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Greetings! Well, it's finally happened. I reviewed the Arrow UK disc of The Tin Drum a couple of weeks ago and was happy to find that it plays on my American region player, even though Amazon UK said it would not. To be extra certain, I checked with DVD Beaver: their review confirmed that the disc played here in the states. A friend ordered it right away but found out that the actual marketed disc is region locked, just as noted online. SO ..... I apologize to any reader I may have misled, and warn other readers not to order the disc unless they have an all-region Blu-ray machine. This means that I'll have to ask Arrow to send me finished product only from now on ...

Next Saturday, February 11 at the Dark Delicacies Book and Gift Store on Magnolia in Burbank: Savant will be sitting behind a rickety table practicing his shaky signature. It's the Book Signing for my Sci-Fi Savant Classic Sci-Fi Review Reader. The signing will stretch 60 minutes -- one entire lonely hour -- between two and three. at the on Saturday, February 11, between 2 and 3. Please drop by! You'll get to see Julie Adams signing a book about The Creature from the Black Lagoon (Gary Teetzel says she's very nice) and also meet David J. Schow, who can answer any question imaginable about The Outer Limits (but will be busy signing books as well)

Thanks for reading! Glenn Erickson.

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Greetings! I've got one week left to find clean socks for my Sci-Fi Savant Book Signing at the Dark Delicacies Book and Gift Store on Saturday, February 11, between 2 and 3. The store's on Magnolia Blvd in Burbank, and there'll be several other authors and a couple of movie stars to give the event some class appeal. Please drop by!

DVD Savant apparently has readers in England, where my review-writing correspondent Lee Broughton lives. I first got involved with Lee when I discovered how much he knew about Spaghetti westerns, which were a big thing in the early days of DVD. He's giving a lecture this Monday night, in Leeds. Here's the official announcement:

"Following a screening of the Coen Bros' True Grit at Screen Seven (Leeds) on Monday 6th Feb, Lee Broughton will present a paper entitled "True grit? Charting the representation of female characters in classical Hollywood Westerns". The paper will highlight the numerous prescriptive codes and tropes that filmmakers have routinely employed in order to restrict the onscreen activities of female characters in Hollywood Westerns."

.... In other news, there's good news for all those people who have complained that The MGM Limited Edition Collection didn't have a website devoted to its Made On Demand discs, like Warners does with the Warner Archive Collection: Now there is a website--and it's the Warner Archive! Here's the link. I'm told that all the titles are not up yet. This may make the MGM titles more accessible, as I still get notes from customers wondering where they're being sold. As The Warner Archive Collection's website already distributes Sony-Columbia line of MOD product, this is a very interesting development.

And I've been tipped off by Gary Teetzel that a restored Blu-ray disc of the peculiar, highly regarded 1972 horror picture The Asphyx is going to be marketed by Redemption / Kino Lorber. The Robert Stephens, Robert Powell and Jane Lapotaire shocker is due on April 17. Thirteen years ago one of the first discs I reviewed online was David Kalat's 1999 All Day Entertainment DVD release, a very welcome item at the time. I wrote a pretty klunky review for it, if I remember correctly. Thanks for reading! Glenn Erickson

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Greetings!

No annoying talk or sales pitches today, just a couple of interesting links not necessarily film related:

Generous reader Anna Britton forwards this link to some time-lapse photography of a Solar Storm in Northern Norway. It's apparently the result of the unusual activity on the sun last week. Pretty impressive!

Gary Teetzel connects us to the Weirdest Star Wars Ad Ever. It's apparently real. Olleh!

And jolly ex- fearless leader Mark Bourne blog Open the Pod Bay Doors, HAL has the full story on the cluster-filmmaking new Star Wars Uncut: The Director's Cut , a mini-phenom making the rounds. I'm sure I'm the last to point it out, but that's life at Savant Central.

Ooh, Ooh! Arrow Films UK has announced a Blu-ray of Vittorio De Sica's marvelous Miracle in Milan, a sweet blend of neorealist drama and film blanc fantasy that asks, "What should he poor do?" The Tea Party won't like what writer Cesare Zavattini has to say. The disc is due on the 26th of March. I hope it is region-free, like the recently-reviewed The Tin Drum.

I'll make a bigger book pitch about my Book Signing February 11 next time -- thanks for reading! Glenn Erickson

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Greetings!

I'm treading water ... and enjoying the reviews I'm getting out. I'm also trying to pick up the pace, as the to-write-up list is getting longer. After a slow January, EVERYTHING came in at once.

Here goes, in one breath: Hollywood Party, Geisha Boy, Julia Misbehaves, The Buccaneer, Day of the Evil Gun, Revenge!, Vice Squad, Edward My Son, The Magnetic Monster, The Great Waltz, Boeing Boeing, Black Fury, Office Wife/Party Husband, Gog, Something Wild (1961), Sidelong Glances of a Pigeon Kicker, TCM'S Columbia Film Noir 3: The Mob/My Name is Julia Ross/The Burglar/Tight Spot, The Bed Sitting Room, Hostile Witness.

On Blu-ray: The Moment of Truth, Malcolm X, Tokyo Drifter, A Soldier's Story, On the Bowery, La Jetee/Sans Soleil, Spellbound, Notorious, Annie Hall, The Apartment. And new attractions like Lady and the Tramp are expected at any time. The volume may seem insurmountable but I really like all of these shows and want to do them justice -- hopefully at the rate of 7 or so a week. So with that in mind, I'll cut these remarks short and get back to writing.

Oh, and since I've received so many emails, I'm directing readers to my Criterion Godzilla Review at TCM. It won't show up here at DVD Savant for over a week. What you'll basically read is my usual enthusiastic response to Criterion's deluxe treatment, along with my reaction to the presentation's interpretation of the film and its political context.

And that's it until Tuesday, thank you! Los Angelenos, don't forget the Sci-Fi Savant Book Signing at the Dark Delicacies Book and Gift Store on Magnolia Blvd in Burbank, between 2 and 3 on Saturday, February 11 -- Glenn Erickson

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Greetings!

Hokey smokes -- just a couple of hours to get these reviews out!

My one special link this week is to Dick Dinman's new radio shows on West Side Story, in response to the recent Blu-ray. In Part One Dick's guest George Chakiris opens up on the subject of the filming, the Jerome Robbins - Robert Wise debacle, and his own career. Part Two sees Mr. Chakiris discussing the chemistry and direction issues between Richard Beymer and Natalie Wood, and then discusses Yul Brynner and Richard Widmark in the context of one of his later starring films. Dick Dinman has a long list of film-oriented radio shows at his DVD Classics Corner On the Air Archive.

And I once again need to mention the book signing I'll be doing at the Dark Delicacies Book and Gift Store on Magnolia Blvd in Burbank, between 2 and 3 on Saturday, February 11. The book is of course my Sci-Fi Savant which came out in late November. I've been told that it's going to be a regular party -- besides star Julie Adams autographing an English reprint of the novelization to the original Creature from the Black Lagoon, and author and friend David J. Schow will signing copies of his new thriller novel Upgunned, actor and mime Doug Jones (Pan's Labyrinth) will be there too, inscribing his new book, titled Mime Very Own Book. Read the Dark Delicacies site carefully -- at Hollywood book signings I believe the book must be bought at the store ....

Thanks for reading! Glenn

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Greetings!

Well, I've taken the plunge and will be signing copies of my book Sci-Fi Savant between 2 and 3pm on Saturday, February 11 at the Dark Delicacies Book and Gift Store on Magnolia Blvd in the revitalized Burbank. I'm thankful to my publisher Juha Lindroos and Dark Delicacies' Sue for help with this, and also to Gary Teetzel for twisting my arm and making me do it. Now I hope I get to meet a couple of Savant readers face to face!

There will be plenty of activity at the store that day, and I certainly don't expect to be the big draw. Star Julie Adams will be there autographing an English reprint of the novelization to the original Creature from the Black Lagoon, and author and friend David J. Schow will be signing copies of his new thriller novel, Upgunned. I met David about a year ago when I screened a rare film item for him at my place; he's a fun guy with a big personality and it will be great to join him there under these circumstances. If I sign a book or two, all the better. Expect to see frequent references to this signing in the next couple of weeks. I have to self-promote to some extent ... out here in Hollywood, it's the law.

I've screened the new Criterion Godzilla Blu-ray and have nothing but positive things to say, from the packaging to the extras -- I was floored by the DVD set four years ago and learned as many new things about Big G from this disc too. Although I'm just writing it now, my review will be up first at TCM Online, so I'll try to remember to point readers there when it shows up.

Thanks for reading! Glenn Erickson

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Greetings! I have some worthy links today, courtesy of thoughtful Savant correspondents: Craig Reardon pointed me to this post on the Talking Herrmann page, entitled Semi Off Topic for 7th Voyage people: A Sinbad Tour of Spain. Expect some impressive location comparisons.

Wayne Schmidt forwards a page from the Matte Shot blog devoted to The Glass Art of Hammer Films. "NZPete" has collected a long column of rare BTS shots and scene stills, and has a pleasant writing style to boot.

And more musical revelations are offered by reader Michael Brunas. He's uncovered a WQXR "Movies on the Radio" piece about Les Baxter, an interview show from 1990.

Thanks for reading! Glenn Erickson

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Greetings!

Am still waiting on the more desirable discs of the month but most of that problem can be attributed to reviewer impatience. Meanwhile, more interesting titles are being announced every day. Criterion has ¡Alambrista! and Harold and Maude on the way in Blu-ray, and Eclipse a DVD Box of Pearls of the Czech New Wave, which includes Daisies and the semi-legendary anti-totalitarian film A Report on the Party and the Guests. Reader Tom Giegel passes on information from Olive films about upcoming DVD and Blu-ray releases, six titles on March 27: Frank Sinatra in Come Blow Your Horn and Assault on a Queen; the Jerry Lewis movies It's Only Money and Who's Minding the Store?; and the older dramas No Man of Her Own (Mitchell Leisen) and George Stevens' Something to Live For.

A review screener of Cornel Wilde's No Blade of Grass is finally on its way. I'm looking forward to writing up that very disturbing, half-prophetic and half-exploitative eco-apocalyptic epic. Why? Because hey, it's genuine in-your-face science fiction filmmaking! Also out new from The Warner Archive Collection are The Last Hunt, Day of the Evil Gun and The Great Waltz. The Columbia MOD program has Anthony Mann's The Black Book; a reader has checked it out for quality and given it his hearty approval.

Friendly tipster Martin Hennessee steers me to what purports to be an upcoming ratings bulletin for an "Intended Cut" of the 1986 musical Little Shop of Horrors. Does this mean that the impressive, cut Monster Mash finale will be reinstated? Am I the last person to find out about this, or merely a victim of yet another cruel hoax?

On the Horror end of things, Anchor Bay has a deluxe Blu-ray on the way for the controversial Japanese picture Battle Royale, while Kino is distributing fancy Blu-rays of Redemption's Jean Rollin collection: Shiver of the Vampires, The Nude Vampire, etc. I think I'll start with what is reportedly the tamest and most poetic of the late director's works, The Iron Rose. Each disc comes with extensive liner notes from Video Watchdog's sage horror commentator Tim Lucas.

Correspondent Allan MacInnis and I have been talking about Wim Wenders' Until the End of the World and Bertrand Tavernier's Deathwatch (La Mort en direct), subjects guaranteed to make me start talking. Alan has posted his side of the discussion at his blog Alienated in Vancouver, where he makes a case for a Dreamscape connection that never occurred to me.

Coming up next -- Olive Films' The Hellstrom Chronicle and Criterion's Belle de Jour ... and hopefully the Twilight Time The Roots of Heaven and the Criterion Godzilla. Next time a really hot Criterion title is announced, I'll ask for an early review disc!

Thanks for reading, Glenn Erickson

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Greetings!

I'm a day late because I had to work the weekend, and get some sleep, and our Internet has been out .... and well, those are my excuses! But I like today's reviews and will try to be back on schedule come Saturday.

A couple of fun links:

If you haven't seen all of them, Edward Sullivan sends a link to the Microbrew Reviews blog, which has a selection of Behind-the-scenes shots of the late James Arness as "The Thing".

Need a nice pocket watch? Have $500 to drop for a fun trinket? Gary Teetzel points us to an Ebay sale of a knock-off of the musical watch from For a Few Dollars More.

The Internet came on finally after being off all Tuesday and part of Wednesday ... I'll be back on Saturday, assuming everything is back to normal.

Thanks for reading, Glenn Erickson

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Greetings... January marches onward!

Everybody seems to be realigning themself back to work, but I'm hearing positive remarks from readers anticipating upcoming discs. I've received some new Kino / Redemption Blu-rays of Jean Rollin pictures and will be giving a couple of those a spin to see what's what in 70s French horror. I'm still waiting on some MGM MOD discs and Criterion's Godzilla, which will get immediate attention. And the Warner Archive Collection's No Blade of Grass appears to be available again, so I'm going to try and snag that one as soon as is possible. Between those titles and the highly awaited Twilight Time Blu-rays, January and February will not be dull disc days this year.

Radio host Dick Dinman has a new pair of shows this week, interviewing James Darren about Sony's Blu-ray of The Guns of Navarone. Darren's memories of starring in the escapist war blockbuster and other subjects are spread across two shows, Part One and Part Two. And while you're at it be sure to check out Dick's full radio show archive; there's even an older show with me mumbling away about Major Dundee.

Finally, Amazon is having a very special sale -- you too can purchase a home supply of Uranium Ore. Be sure to scroll down a bit and check out the purchaser comments to find out how your friends and neighbors are having fun with this great new consumer product!

Thanks for reading! -- Glenn Erickson

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Greetings!

The New Year is upon us and Los Angeles at least is settling into some very mild and pleasant weather. Holiday guests have gone and we're putting the house back into shape and getting ready to go back to work. And sadly, all those great desserts are beginning to disappear from the refrigerator. Especially when I think nobody else in the house will notice.

Some random new movie remarks: The Muppets is light and pleasant fun. I didn't care for J. Edgar and thought the age makeup in it simply looked bad. From my limited experience evaluating makeup, the transformations performed on Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady are by contrast excellent. But both movies take a disturbingly ambivalent position on two really villainous historical figures, supposedly showing their shortcomings and crimes but really embracing both as dynamic, heroic characters. That's a terrible thing to do. Melancholia is an "astral collision" movie and for that reason should be of great interest to this reviewer. Fitfully interesting, it turns out to be two hours of essentially inconsequential personal noodlings with completely uninteresting people. Nice music though, and a gripping first eight minutes. The most entertaining picture of this new batch so far is Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, a low-key but gripping espionage tale that I thoroughly enjoyed, even if I was barely able to follow its murky storyline! Gary Oldman is really good.

Through a link circulated by Joe Dante, I've come across a big-scale imitation of a Japanese monster movie, personally produced by the North Korean dictator-film fan who just died. It's called Pulgasari and the whole thing is up on YouTube. As far as I can tell, the monster most resembles The Giant Majin It leads an army in an enormous battles. Bizarre surprises never seem to let up!

And finally, don't forget to check out the creepy "Holiday Special" The Little Match Girl showing over at the essential web destination Trailers from Hell. TFH's come-on is irresistible: "We thought that Hans Christian Andersen's morbid fable about a homeless child freezing to death on Christmas Eve was just the cheery ticket for the last week of a troubled year." Hey, mirth and laughter is where you find it.

Thanks for reading! Glenn Erickson

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Greetings!

With the year fading fast, I'd like to make a special note of thanks to the friends and correspondents of this column. Frankly, my reward for the work (work?) involved is meeting so many talented and intelligent people, all of whom seem to be both interested in my kind of films and are sane personalities. Back in the pre- Information Age I was darn lucky to find two or three people who shared my interests; in some cases friendship had to come later. The Internet has cast a web of connectivity to all corners of the world (no names here). I enjoy notes from Spaniards and Peruvians; major collectors in Australia and Arizona; Sergio Leone fans in Austria, Italy, England and Kansas; Godzilla fans from everywhere. A retired English projectionist sends me interesting facts about his experiences and a Sweden-based enthusiast seems to know every fact about arcane new releases everywhere in the world. Contacts in Czechoslovakia and Germany have helped me figure out the histories of Eastern-bloc science fiction films for which no information was available here; a college archivist in Massachusetts has put me on her mailing list for even more rarities from East Germany. Most of these people know much more about their chosen interests than I do and all write really engaging notes and letters. I wish I could print them all.

Add to that my "UK correspondent" Lee Broughton, who contributes reviews monthly; I think he's been doing that for going on ten years now.

And there's my good friend Gary Teetzel, who helps steer DVD Savant from disaster weekly with his advice and encouragement. We met at MGM almost 20 years ago and have been hosting regular disc screenings for at least twelve years. Gary has been a major impetus in getting my books written, as well.

In the last few years I've met more film writers. Some do reviews but quite a few are established authors, journalists and scholars. More than one contact has sent me terrific letters discussing Metropolis, in some cases sharing impressive research and unpublished papers. Some teach by day and write film criticism by night; I'm flattered to hear from them. Closer to home my L.A. based writer friends are all doing well. We lean on one another for publicity help, or contact info for ever-tighter review screener privileges. It was thanks to one of these connections that I became a member of the Online Film Critics Society ten years ago. That association confers both prestige and a healthy selection of Academy Screeners every November.

Finally, I want to thank the thoughtful watchdogs that help me correct my often wild mistakes. The name "DVD Savant" was always meant to be a silly exaggeration, and I've been pleased that only a couple of writers have asked me how I could be so conceited to call myself a savant. I once had a reputation as a veritable encyclopedia of film information, but it was really only within my range of interest. You read Andrew Sarris' The American Film for literally 40 years, until you've highlighted all the titles you've seen and the pages fall apart, and you're bound to memorize part of it. But since I started writing I've learned that, a) I only THOUGHT I was a really good speller; b) I tend to think one word and write another. That's how I've somehow written Eleanor Powell for Eleanor Parker umpteen times. Proofread? I think my brain must just fill in the correct word as it scans. I say all this to thank the people who write in to tell me that I've mixed Bernardo Bertolucci up with Michelangelo Antonioni, or vice versa. I'm grateful for this help. For those who write in, be sure to poke fun -- my friends do, without mercy. I not only deserve it, it amuses me. The honor is in knowing that someone cares!

As the New Year begins I'm looking forward to the post-holiday calm to enable me to catch up on writing work. It's important to make good on commitments to my very tolerant disc providers. There is also more publicity work to be done getting the word out for my new book Sci-Fi Savant. Incidentally, I have a few copies here that I can autograph-inscribe and sell directly, should there be interested collectors. With all the self-promoters on the web, my instincts tell me that my readership likes Savant precisely because I'm not constantly selling something. Although the idea of my own DVD Savant coffee cup sounds great!

Let's hope for a great New Year for all of us!

Best,
Glenn Erickson

Greetings!

Is this a vacation? I'm not sure. But getting writing done with houseguests isn't working out too well. Rather than stumble out with two reviews that need proofreading, I'm offering some fun links today, courtesy of helpful Savant readers. The reviews will be back in two -- three days?

After feeling so guilty dissing Woody Allen's new film, I'm getting plenty of notes from people who noticed the same issues, even if they enjoyed the film more than I. Stephen Cooke sends this link to a hilarious Woody Allen standup routine from decades ago that pretty much describes the basis of Midnight in Paris. Stephen wrote, "You might want to toss a link to this routine into your review, so folks will know just how long this idea has been tumbling around inside the Woodster's noggin."

Friendly UK reader Dave Carnegie offers a link to a nicely produced BFI featurette about Magic Lanterns. Lovers of the new film Hugo will appreciate the mechanics of these pre-motion picture visual shows.

And fearless Savant associate Gary Teetzel steers us toward a Vincent Price pledge drive video that co-opts ideas from, of all things, Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window. It was made in 1988, when Price was becoming fairly frail. We still miss him!

On the disc front, positive early reviews have been posted for Criterion's restored Godzilla, which is good news indeed. AIP's Witchfinder General is already out in the UK in a non-region coded Blu-ray. Semi-announcements or glorified rumors say that Lawrence of Arabia is slated for Blu-ray next year, and It's also been claimed that a new Blu-ray for the original Hammer The Curse of Frankenstein is in the hopper, based on the recording of an audio commentary. I certainly hope that these announcements pan out. Severin still promises Zulu Dawn for next year, so my radar is on alert for that one.

Thanks for reading! -- Glenn Erickson

Greetings!

Meet the "Christmas Raccoon". He doesn't come down chimneys, but I now have photographic proof that he takes nighttime strolls down our backyard fence. With the family here for the holidays, my daughter spotted him about 8pm last night while taking her dog out for a walk. Mr. Raccoon didn't seem bothered by much of anything and just sat there until I got close enough to snap his picture. He then slowly walked away down the fence. Fifteen years ago we had plenty of loose cats wandering through the neighborhood, you know, the kind that choose to stage loud fights outside your bedroom window at 3am. With the cats gone, squirrels started showing up, and then an occasional opossum. But this is our first raccoon sighting. We're in the middle of a vast city, and nowhere near any undeveloped areas. We don't even see any rats in this neighborhood. Is our Christmas raccoon an omen, and if so, what kind?

Without apologies, I offer my yearly 'best of' list tonight. You try and write with a lot of house guests all at once ... too many pleasant distractions. I did give the list some thought, however. As the library product coming out these days steers into uncharted waters, away from the 500 or so films everybody already knows about, more hidden treasure and pleasant discoveries are showing up. I sincerely hope that some of the films in this list are titles you've never heard of before.

My daytime work project goes well and I hope to do a lot of catching up with my writing responsibilities in the next six days of holiday break. Right now I'm showing my houseguests VCI's disc of the hilarious Miranda. I've been checking out Academy screeners of Margin Call (very good but cold around the edges), The Descendents (excellent), The Debt (very good) and The Artist (cute but on the light side). The year's big dinner is being cooked downstairs, so I'd better join them as soon as I can.

A happy holiday to you and yours, as they say, and thank you for checking in at DVD Savant! -- Glenn Erickson

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Greetings!

I'm still getting interesting mail about the 1956 English animation brought to my attention by Ian Whittle, the brief but frightening A Short Vision. Just when I think I've at least read about every arcane classic-era Sci-Fi or End-of-the-World film, something pops up on video or on the Internet. I guess that's what the Information Age is all about ... if something exists, there's bound to be a webpage on it. The Internet can have mistakes (I've contributed my share) but it also offers an astounding wealth of good research. I attract readers from countries I'll probably never be able to visit, but I also pore over Italian and French websites with my primitive language skills, looking to learn more about my favorite subjects. It's a terrific new world out there for the curious, I tells ya.

From faithful reader Rob comes a link to an amusingly nasty little holiday-themed horror, A Krampus Carol by Anthony Bourdain. Who says I ain't go no Christmas spirit? Go get 'em, Krampus!

Hey, it's almost week-off-for-holidays time. I'm a clock-punching guy this particular December, and looking forward to the fun! Thanks for reading! --- Glenn Erickson