What makes Franco-era Spanish horror so horrible? The unnecessary cruelty and emphatic nastiness, a combination that’s led to more than a few essays about political repression. Narciso Ibáñez Serrador’s shocker puts psycho headmistress Lilli Palmer in charge of a twisted girl’s boarding school. Get ready for ice-cold Women-In-Prison intrigues, with macabre carnage for a chaser. Arrow Video’s pristine new encoding is already being applauded — it far surpasses edited, color-challenged older releases, revealing a beautifully-produced thriller with fine lighting cinematography.
The House That Screamed
Blu-ray
Arrow Video
1969 / Color / 2:39 widescreen / 105 + 94 min. / La Residencia, The Finishing School / Street Date March 7, 2023 / Available from / 39.95
Starring: Lilli Palmer, Cristina Galbó, John Moulder-Brown, Maribel Martín, Mary Maude, Pauline Challoner, Tomás Blanco, Víctor Israel, Teresa Hurtado.
Cinematography: Manuel Berenguer
Production Designer and Art Director: Ramiro Gómez
Costume Design Victor Marí Cortezo
Film Editors: Mercedes Alonso, Reginald Mills
Original Music: Waldo de los Ríos...
The House That Screamed
Blu-ray
Arrow Video
1969 / Color / 2:39 widescreen / 105 + 94 min. / La Residencia, The Finishing School / Street Date March 7, 2023 / Available from / 39.95
Starring: Lilli Palmer, Cristina Galbó, John Moulder-Brown, Maribel Martín, Mary Maude, Pauline Challoner, Tomás Blanco, Víctor Israel, Teresa Hurtado.
Cinematography: Manuel Berenguer
Production Designer and Art Director: Ramiro Gómez
Costume Design Victor Marí Cortezo
Film Editors: Mercedes Alonso, Reginald Mills
Original Music: Waldo de los Ríos...
- 2/21/2023
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Franco Zeffirelli apprenticed to Luchino Visconti, stage directed operas and directed several movie hits, the biggest of which was this exuberant, attractive Shakespeare adaptation, filmed like an opera with sumptuous sets and sunswept Italian locations. The novelty for 1968 was casting the Bard’s star-crossed young lovers with actual teenagers. Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting are attractive kids directed to give spirited performances; the critics may have had mixed reactions but the public received the film well. If memory serves, Criterion’s new remaster looks better than Paramount’s original release prints.
Romeo and Juliet
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1171
1968 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 138 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date February 14, 2023 / 39.95
Starring: Leonard Whiting, Olivia Hussey, John McEnery, Milo O’Shea, Pat Heywood, Robert Stephens, Michael York, Bruce Robinson, Paul Hardwick, Natasha Parry, Antonio Pierfederici, Esmeralda Ruspoli, Roberto Bisacco, Roy Holder, Keith Skinner, Dyson Lovell, Richard Warwick, Laurence Olivier.
Cinematography: Pasquelino De...
Romeo and Juliet
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1171
1968 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 138 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date February 14, 2023 / 39.95
Starring: Leonard Whiting, Olivia Hussey, John McEnery, Milo O’Shea, Pat Heywood, Robert Stephens, Michael York, Bruce Robinson, Paul Hardwick, Natasha Parry, Antonio Pierfederici, Esmeralda Ruspoli, Roberto Bisacco, Roy Holder, Keith Skinner, Dyson Lovell, Richard Warwick, Laurence Olivier.
Cinematography: Pasquelino De...
- 2/21/2023
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
The term ‘filmed opera’ in no way describes this phantasmagoria. Powell & Pressburger re-envisions the Offenbach work with dance sequences refracted through a cinematic prism. It’s high art made for the movies, without the condescenscion seen in Disney’s Fantasia. The stars are Moira Shearer and Robert Helpmann. Powell perfects techniques from Black Narcissus and The Red Shoes to fuse music, theater, dance and cinema; Martin Scorsese calls it a ‘composed film.’ This full restoration reinstates footage not seen since the first previews in 1951.
The Tales of Hoffmann
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 317
1951 / Color / 1:37 Academy / 133 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date June 7, 2022 / 39.95
Starring: Moira Shearer, Robert Helpmann, Ludmilla Tchérina, Anne Ayars, Pamela Brown, Léonide Massine, Frederick Ashton, Mogens Wieth, Robert Rounseville;
— And the voices of: Robert Rounseville, Monica Sinclair, Bruce Dargavel, Fisher Morgan, Rene Soames, Dorothy Bond, Grahame Clifford, Murry Dickie, Margherita Grandi, Owen Brannigan, Ann Ayars, Joan Alexander...
The Tales of Hoffmann
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 317
1951 / Color / 1:37 Academy / 133 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date June 7, 2022 / 39.95
Starring: Moira Shearer, Robert Helpmann, Ludmilla Tchérina, Anne Ayars, Pamela Brown, Léonide Massine, Frederick Ashton, Mogens Wieth, Robert Rounseville;
— And the voices of: Robert Rounseville, Monica Sinclair, Bruce Dargavel, Fisher Morgan, Rene Soames, Dorothy Bond, Grahame Clifford, Murry Dickie, Margherita Grandi, Owen Brannigan, Ann Ayars, Joan Alexander...
- 6/14/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
The only sales pitch needed is “The Red Shoes has been encoded in 4K.” Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger’s 1947 masterpiece conquered America as had no previous English film. This is one artsy dance show that captivates nearly everybody: audiences can be counted on to ooh and ahh the film’s dazzling hues, striking dance artistry and endless visual creativity. Cameraman Jack Cardiff took first position as the world master of Technicolor, and Moira Shearer’s dancing is recorded forever, celebrated as with no other ballet artist. Criterion’s 4K remaster includes all the extras of their 2010 restored Blu-ray.
The Red Shoes
4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 44
1947 / Color / 1:37 Academy / 133 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date December 14, 2021 / 49.95
Starring: Moira Shearer, Anton Walbrook, Marius Goring, Léonide Massine, Ludmilla Tchérina, Robert Helpmann, Albert Basserman.
Cinematography: Jack Cardiff
Production Design and Costumes: Hein Heckroth
Film Editor: Reginald Mills
Original Music: Brian Easdale
Written,...
The Red Shoes
4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 44
1947 / Color / 1:37 Academy / 133 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date December 14, 2021 / 49.95
Starring: Moira Shearer, Anton Walbrook, Marius Goring, Léonide Massine, Ludmilla Tchérina, Robert Helpmann, Albert Basserman.
Cinematography: Jack Cardiff
Production Design and Costumes: Hein Heckroth
Film Editor: Reginald Mills
Original Music: Brian Easdale
Written,...
- 12/18/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Gangland London, 1960: Expatriate director Joseph Losey gives the Brit crime film a boost with a brutal gangster tale starring the ultra-tough Stanley Baker — and seemingly every up & coming male actor on the casting books. A committed thief returns to his craft the moment he’s freed from prison, but the emphasis is on the nasty betrayals and squeeze-plays of the criminal underworld, that conspire to foil Baker’s plans.
The Criminal
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1960 / B&w / 1:66 widescreen / 98 min. / Street Date February 18, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Stanley Baker, Sam Wanamaker, Grégoire Aslan, Margit Saad, Jill Bennett, Rupert Davies, Laurence Naismith, John Van Eyssen, Noel Willman, Kenneth Warren, Patrick Magee, Kenneth Cope, Patrick Wymark, Paul Stassino, Tom Bell, Neil McCarthy, Nigel Green, Tom Gerard, Edward Judd.
Cinematography: Robert Krasker
Film Editor: Reginald Mills
Original Music: John Dankworth
Written by Alun Owen and Jimmy Sangster
Produced by Jack Greenwood...
The Criminal
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1960 / B&w / 1:66 widescreen / 98 min. / Street Date February 18, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Stanley Baker, Sam Wanamaker, Grégoire Aslan, Margit Saad, Jill Bennett, Rupert Davies, Laurence Naismith, John Van Eyssen, Noel Willman, Kenneth Warren, Patrick Magee, Kenneth Cope, Patrick Wymark, Paul Stassino, Tom Bell, Neil McCarthy, Nigel Green, Tom Gerard, Edward Judd.
Cinematography: Robert Krasker
Film Editor: Reginald Mills
Original Music: John Dankworth
Written by Alun Owen and Jimmy Sangster
Produced by Jack Greenwood...
- 2/8/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Four out of five psychologists agree that something rotten is alive and well between the sawdust and the high wire in the delirious Circus of Horrors. Lame big-top horror pix are common enough, but this fiendishly entertaining delight would inspire the voyeur-sadist in MisterRogers. Anton Diffring is the steely-eyed medical maniac with a mission to populate an insane circus exclusively with cosmetically-enhanced prostitutes and criminals. And I won’t turn that into a White House joke.
Circus of Horrors
Blu-ray
Scream Factory
1960 / Color / 1:78 anamorphic 16:9 / 88/92m. / Phantom of the Circus / Street Date September 10, 2019 / 29.95
Starring: Anton Diffring, Jane Hylton, Kenneth Griffith, Erika Remberg, Conrad Phillips, Yvonne Monlaur, Donald Pleasence, Colette Wilde, Vanda Hudson, Yvonne Romain, John Merivale, Carla Challoner.
Cinematography: Douglas Slocombe
Film Editor: Reginald Mills
Makeup: Trevor Crole-Rees
Art Direction: Jack Shampan
Original Music: Muir Mathieson, Franz Reizenstein
Written by George Baxt
Produced by Leslie Parkyn, Julian Wintle
Directed...
Circus of Horrors
Blu-ray
Scream Factory
1960 / Color / 1:78 anamorphic 16:9 / 88/92m. / Phantom of the Circus / Street Date September 10, 2019 / 29.95
Starring: Anton Diffring, Jane Hylton, Kenneth Griffith, Erika Remberg, Conrad Phillips, Yvonne Monlaur, Donald Pleasence, Colette Wilde, Vanda Hudson, Yvonne Romain, John Merivale, Carla Challoner.
Cinematography: Douglas Slocombe
Film Editor: Reginald Mills
Makeup: Trevor Crole-Rees
Art Direction: Jack Shampan
Original Music: Muir Mathieson, Franz Reizenstein
Written by George Baxt
Produced by Leslie Parkyn, Julian Wintle
Directed...
- 9/14/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Classic cinematics from first-rank filmmakers. No ballet or heroism, so not a crowd pleaser, but Michael Powell’s original version of Gone to Earth is another unique Archers creation. Jennifer Jones finally gets to chew on a character role with grit, as a natural virgin/vixen misunderstood by contrasting suitors. David O. Selznick’s revision The Wild Heart is a classic too — of unnecessary meddling.
Gone to Earth / The Wild Heart
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1950 / Color / 1:37 flat Academy / 110, 86 min. / Street Date June 25, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Jennifer Jones, David Farrar, Cyril Cusack, Sybil Thorndike, Edward Chapman, Esmond Knight, Hugh Griffith.
Cinematography: Christopher Challis
Film Editor: Reginald Mills
From the novel by: Mary Webb
Music by Brian Easdale
Written, Produced and Directed by Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger
This is one beautiful production, one that will thrill Powell & Pressburger fans eager to see all of his films. With his typical cinematic simplicity,...
Gone to Earth / The Wild Heart
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1950 / Color / 1:37 flat Academy / 110, 86 min. / Street Date June 25, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Jennifer Jones, David Farrar, Cyril Cusack, Sybil Thorndike, Edward Chapman, Esmond Knight, Hugh Griffith.
Cinematography: Christopher Challis
Film Editor: Reginald Mills
From the novel by: Mary Webb
Music by Brian Easdale
Written, Produced and Directed by Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger
This is one beautiful production, one that will thrill Powell & Pressburger fans eager to see all of his films. With his typical cinematic simplicity,...
- 7/9/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
“Kinder der Eisigen Dunkelheit!” If those words don’t give you a chill, you may be one of ‘The Damned.’ Joseph Losey’s fascinatingly morbid reflection on atomic terror was too much for England in 1961, wasn’t released in the U.S. for four full years, and then only after being shorn of nine minutes of footage. An ‘impossible’ Cold War scenario puts military authority on the same moral plane as delinquent street thugs. Losey transplants his subversive sensibility to England, and the result is one of the top political sci-fi tales of all time.
These are the Damned
Blu-ray
Explosive Media GmbH
1961 / B&w / 2:35 widescreen / 95 min. / Street Date June 13, 2019 /Sie Sind Verdammt / Available from Amazon.de
Starring: Macdonald Carey, Shirley Anne Field, Viveca Lindfors, Alexander Knox, Oliver Reed, Walter Gotell, James Villiers, Tom Kempinski, Kenneth Cope, Brian Oulton, Rachel Clay, Caroline Sheldon, Rebecca Dignam, Siobhan Taylor, Nicholas Clay.
Cinematography:...
These are the Damned
Blu-ray
Explosive Media GmbH
1961 / B&w / 2:35 widescreen / 95 min. / Street Date June 13, 2019 /Sie Sind Verdammt / Available from Amazon.de
Starring: Macdonald Carey, Shirley Anne Field, Viveca Lindfors, Alexander Knox, Oliver Reed, Walter Gotell, James Villiers, Tom Kempinski, Kenneth Cope, Brian Oulton, Rachel Clay, Caroline Sheldon, Rebecca Dignam, Siobhan Taylor, Nicholas Clay.
Cinematography:...
- 7/6/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
This favorite animal film takes a half-step sideways out of the cute animal subgenre: the delightful Mij is no super-otter, just an ordinary playful garden-variety otter, as an Otter oughta be. (cough) Champion mellow English couple Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers have put together a film guaranteed to lower your blood pressure. But see it first before deciding it’s for your kids, as reality is not sugarcoated in its uplifting, but certainly not sentimentalized, view of our place in a world that still has some animals left alive.
Ring of Bright Water
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1969 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 106 min. / Street Date May 21, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Virginia McKenna, Bill Travers, Peter Jeffrey, Jameson Clark, Helena Gloag.
Cinematography: Wolfgang Suschitsky
Film Editor: Reginald Mills
Original Music: Frank Cordell
Written by Jack Couffer and Bill Travers from a book by Gavin Maxwell
Produced by Joseph Strick
Directed by Jack...
Ring of Bright Water
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1969 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 106 min. / Street Date May 21, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Virginia McKenna, Bill Travers, Peter Jeffrey, Jameson Clark, Helena Gloag.
Cinematography: Wolfgang Suschitsky
Film Editor: Reginald Mills
Original Music: Frank Cordell
Written by Jack Couffer and Bill Travers from a book by Gavin Maxwell
Produced by Joseph Strick
Directed by Jack...
- 5/25/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
The wonder movie of 1946 sees the Archers infusing the ‘Film Blanc’ fantasy with amazing images and powerful emotions. Imagination and resourcefulness accomplishes miracles on a Stairway to Heaven, with visual effects never bettered in the pre-cgi era. Michael Powell’s command of the screen overpowers a soon-obsoleted theme about U.S.- British relations.
A Matter of Life and Death
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 939
1946 / Color / 1:37 flat Academy / 104 min. / Stairway to Heaven / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date July 26, 2018 / 39.95
Starring: David Niven, Kim Hunter, Marius Goring, Roger Livesey, Robert Coote, Kathleen Byron, Richard Attenborough, Bonar Colleano, Joan Maude.
Cinematography: Jack Cardiff
Film Editor: Reginald Mills
Production Design: Alfred Junge
Original Music: Allan Gray
Written, Produced and Directed by Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger
Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger came into their own making wartime movies, most of which steered far clear of the accepted definition of propaganda. After their Anglo-Dutch...
A Matter of Life and Death
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 939
1946 / Color / 1:37 flat Academy / 104 min. / Stairway to Heaven / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date July 26, 2018 / 39.95
Starring: David Niven, Kim Hunter, Marius Goring, Roger Livesey, Robert Coote, Kathleen Byron, Richard Attenborough, Bonar Colleano, Joan Maude.
Cinematography: Jack Cardiff
Film Editor: Reginald Mills
Production Design: Alfred Junge
Original Music: Allan Gray
Written, Produced and Directed by Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger
Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger came into their own making wartime movies, most of which steered far clear of the accepted definition of propaganda. After their Anglo-Dutch...
- 7/7/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Powell & Pressburger’s big-scale historical epic is perhaps the best show ever about an old-school naval encounter between battleships. The first half depicts the showdown between England and Germany in the South Atlantic, and the second half a tense diplomatic game in the neutral country of Uruguay. Peter Finch, Bernard Lee and Anthony Quayle shine as sea captains.
Panzerschiff Graf Spee (The Battle of the River Plate)
Region B Blu-ray
ITV Studios Home Entertainment (Germany)
1956 / Color / 1:78 widescreen / 119, 106 117 min./ Pursuit of the Graf Spee / Street Date 2010 / Available from Amazon UK £16.90
Starring: Peter Finch, Bernard Lee, Anthony Quayle, John Gregson, Ian Hunter, Jack Gwillim, Lionel Murton, Anthony Bushell, Peter Illing, Michael Goodliffe, Patrick Macnee, Christopher Lee.
Cinematography: Christopher Challis
Production Design: Arthur Lawson
Film Editor: Reginald Mills
Original Music: Brian Easdale
Written, Produced & Directed by Michael Powell & Emeric Pressberger
The best way so far to see the impressive The Battle of the River Plate...
Panzerschiff Graf Spee (The Battle of the River Plate)
Region B Blu-ray
ITV Studios Home Entertainment (Germany)
1956 / Color / 1:78 widescreen / 119, 106 117 min./ Pursuit of the Graf Spee / Street Date 2010 / Available from Amazon UK £16.90
Starring: Peter Finch, Bernard Lee, Anthony Quayle, John Gregson, Ian Hunter, Jack Gwillim, Lionel Murton, Anthony Bushell, Peter Illing, Michael Goodliffe, Patrick Macnee, Christopher Lee.
Cinematography: Christopher Challis
Production Design: Arthur Lawson
Film Editor: Reginald Mills
Original Music: Brian Easdale
Written, Produced & Directed by Michael Powell & Emeric Pressberger
The best way so far to see the impressive The Battle of the River Plate...
- 7/22/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
To celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the film’s original release, Optimum Releasing have restored the classic ballet film: Tales Of Beatrix Potter, written and choreographed by legendary founding choreographer of the Royal Ballet, Sir Frederick Ashton, and directed by Reginald Mills (editor of Tales of Hoffmann, The Red Shoes, Black Narcissus, A Matter of Life and Death). We’ve been given three copies of the Double-Play to give away! The movie came out this Monday, 4th April so you can click here to buy your copy now or scroll down to enter our competition.
Mr. Jeremy Fisher, Mrs. Tiggywinkle, Jemina Puddleduck, Squirrel Nutkin, Pigling Bland and all the beloved characters created by Beatrix Potter come to life in this colourful and imaginative musical interpretation of her tales, beautifully danced by the Royal Ballet.
You can click the images to enlarge or scroll down to enter.
To be in with...
Mr. Jeremy Fisher, Mrs. Tiggywinkle, Jemina Puddleduck, Squirrel Nutkin, Pigling Bland and all the beloved characters created by Beatrix Potter come to life in this colourful and imaginative musical interpretation of her tales, beautifully danced by the Royal Ballet.
You can click the images to enlarge or scroll down to enter.
To be in with...
- 4/7/2011
- by Competitons
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
To celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the film’s original release, Optimum Releasing have restored the classic ballet film Tales of Beatrix Potter, written and choreographed by legendary founding choreographer of the Royal Ballet, Sir Frederick Ashton, and directed by Reginald Mills (editor of Tales of Hoffmann, The Red Shoes, Black Narcissus, A Matter of Life and Death).
Mr. Jeremy Fisher, Mrs. Tiggywinkle, Jemina Puddleduck, Squirrel Nutkin, Pigling Bland and all the beloved characters created by Beatrix Potter come to life in this colourful and imaginative musical interpretation of her tales, beautifully danced by the Royal Ballet.
We have teamed up with Optimum Releasing to offer you, our beloved readers, the chance to win a copy of Tales of Beatrix Potter on Double Play Blu-ray (released on April 4th). All you have to do is answer this simple question:
What is the name of the Rabbit in ‘Tales of Beatrix Potter...
Mr. Jeremy Fisher, Mrs. Tiggywinkle, Jemina Puddleduck, Squirrel Nutkin, Pigling Bland and all the beloved characters created by Beatrix Potter come to life in this colourful and imaginative musical interpretation of her tales, beautifully danced by the Royal Ballet.
We have teamed up with Optimum Releasing to offer you, our beloved readers, the chance to win a copy of Tales of Beatrix Potter on Double Play Blu-ray (released on April 4th). All you have to do is answer this simple question:
What is the name of the Rabbit in ‘Tales of Beatrix Potter...
- 3/30/2011
- by Kat
- Nerdly
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