Getting
It On! (1983/VCI
DVD)/Lady For A Day
(1933/Columbia/B2MP Blu-ray)/On
Approval (1944/B2MP
Blu-ray)/Rockin' Road Trip
(1983, 1985/VCI DVD)/Royal
Flash (1975/Fox/Twilight
Time Limited Edition Blu-ray)/Summer
School (1978/VCI DVD)
Picture:
C/B/B-/C/B-/C Sound: C+/B-/B-/C+/B-/C- Extras:
C+/B-/B-/C-/B/D Films: C/B-/B-/C/C+/C-
PLEASE
NOTE:
The Lady
For A Day
and
On Approval
Blu-rays are is only available from the B2MP label, while Royal
Flash
is a limited edition Blu-ray with only 3,000 copies produced and is
only available from Twilight Time. Both companies can be reached to
order their product at the links below.
You
always hear that comedy is not easy and this interetsing mix of films
from different times and places shows us how and why...
William
Olsen's Getting It On!
(1983) is yet another one of those coming of age teen comedies that
came out of the 1970s, then were plastered with cliches and bad music
by the 1980s, but this one is now an unintentionally funny indie
variant with the guys who want to get to know gals in carnal ways
going to great lengths to record them with new analog videotape
equipment. This includes a song about their VCR (among the many
forgettable, soundalike tunes here) set to a sloppy montage of them
shopping at a hi-fi stereo store!
This
one really shows its age in storyline and the cast of unknowns give
passable performances, but this is am amusing enough time capsule
worth a look despite al of its flaws. I had not seen it for many
years and did find some new chuckles here, so the curious will not be
too disappointed.
Extras
include a feature length audio commentary track by Director Olsen to
be heard after seeing the film, New York Auditions and Photo
Featurette with Commentary by Olsen.
Frank
Capra's Lady For A Day
(1933) was one of the director's early triumphs and helped then
Poverty Row studio Columbia Pictures get some respect as the Damon
Runyon-based story stars May Robson as Apple Annie, who lies to her
daughter about being a wealthy, happy, well-off woman living in a
high rise when she sells apples to make a living. This works until
her daughter decides to visit her after all these years and Annie has
to act fast not to disappoint her.
Having
the quick energy that made Capra a major director, he would revisit
the story decades later for A
Pocketful Of Miracles
with Bette Davis, but this original was more class division conscious
(especially during The Great Depression) and is still the more
effective original, even if he never was very critical of the system
that may have created said situation (unless inoculating such
critiques with plot twists). Warren William, Guy Kibbie, Glenda
Farrell, Ned Sparks and Jean Parker round out the cast and now on
Blu-ray, you can see how good-looking a film this really is.
The
big surprise is that Columbia Pictures is not the one issuing this
film in this high definition special edition, but a terrific indie
called B2MP. I cannot believe the great work they have done here and
this alone puts them on the map among the best independent Blu-ray
labels on the market. Fans will be impressed.
Extras
include an illustrated paper foldout inside the Blu-ray case with an
essay by film scholar Scott Eyman, while the Blu-ray disc adds a
Still Gallery, a fine feature length audio commentary track by Frank
Capra Jr., and a film restoration reel.
B2MP
has also gone out of their way to restore and issue Clive Brook's
hilarious British comedy On
Approval (1944) to
Blu-ray. This was made what turned out to be the latter years of
WWII, but concerns itself with class division as two wealthy
Victorian women (Googie Withers, Beatrice Lillie (Around
The World In 80 Days,
Thoroughly Modern Millie))
become seduction targets of two down and out men (Brook, also taking
a lead role with Roland Culver (Life
& Death Of Colonel Blimp,
Dead Of Night,
Thunderball,
Fragment Of Fear))
in a comedy about manners, said division, how people interact and the
things we value when we should not and vice versa. A real gem that
got lost in the shuffle of WWII, politics and not doing as well as it
should have at the time, it deserves serious reconsideration and
rediscovery. Having a great Blu-ray like his to show how fine a film
it is is only a plus and it looks good too.
The
other reason I am surprised more people do not ask about this one is
that the Frederick Lonsdale play was co-adapted by Brook with no less
than 3-time James Bond film director Terence Young (Dr.
No, From
Russia With Love,
Thunderball)
known for giving that still-running series some of its permanent
classiness and wit. Running only 80 minutes, what strikes me about
the film is how once it starts, it never quits in its wit, grace and
chemistry between its leads. I like this as much as any entry on the
list and highly recommend it.
Extras
include a Still Gallery from the BFI Collection, a solid feature
length audio commentary track by film scholar Jeffrey Vance to be
heard after seeing the film and a vintage interview with the film's
co-star Googie Withers.
William
Olsen's Rockin' Road Trip
(1983, 1985) was Olsen's follow-up to Getting
It On!, but the
production had its original title protested and the script is less
focused as a rock band called Cherry Suicide goes on their low rent
tour and complications continuously ensue. A group derivative of The
Runaways with a touch of Pat Benatar and Quarterflash, the fictional
band does not have any memorable music and their escapades are
nothing special, but it is one of the last films of its kind before
music videos and changing trends made this kind of film unfeasible.
Olsen
does what he can with the group of unknowns, but it only goes so far
and I was no more impressed this time out than when I saw it eons
ago. It is still a curio some will want to see, but time has not
been as good to it has it has been to Getting
It On!
Extras
include On Set Photos with commentary by Olsen, who also is here in
an on-camera interview.
Richard
Lester's Royal Flash
(1975) is based on a series of George MacDonald Frazier novels about
one-time school bully Harry Flashman (from his book Tom
Brown's Schooldays, which
we have reviewed in its 1954 British feature film version (on VCI
DVD) and 1971 British TV Mini-Series set) takes on the second book in
the Flashman 12-book series and casts Malcolm McDowell in the role of
the accidental hero (in a scene briefly referencing the first book)
who turns out to be a coward and goof. He walks in and out of
history without effecting it or being much affected by it, like
Forrest Gump with much more of a brain.
Fox
was apparently hoping for a series of films out of this one, but the
era was Victorian Era was not big box office that year (as Kubrick's
brilliant Barry Lyndon
sadly demonstrated) so this landed up being a single film with mixed
commercial and critical success. McDowell is backed by a great cast
that includes a very serious Oliver Reed as Otto Von Bismark, Alan
Bates, Florinda Bolkan, Tom Bell, Joss Ackland, Britt Ekland, Lionel
Jeffries, Alastair Sim, Michael Horden, Christopher Cazenove, Bob
Hoskins and David Jason, so talent in front of the camera was not a
problem and equal to the crew behind it.
The
problem is that the basic premise gets played out a bit too much by
the halfway point of the film, which runs 102 minutes and seems like
a lighter version of McDowell's adventures in his Angry Young Man
films and Kubrick's A
Clockwork Orange (1971),
so Fraser (who also adapted his book into a screenplay and later
penned the bond film Octopussy
and unfortunate Red Sonja
film) does not take the material into a new direction with the
otherwise capable Lester. Even if we consider some jokes that might
be too British for U.S. audiences, that was not enough to hold back
the possibilities of the film.
Twilight
Time has issued it as a Limited Edition Blu-ray here in the U.S. and
I cannot imagine a nicer edition being issued. Extras include
another solid booklet on the film inside the Blu-ray case including
an essay by film scholar Julie Kirgo, while the Blu-ray adds a
feature length audio commentary track by McDowell and film scholar
Nick Redman that is a lot of fun, an Isolated Music Score track of
Ken Thorne's music for the film, two Behind The Scenes featurettes
(Inside Royal Flash,
Meet Harry Flashman)
and the Original Theatrical Trailer.
Bethel
Buckalew's Summer School
(1978) throws in everything it can to press every exploitation teen
movie button, especially when it runs out of ideas (bullying is
succeeded by a sexual assault sequence you would never see today)
though despite being what we might now call grindhouse material, it
is not stylized in the way we think of these film via the Tarantino
revival of said aesthetics. Looking pale and dated as compared to
similar fare from the time and more successful comedies (including by
members of the original Saturday
Night Live and SCTV),
its desperation also shows how this cycle was on a downward trend,
plus note its ideas of sex, beauty and attractiveness as the last
gasps of the Beach Boys model. No doubt it will be a curio as well,
but it too has only aged so well since the many years ago I saw it
last. The majors like Paramount in Little
Darlings were doing this
kind of film with more thought as well, but the whole cycle has been
oddly forgotten (thanks to the regressive 1980s, but more on that
another time) and it still has a unique place in cinema history.
There
are no extras.
The
1080p 1.33 X 1 black and white digital High Definition image
transfers on Lady and Approval are more impressive than
I expected, with Lady being the best image presentation on the
list created from a surviving dupe print with solid results. Both
can show the age of the materials used, but this is far superior to
any previous editions of either I have seen, but Approval just
shows a bit more wear. Still, they look so good, it is sometimes
hard to believe they are as old as they are. Cheers to the B2MP gang
for such great work.
The
1080p 1.66 X 1 digital DeLuxe color High Definition image transfer on
Royal
Flash
needs some more work one on it with cell dust on the credits
sequences and some more grain than usual in more than a few shots,
plus other slight damage here and there. Color is consistent and the
locations still shine through, thanks in part to the amazing work of
Director of Photography Geoffrey Unsworth, B.S.C,
(2001: A Space
Odyssey,
Superman
- The Movie,
Cabaret,
Cromwell,
Tess,
Zardoz)
delivering rich, dense visuals as counterpoint to the comedy and
wacky action throughout.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.66 X 1 image on Getting It On! and
1.33 X 1 presentations on Summer School and Rockin' Road
Trip are all 35mm productions, but the transfers tend to be
dated-looking and not as great as they could look. Especially
considering their emphasis on summertime, they should be upgraded for
posterity and Blu-ray at some point because that would look better
and likely yield surprising results.
The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono lossless mix on Royal
Flash
is not bad for its age, showing how professionally recorded the film
was at the time, but it still can show its age in some distortion
points and dated fidelity at times. The PCM 2.0 Mono on Lady
and Approval
may sound older, but are very close in sounding as good and have
never sounded better. That
leaves the lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono on the three summer-themed
DVDs not sounding as good despite being newer productions, but Summer
School
has a very distorted, low-volume soundtrack throughout, so be careful
of volume switching and playback levels.
You
can order the Lady For A Day and On Approval Blu-rays,
go to this link:
http://b2mp.net/home/
…and
to order the Royal
Flash
limited edition Blu-ray, get it them while supplies last at this
link:
www.screenarchives.com
-
Nicholas Sheffo