Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, and Kirk Douglas star in Jacques Tourneur’s hard-boiled story of betrayal and revenge. ‘Out of the Past’ is a masterpiece with a haunting quality and one of the greatest film noirs of all time.
Tag: Warner Archive
‘The Big House’ – the original prison picture on Criterion Channel
The 1930 The Big House, directed by George Hill from a script by France Marion, is the original men-in-prison drama in terms of the way it established the conventions. There’s the pecking order of tough guys behind bars, the culture of loyalty, the sniveling snitches, the prison reform speech from the tough but committed warden […]
Film Noir on Blu-ray: ‘Moonrise,’ ‘Gun Crazy,’ ‘No Orchids,’ and the restored ‘Man Who Cheated Himself’
The Man Who Cheated Himself (Flicker Alley, Blu-ray+DVD)Moonrise (Criterion, Blu-ray, DVD)Gun Crazy (Warner Archive, Blu-ray)No Orchids for Miss Blandish (Kino, Blu-ray, DVD) Lee J. Cobb takes the lead as Lt. Ed Cullen, a veteran Homicide detective in a secret affair with socialite Lois Frazer (Jane Wyatt) while she’s in the midst of a divorce, in […]
Cult Blu-ray: ‘Basket Case,’ ‘Ichi the Killer,’ ‘Macon County’ justice, and ‘The Hidden’ with Kyle Maclachlan
Basket Case (Arrow, Blu-ray) Ichi the Killer (Well Go, Blu-ray) Macon County Line (Shout! Factory, Blu-ray) The Hidden (Warner Archive, Blu-ray) Basket Case (1982), the debut feature of filmmaker Frank Henenlotter, is a gruesome little cult indie-horror drama of brotherly love and righteous vengeance shot on location in the seedier sections of New York City. […]
‘Bhowani Junction’ on VOD and DVD
Set in 1947 India, after World War II and in the early days of the independence movement, Bhowani Junction (1956) is a Hollywood drama with an old-fashioned sense of storytelling and a modern (for the time) approach to colonialism, bigotry and identity. Ava Gardner stars as the Anglo-Indian woman looking for her own identity in […]
TVD: ‘The Crown: Season 1,’ the return of ‘Gilmore Girls,’ ‘This is Us’ begins
The Crown: The Complete First Season (Sony, Blu-ray, DVD) The most expensive Netflix original series to date follows the life of Queen Elizabeth in a lavish drama expected to ultimately span six or more seasons, focused on a decade or so per season. Claire Foy plays the Elizabeth in The Crown: The Complete First Season […]