salew, Anthony Eustrel, Peter Madden, Archie Duncan, Olive Sloane.
Cinematography: Moray Grant, James Wilson...
- 8/3/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Graham Greene’s tense crime tale is as important as his classic The Third Man but nowhere near as well known. Down Brighton way the race-track boys have sharp ways of solving disputes and terrorizing the common folk — think ‘straight razor.’ Richard Attenborough’s breakthrough film is also a showcase for Hermoine Baddelely and a marvelous newcomer that every horror fan loves even if they don’t know her name, Carol Marsh. Kino’s disc has a Tim Lucas commentary; this review balances thoughts about mercy and damnation, with an extra insight about a piece of ‘stick candy’ unfamiliar to us Yanks.
Brighton Rock
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1948 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 92 min. / Street Date May 5, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Richard Attenborough, Carol Marsh, Hermione Baddeley, William Hartnell, Harcourt Williams, Wylie Watson, Nigel Stock, Virginia Winter, Reginald Purdell, George Carney, Charles Goldner, Alan Wheatley.
Cinematography: Harry Waxman
Camera operator:...
Brighton Rock
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1948 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 92 min. / Street Date May 5, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Richard Attenborough, Carol Marsh, Hermione Baddeley, William Hartnell, Harcourt Williams, Wylie Watson, Nigel Stock, Virginia Winter, Reginald Purdell, George Carney, Charles Goldner, Alan Wheatley.
Cinematography: Harry Waxman
Camera operator:...
- 5/9/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Kayti Burt Aug 8, 2016
From silent film to the BBC's Sherlock, we're perusing the many on-screen incarnations of the villainous Culverton Smith...
Contains potential spoilers for Sherlock series 4 (well, in the sense that it talks about the hundred-year-old story that inspired one of its characters).
In series 4 of the BBC drama, we're told Culverton Smith is to be Sherlock's "darkest villain yet". Introduced in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Dying Detective" and continuing in various film and TV adaptations over the years, the character has already had a long screen career.
In preparation for the forthcoming season of Sherlock (because what else are we supposed to do with this interminable hiatus?), we're taking a look at Culverton Smith's on-screen history through the ages. We've got your silent films. We've got your fan films. We've got your Jeremy Brett. Pick your poison — or should I say infectious disease...
First, an introduction.
From silent film to the BBC's Sherlock, we're perusing the many on-screen incarnations of the villainous Culverton Smith...
Contains potential spoilers for Sherlock series 4 (well, in the sense that it talks about the hundred-year-old story that inspired one of its characters).
In series 4 of the BBC drama, we're told Culverton Smith is to be Sherlock's "darkest villain yet". Introduced in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Dying Detective" and continuing in various film and TV adaptations over the years, the character has already had a long screen career.
In preparation for the forthcoming season of Sherlock (because what else are we supposed to do with this interminable hiatus?), we're taking a look at Culverton Smith's on-screen history through the ages. We've got your silent films. We've got your fan films. We've got your Jeremy Brett. Pick your poison — or should I say infectious disease...
First, an introduction.
- 8/7/2016
- Den of Geek
Most British crime films of the '40s and '50s have been slow crossing the pond, but Olive Films has a winner here, a gloss on Yank gangster pix from an earlier era. Just clear of prison, a tough criminal vows to punish the gang that abandoned him, and carries it out a ruthless revenge. But I think it was a mistake for him to involve that dance hall girl... Appointment with Crime Blu-ray Olive Films 1946 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 91 min. / Street Date June 21, 2016 / available through the Olive Films website / 29.98 Starring William Hartnell, Herbert Lom, Joyce Howard, Robert Beatty, Raymond Lovell, Alan Wheatley. Cinematography Gerald Moss, James Wilson Film Editor Monica Kimick Original Music George Melachrino Produced by Louis H. Jackson Written and Directed by John Harlow
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Ask today's American film fan about old British crime films, and he'll probably not be able to...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Ask today's American film fan about old British crime films, and he'll probably not be able to...
- 6/21/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Rex Harrison hat on TCM: ‘My Fair Lady,’ ‘Anna and the King of Siam’ Rex Harrison is Turner Classic Movies’ final "Summer Under the Stars" star today, August 31, 2013. TCM is currently showing George Cukor’s lavish My Fair Lady (1964), an Academy Award-winning musical that has (in my humble opinion) unfairly lost quite a bit of its prestige in the last several decades. Rex Harrison, invariably a major ham whether playing Saladin, the King of Siam, Julius Caesar, the ghost of a dead sea captain, or Richard Burton’s lover, is for once flawlessly cast as Professor Henry Higgins, who on stage transformed Julie Andrews from cockney duckling to diction-master swan and who in the movie version does the same for Audrey Hepburn. Harrison, by the way, was the year’s Best Actor Oscar winner. (See also: "Audrey Hepburn vs. Julie Andrews: Biggest Oscar Snubs.") Following My Fair Lady, Rex Harrison...
- 8/31/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
If there is one famous literary character that has made such an impact on film and television, it has to be Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle’s immortal detective. Holmes has generated such a fascination for filmmakers; he is probably more popular, and certainly more prolific, than Dracula and James Bond put together. The number of Holmes films produced since the pioneering days of the silent era is so extensive it’s unlikely the Great Detective will ever be absent from our screens for very long.
Within the last couple of years, Holmes has become fashionable again thanks to Robert Downey Jr’s cinematic reinvention of the role in two successful Guy Ritchie movies and the excellent TV series Sherlock, which effectively transports Holmes (brilliantly played by Benedict Cumberbatch) to modern day London. Oddly enough the concept is not a new one considering Holmes, like Dracula, is a man of his time...
Within the last couple of years, Holmes has become fashionable again thanks to Robert Downey Jr’s cinematic reinvention of the role in two successful Guy Ritchie movies and the excellent TV series Sherlock, which effectively transports Holmes (brilliantly played by Benedict Cumberbatch) to modern day London. Oddly enough the concept is not a new one considering Holmes, like Dracula, is a man of his time...
- 2/13/2012
- Shadowlocked
By Todd Garbarini
Normal 0 false false false En-us X-none X-none
Richard Klemensen’s Little Shoppe of Horrors is one of the genre’s best publications. Like Gary Svehla’s beautiful Midnight Marquee, it is a labor of love for its publisher and it is currently up to issue twenty-six. Subtitled “The Journal of Classic British Horror Films” and brimming with images that you probably can’t easily find elsewhere, each issue runs nearly 100 pages in black and white. The front and rear covers consist of beautiful and original color artwork depicting such favorites as Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, and scenes from such films as Frankenstein Created Woman and Frankenstein Must be Destroyed. Sandwiched between these beautiful color images are enthusiastic letters to the editor, reviews of similar publications, and book reviews to name just a few goodies. Readers can also find in-depth interviews with actors such as Alan Wheatley (from 1981!), Jane Merrow,...
Normal 0 false false false En-us X-none X-none
Richard Klemensen’s Little Shoppe of Horrors is one of the genre’s best publications. Like Gary Svehla’s beautiful Midnight Marquee, it is a labor of love for its publisher and it is currently up to issue twenty-six. Subtitled “The Journal of Classic British Horror Films” and brimming with images that you probably can’t easily find elsewhere, each issue runs nearly 100 pages in black and white. The front and rear covers consist of beautiful and original color artwork depicting such favorites as Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, and scenes from such films as Frankenstein Created Woman and Frankenstein Must be Destroyed. Sandwiched between these beautiful color images are enthusiastic letters to the editor, reviews of similar publications, and book reviews to name just a few goodies. Readers can also find in-depth interviews with actors such as Alan Wheatley (from 1981!), Jane Merrow,...
- 10/20/2011
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Frustratingly, I had seen the very recent remake of Brighton Rock before getting the chance to see the original. A quick look around at other reviews suggests I enjoyed the Rowan Joffe’s adaptation more than most.
Brighton Rock (1947) is a tighter film with a swifter pace (running almost 20 minutes shorter than its 2011 counterpart), the original adaptation of Graham Greene’s novel stands out for a few reasons and John Boulting’s use of Brighton as an actual location is one of the most interesting highlights.
As opposed to Rowan Joffe’s haunted, dilapidated 1960s Brighton (Eastbourne standing in as substitute), this ‘40s Brighton is indeed a living, breathing character within the film. Joffe wished to paint his version with drained colours and sense of decay, however, there is something more inherently sinister about director John Boulting’s use of the bustling seaside town. The knowledge that such devious schemes...
Brighton Rock (1947) is a tighter film with a swifter pace (running almost 20 minutes shorter than its 2011 counterpart), the original adaptation of Graham Greene’s novel stands out for a few reasons and John Boulting’s use of Brighton as an actual location is one of the most interesting highlights.
As opposed to Rowan Joffe’s haunted, dilapidated 1960s Brighton (Eastbourne standing in as substitute), this ‘40s Brighton is indeed a living, breathing character within the film. Joffe wished to paint his version with drained colours and sense of decay, however, there is something more inherently sinister about director John Boulting’s use of the bustling seaside town. The knowledge that such devious schemes...
- 2/25/2011
- by Leslie Byron Pitt
- FilmShaft.com
While a newspaper headline reveals the death of gang member William Kite, our attention is soon turned to the arrival in Brighton of one overtly nervous tabloid rep, Kolley Kibber, known to the local mob as Fred Hale (Alan Wheatley). Soon on the run from them, Hale allows the story to show us a fantastic view of 1940s Brighton as he hares through the Lanes and main streets to end up on Palace Pier.
So unwraps the story of Pinkie Brown (Richard Attenborough) and his hoodlum friends.
Attenborough’s performance from his first appearance is of an Ocd-driven, young Catholic gang leader, brooding, demanding and anxious – an odd portrayal for a figure in Pinkie’s position of power. Nevertheless, it’s this devious anxiety that shows him as cold and calculating. But it’s when he meets wide-eyed café waitress Rose (Carol Marsh) that he opens up a little, albeit...
So unwraps the story of Pinkie Brown (Richard Attenborough) and his hoodlum friends.
Attenborough’s performance from his first appearance is of an Ocd-driven, young Catholic gang leader, brooding, demanding and anxious – an odd portrayal for a figure in Pinkie’s position of power. Nevertheless, it’s this devious anxiety that shows him as cold and calculating. But it’s when he meets wide-eyed café waitress Rose (Carol Marsh) that he opens up a little, albeit...
- 2/8/2011
- Shadowlocked
In this incarnation of our Videolog column (which began in 1982 with VHS and Betamax and later laserdisc), Starlog posts information usually (though not always) on Tuesdays regarding selected genre titles being released (or re-released) now on DVD and Blu-ray. Prices listed are Msrp, while clickable links lead to Amazon where the savings is significant. Here’s what coming out this week:
DVD Releases for August 25, 2009
The Adventures Of Robin Hood: The Complete Fourth Season & The Complete Series (Mill Creek Entertainment, Fourth Season, $14.98; Complete Series, $29.98): The 1955 British TV series is being released on two new DVD sets: The fourth and final season, and the complete series. Richard Greene stars as Robin Hood, who rules Sherwood Forest with his band of Merry Men in their endless fight against the despicable Sheriff of Nottingham (Alan Wheatley).
Batman: The Brave And The Bold: Volume One (Warner, $14.98): In this latest Batman interpretation,...
DVD Releases for August 25, 2009
The Adventures Of Robin Hood: The Complete Fourth Season & The Complete Series (Mill Creek Entertainment, Fourth Season, $14.98; Complete Series, $29.98): The 1955 British TV series is being released on two new DVD sets: The fourth and final season, and the complete series. Richard Greene stars as Robin Hood, who rules Sherwood Forest with his band of Merry Men in their endless fight against the despicable Sheriff of Nottingham (Alan Wheatley).
Batman: The Brave And The Bold: Volume One (Warner, $14.98): In this latest Batman interpretation,...
- 8/25/2009
- by no-reply@starlog.com (Allan Dart)
- Starlog
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