It’s one of the year’s most awaited discs: the recent restored and remastered The War of the Worlds ’53 in a glorious 4K Ultra HD edition. A second Blu-ray disc of When Worlds Collide ’51 is too good to be called a bonus extra: this edition looks better than anything seen since original Technicolor prints. In one show we endure scurvy invaders from The Red Planet; in the other a rogue Astral Body threatens Earth with obliteration, necessitating escape on a space ship. Don’t bother checking online for tickets, the flight is sold out. CineSavant has the lowdown for collectors: how good does the new release look?
The War of the Worlds on 4K Ultra-hd
When Worlds Collide on Blu-ray
Digital HD Access for both titles.
Paramount Presents
George Pal Sci-fi Double Feature
Color / 1:37 Academy / Street Date September 27, 2022 / 167 minutes / Available from Amazon / 39.99
Starring: Richard Derr, Barbara Rush, John Hoyt; Gene Barry,...
The War of the Worlds on 4K Ultra-hd
When Worlds Collide on Blu-ray
Digital HD Access for both titles.
Paramount Presents
George Pal Sci-fi Double Feature
Color / 1:37 Academy / Street Date September 27, 2022 / 167 minutes / Available from Amazon / 39.99
Starring: Richard Derr, Barbara Rush, John Hoyt; Gene Barry,...
- 9/24/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Producer-director Michael Curtiz’s femme fatale noir has a lot going for it — high production values, VistaVision, and new film talent in Tom Tryon, Carol Ohmart, Elaine Stritch & Jody Lawrance. Excellent location shooting and a Nat King Cole song provide authentic Los Angeles atmosphere. But the storyline is ten years out of date. The advertising promoted Ms. Ohmart as a new ’50s sex symbol. She may have caught fire, but the show didn’t.
The Scarlet Hour
Region free Blu-ray
Viavision [Imprint] #152
1956 / B&w / 1:85 widescreen / 95 min. / Street Date August 31, 2022 / Available from Amazon Au / 39.95; / Available from Viavision / 39.95
Starring: Carol Ohmart, Tom Tryon, Jody Lawrance, James Gregory, Elaine Stritch, E.G. Marshall, Edward Binns, David Lewis, Billy Gray, Jacques Aubuchon, Scott Marlowe, Nat ‘King’ Cole, Richard Deacon, Benson Fong, Theron Jackson, Almira Sessions.
Cinematography: Lionel Lindon
Costumes: Edith Head
Art Directors: Hal Pereira, Tambi Larsen
Film Editor: Everett Douglas
Original Music: Leith Stevens...
The Scarlet Hour
Region free Blu-ray
Viavision [Imprint] #152
1956 / B&w / 1:85 widescreen / 95 min. / Street Date August 31, 2022 / Available from Amazon Au / 39.95; / Available from Viavision / 39.95
Starring: Carol Ohmart, Tom Tryon, Jody Lawrance, James Gregory, Elaine Stritch, E.G. Marshall, Edward Binns, David Lewis, Billy Gray, Jacques Aubuchon, Scott Marlowe, Nat ‘King’ Cole, Richard Deacon, Benson Fong, Theron Jackson, Almira Sessions.
Cinematography: Lionel Lindon
Costumes: Edith Head
Art Directors: Hal Pereira, Tambi Larsen
Film Editor: Everett Douglas
Original Music: Leith Stevens...
- 9/20/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Burt Lancaster and Edward G. Robinson are excellent in this adaptation of Arthur Miller’s award-winning Broadway play, about a family torn apart by the denial of dark secrets from the WW2 homefront. Mady Christians is the mother who refuses to accept her son’s death, and Louisa Horton and Howard Duff the brother and sister trying to understand how their father could ship defective war materiel responsible for needless combat deaths. The show is powerful, even with Miller’s social message muted — and director Irving Reis gets it all on screen.
All My Sons
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1948 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 94 min. / Street Date January 4, 2022 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Edward G. Robinson, Burt Lancaster, Mady Christians, Louisa Horton, Howard Duff, Lloyd Gough, Harry Morgan, Arlene Francis, Elisabeth Fraser.
Cinematography: Russell Metty
Art Directors: Hilyard Brown, Bernard Herzbrun
Film Editor: Ralph Dawson
Original Music: Leith Stevens
Written for...
All My Sons
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1948 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 94 min. / Street Date January 4, 2022 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Edward G. Robinson, Burt Lancaster, Mady Christians, Louisa Horton, Howard Duff, Lloyd Gough, Harry Morgan, Arlene Francis, Elisabeth Fraser.
Cinematography: Russell Metty
Art Directors: Hilyard Brown, Bernard Herzbrun
Film Editor: Ralph Dawson
Original Music: Leith Stevens
Written for...
- 1/22/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
It happens every time: we want to cruelly betray somebody, but Love keeps getting in the way. When evil Dan Duryea sics con-man louse John Payne on the saintly war widow Joan Caulfield, three other women come tagging along as well, ’cause Payne is just too attractive. The swindle in George Sherman’s unsure noir gets uglier and then loses its way in the third act, with clunker dialogue and a climax that dissolves when it should resolve. Look out for super femme input from Shelley Winters, Dorothy Hart and Patricia Alphin. It’s an early featured role for Winters, and she doesn’t hold back.
Larceny
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1948 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 89 min. / Street Date July 13, 2021 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: John Payne, Joan Caulfield, Dan Duryea, Shelley Winters, Dorothy Hart, Richard Rober, Dan O’Herlihy, Nicholas Joy, Percy Helton, Walter Greaza, Patricia Alphin, Gene Evans.
Cinematography:...
Larceny
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1948 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 89 min. / Street Date July 13, 2021 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: John Payne, Joan Caulfield, Dan Duryea, Shelley Winters, Dorothy Hart, Richard Rober, Dan O’Herlihy, Nicholas Joy, Percy Helton, Walter Greaza, Patricia Alphin, Gene Evans.
Cinematography:...
- 6/15/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
George Pal’s second science fiction classic has conceptual imagination and visual wonder to spare, along with a million awkward and dated details. When rogue planets threaten to obliterate the Earth, a super-Ark spaceship is built to spirit forty ‘chosen ones’ to safety. The Ark passengers have the right stuff, but you may be enraged by the rigged process to select who gets to go. Gee-whiz spectacle is the order of the day — how many End Of The World movies actually show terra firma expunged from the Solar System? Barbara Rush and John Hoyt are the acting standouts, but top honors go to Pal’s visual effect artists and designers.
When Worlds Collide
Blu-ray
Viavision / [Imprint] 6 (Australia)
1951 / Color / 1:37 Academy / 83 min. / Street Date August 26, 2020 / available through [Imprint] : $34.95
Starring: Barbara Rush, Richard Derr, Larry Keating, John Hoyt, Judith Ames, James Congden, Stephen Chase, Frank Cady, Hayden Rorke, Kirk Alyn, Casey Rogers, John Ridgely,...
When Worlds Collide
Blu-ray
Viavision / [Imprint] 6 (Australia)
1951 / Color / 1:37 Academy / 83 min. / Street Date August 26, 2020 / available through [Imprint] : $34.95
Starring: Barbara Rush, Richard Derr, Larry Keating, John Hoyt, Judith Ames, James Congden, Stephen Chase, Frank Cady, Hayden Rorke, Kirk Alyn, Casey Rogers, John Ridgely,...
- 9/12/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
George Pal’s second science fiction classic has conceptual imagination and visual wonder to spare, along with a million awkward and dated details. When rogue planets threaten to obliterate the Earth, a super-Ark spaceship is built to spirit forty ‘chosen ones’ to safety. The Ark passengers have the right stuff, but you may be enraged by the rigged process to select who gets to go. Gee-whiz spectacle is the order of the day — how many End Of The World movies actually show terra firma expunged from the Solar System? Barbara Rush and John Hoyt are the acting standouts, but top honors go to Pal’s visual effect artists and designers.
When Worlds Collide
Blu-ray
Viavision / Imprint (Australia)
1951 / Color / 1:37 Academy / 83 min. / Street Date August 26, 2020 / available through [Imprint] : $34.95
Starring: Barbara Rush, Richard Derr, Larry Keating, John Hoyt, Judith Ames, James Congden, Stephen Chase, Frank Cady, Hayden Rorke, Kirk Alyn, Casey Rogers,...
When Worlds Collide
Blu-ray
Viavision / Imprint (Australia)
1951 / Color / 1:37 Academy / 83 min. / Street Date August 26, 2020 / available through [Imprint] : $34.95
Starring: Barbara Rush, Richard Derr, Larry Keating, John Hoyt, Judith Ames, James Congden, Stephen Chase, Frank Cady, Hayden Rorke, Kirk Alyn, Casey Rogers,...
- 9/12/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
“It neutralizes mesons somehow. They’re the atomic glue holding matter together!” For most of the 1950s George Pal’s Martian invasion spectacle reigned as the top Sci-fi spectacle about an alien invasion. All the money went into the visuals, beautifully turned out by Byron Haskin and Gordon Jennings. Paramount’s much-awaited full restoration job does the picture justice, even if fussy fans will continue to argue the ‘what about the wires?’ battle. Even more impressive than the visuals is the film’s superb sound design, which still blows audiences away whether in mono or a new 5.1 remix. Criterion’s extras don’t critique the film as much as they tout the high-class restoration (and minor revisions).
The War of the Worlds
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1037
1953 / Color / 1:37 Academy / 85 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date July 7, 2020 / 39.95
Starring: Gene Barry, Ann Robinson, Les Tremayne.
Cinematography: George Barnes
Film Editor:...
The War of the Worlds
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1037
1953 / Color / 1:37 Academy / 85 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date July 7, 2020 / 39.95
Starring: Gene Barry, Ann Robinson, Les Tremayne.
Cinematography: George Barnes
Film Editor:...
- 7/14/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Jacques Tourneur’s ‘big sky’ western gives us the beauty of Colorado mountains plus stunning color images (originally Technicolor) of his attractive cast: Robert Stack, Virginia Mayo, Ruth Roman. North-South antagonisms break out in Denver City, before the Civil War begins, and Robert Stack’s loner opportunist must choose a side. The Wac’s disc includes four Jacques Tourneur short subjects, with mystery themes.
Great Day in the Morning
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1956 / Color / 1:2 widescreen (Superscope) / 92 min. / Street Date November 26, 2019 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Virginia Mayo, Robert Stack, Ruth Roman, Alex Nicol, Raymond Burr, Leo Gordon, Regis Toomey, Carleton Young, Donald MacDonald, William Phipps, Peter Whitney.
Cinematography: William Snyder
Film Editor: Harry Marker
Original Music: Leith Stevens
Written by Lesser Samuels, from the novel by Robert Hardy Andrews
Produced by Edmund Grainger
Directed by Jacques Tourneur
(Note: none of these images reflect the fine quality of the Blu-ray.)
The...
Great Day in the Morning
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1956 / Color / 1:2 widescreen (Superscope) / 92 min. / Street Date November 26, 2019 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Virginia Mayo, Robert Stack, Ruth Roman, Alex Nicol, Raymond Burr, Leo Gordon, Regis Toomey, Carleton Young, Donald MacDonald, William Phipps, Peter Whitney.
Cinematography: William Snyder
Film Editor: Harry Marker
Original Music: Leith Stevens
Written by Lesser Samuels, from the novel by Robert Hardy Andrews
Produced by Edmund Grainger
Directed by Jacques Tourneur
(Note: none of these images reflect the fine quality of the Blu-ray.)
The...
- 11/12/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
More than a movie star: America’s one female Hollywood director working in the 1950s receives a four-title boxed set well worth the investment — one noir mini-masterpiece is accompanied by a pair of independent social issue movies better than what the studios were turning out. It’s all thanks to Lupino’s fine dramatic direction. She emphasizes basic human values: cooperation over competition, and interior conflict. Her company ‘The Filmmakers’ lasted only about six years, but as an independent experiment it consistently turned out ‘special’ pictures anybody could be proud of.
Ida Lupino Filmmaker Collection
Blu-ray
Not Wanted, Never Fear, The Hitch-Hiker, The Bigamist
Kl Studio Classics
1949-1953 / B&w / 1:66 widescreen (1) 1:37 Academy (3) / 91, 81, 71, 79 min. / Street Date September 24, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Sally Forrest, Keefe Brasselle, Leo Penn, Hugh O’Brian, Joan Fontaine, Edmond O’Brien, Ida Lupino, Frank Lovejoy, William Talman.
Cinematography: Henry Freulich; Archie Stout; George E. Diskant...
Ida Lupino Filmmaker Collection
Blu-ray
Not Wanted, Never Fear, The Hitch-Hiker, The Bigamist
Kl Studio Classics
1949-1953 / B&w / 1:66 widescreen (1) 1:37 Academy (3) / 91, 81, 71, 79 min. / Street Date September 24, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Sally Forrest, Keefe Brasselle, Leo Penn, Hugh O’Brian, Joan Fontaine, Edmond O’Brien, Ida Lupino, Frank Lovejoy, William Talman.
Cinematography: Henry Freulich; Archie Stout; George E. Diskant...
- 10/8/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Film-score buffs had a bonanza of riches to choose from in 2018 — notwithstanding the fact that the soundtrack business is almost unrecognizable from what it was even a decade ago. Instead of farming out their new scores to the traditional soundtrack labels, most studios now retain them for their own in-house labels and generally release them digitally. Meanwhile, the labels that once relied on current films for their bread-and-butter releases are focusing more on the niche market for classic film scores: re-releasing old ones with new material, finding worthy titles that somehow never got released, and in some cases even re-recording classic scores.
It’s a complicated business, label executives say. Not only must they track down the best available audio (studios and production companies don’t always retain the elements or sometimes can’t find them), they have to clear the rights (and sometimes the music publishing details have changed). And,...
It’s a complicated business, label executives say. Not only must they track down the best available audio (studios and production companies don’t always retain the elements or sometimes can’t find them), they have to clear the rights (and sometimes the music publishing details have changed). And,...
- 12/30/2018
- by Jon Burlingame
- Variety Film + TV
“Thru the Time Barrier, 552 years Ahead… Roaring To the Far Reaches of Titanic Terror, Crash-Landing Into the Nightmare Future!” … and as Daffy Duck says, “And it’s good, too!” Allied Artists sends CinemaScope and Technicolor on a far-out timewarp to a place where the men are silly and the women are… very female. Hugh Marlowe stars but the picture belongs to hunky Rod Taylor and leggy Nancy Gates.
World Without End
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1956 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 80 min. / Street Date March 28, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Hugh Marlowe, Nancy Gates, Nelson Leigh, Rod Taylor, Shawn Smith, Lisa Montell, Christopher Dark, Booth Colman, Everett Glass.
Cinematography: Ellsworth Fredericks
Makeup: Emile Lavigne
Art Direction: Dave Milton
Film Editor: Eda Warren
Original Music: Leith Stevens
Produced by Richard V. Heermance
Written and Directed by Edward Bernds
“CinemaScope’s first science-fiction thriller.”
First, huh? What about MGM’s CinemaScope attraction Forbidden Planet, which...
World Without End
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1956 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 80 min. / Street Date March 28, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Hugh Marlowe, Nancy Gates, Nelson Leigh, Rod Taylor, Shawn Smith, Lisa Montell, Christopher Dark, Booth Colman, Everett Glass.
Cinematography: Ellsworth Fredericks
Makeup: Emile Lavigne
Art Direction: Dave Milton
Film Editor: Eda Warren
Original Music: Leith Stevens
Produced by Richard V. Heermance
Written and Directed by Edward Bernds
“CinemaScope’s first science-fiction thriller.”
First, huh? What about MGM’s CinemaScope attraction Forbidden Planet, which...
- 3/14/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
By Darren Allison
(Cinema Retro Soundtrack Editor)
I was recently fortunate enough to make an acquaintance with Jason Lee Lazell of Moochin’ About Records which is earning kudos for releasing some high profile film-related recordings. The latest box set in their Jazz on Film series – ‘Crime Jazz’- will be featured in our upcoming print edition of Cinema Retro. Another of their impressive releases, Film Noir, is a superb 5 CD box set featuring seven fantastic scores including Alex North’s A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), Leith Stevens’s Private Hell 36 (1954), Elmer Bernstein’s The Man with the Golden Arm (1955), Elmer Bernstein and Chico Hamilton’s Sweet Smell of Success (1957), Henry Mancini’s Touch of Evil (1958), Duke Ellington’s Anatomy of a Murder (1959) and John Lewis’s Odds Against tomorrow (1959). I must admit, I initially thought these releases were just going to be another in a long line of reissues, but how wrong I was…...
(Cinema Retro Soundtrack Editor)
I was recently fortunate enough to make an acquaintance with Jason Lee Lazell of Moochin’ About Records which is earning kudos for releasing some high profile film-related recordings. The latest box set in their Jazz on Film series – ‘Crime Jazz’- will be featured in our upcoming print edition of Cinema Retro. Another of their impressive releases, Film Noir, is a superb 5 CD box set featuring seven fantastic scores including Alex North’s A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), Leith Stevens’s Private Hell 36 (1954), Elmer Bernstein’s The Man with the Golden Arm (1955), Elmer Bernstein and Chico Hamilton’s Sweet Smell of Success (1957), Henry Mancini’s Touch of Evil (1958), Duke Ellington’s Anatomy of a Murder (1959) and John Lewis’s Odds Against tomorrow (1959). I must admit, I initially thought these releases were just going to be another in a long line of reissues, but how wrong I was…...
- 11/9/2014
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
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