Producer-star Richard Widmark may have thought he was inventing a new kind of spy film but his adaptation of an Alistair MacLean novel just grinds the Cold War grist, mixing good atmosphere with unconvincing action derring-do. The handsome production makes good use of Austrian and Swiss locations and the unfamiliar cast is a big assist. German star Sonja Ziemann gets the plum role, but Hollywood’s discovery is the lovely Senta Berger.
The Secret Ways
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1961 / B&w / 1:85 widescreen / 112 min. / Street Date October 27, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Richard Widmark, Sonja Ziemann, Charles Regnier, Walter Rilla, Senta Berger, Howard Vernon, Hubert von Meyerinck, Oskar Wegrostek, Stefan Schnabel, Elisabeth Neumann-Viertel, Ady Berber, Jochen Brockman, Reinhard Kolldehoff, Herbert Fux.
Cinematography: Max Greene
Film Editor: Aaron Stell
Original Music: Johnny Williams
Written by Jean Hazelwood from the novel by Alistair MacLean
Produced by Richard Widmark
Directed by Phil Karlson...
The Secret Ways
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1961 / B&w / 1:85 widescreen / 112 min. / Street Date October 27, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Richard Widmark, Sonja Ziemann, Charles Regnier, Walter Rilla, Senta Berger, Howard Vernon, Hubert von Meyerinck, Oskar Wegrostek, Stefan Schnabel, Elisabeth Neumann-Viertel, Ady Berber, Jochen Brockman, Reinhard Kolldehoff, Herbert Fux.
Cinematography: Max Greene
Film Editor: Aaron Stell
Original Music: Johnny Williams
Written by Jean Hazelwood from the novel by Alistair MacLean
Produced by Richard Widmark
Directed by Phil Karlson...
- 10/10/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Van Johnson steps into adventure-guy shoes more suitable for Humphrey Bogart in this European-shot thriller. Daring Martine Carol provides the sex appeal as the mystery dame who entices Johnson to smuggle a man out of Red Albania. The movie is practically a proto- James Bond film: it’s directed by Terence Young, includes Sean Connery and Anthony Dawson in the cast list, and features a fight in a gypsy camp. But Herbert Lom steals the show from them all as a monocle-wearing, oversexed gypsy bandit who can’t abide Commies. Oh, and the disc has special treat in store for discerning, high-toned art-movie intellectuals: this is the film’s hotter Continental version.
Action of the Tiger
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1957 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 93 min. / Street Date April 14, 2020 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Van Johnson, Martine Carol, Herbert Lom, Gustavo Rojo, José Nieto, Helen Haye, Anna Gerber, Anthony Dawson, Sean Connery,...
Action of the Tiger
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1957 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 93 min. / Street Date April 14, 2020 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Van Johnson, Martine Carol, Herbert Lom, Gustavo Rojo, José Nieto, Helen Haye, Anna Gerber, Anthony Dawson, Sean Connery,...
- 4/4/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
First-time director Richard Wilson's B&W '50s western is different. Robert Mitchum is on-task as a town tamer with believable problems, both in exterminating gunslingers Claude Akins and Leo Gordon, and with making peace with his estranged wife, Jan Sterling. That's not to mention Mitchum's attraction for pacifist Karen Sharpe, and ditzy showgirl Barbara Lawrence. And don't forget an incredibly young Angie Dickinson. Man with the Gun Blu-ray Kl Studio Classics 1955 / B&W / 1:85 widescreen / 83 min. / Deadly Peacemaker / Street Date September 25, 2015 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Robert Mitchum, Jan Sterling, Karen Sharpe, Henry Hull, Emile Meyer, John Lupton, Barbara Lawrence, Ted de Corsia, Leo Gordon, James Westerfield, Jay Adler, Claude Akins, Joe Barry, Norma Calderón, Angie Dickinson, Mara McAfee, Maidie Norman, Robert Osterloh, Maudie Prickett, Stafford Repp. Cinematography Lee Garmes Film Editor Gene Milford Original Music Alex North Written by N.B. Stone Jr., Richard Wilson Produced by Samuel Goldwyn Jr....
- 9/22/2015
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
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