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Category:    Home > Reviews > Drama > Politics > Literature > WWI > Flying > Relationships > Sex > Spy > Comedy > Adventure > Murder > Mystery > All The King's Men (1949/Columbia/Sony/Twilight Time Limited Edition Blu-ray)/The Blue Max (1966/Fox/Twilight Time Limited Edition Blu-ray)/The Delphi Bureau: The Merchant Of Death Assignment (1972/Wa

All The King's Men (1949/Columbia/Sony/Twilight Time Limited Edition Blu-ray)/The Blue Max (1966/Fox/Twilight Time Limited Edition Blu-ray)/The Delphi Bureau: The Merchant Of Death Assignment (1972/Warner Archive DVD)/Island In The Sky (1938/Fox Cinema Archive DVD)/Witness For The Prosecution (1957/United Artists/MGM/Umbrella Region Free Import Blu-ray)


Picture: B/B/C+/C+/B- Sound: B-/B-/C+/C/C+ Extras: C+/B/D/D/D Films: B/B/C+/C+/B-



PLEASE NOTE: The All The King's Men and Blue Max limited edition Blu-rays are from our friends at Twilight Time with only 3,000 copies of each being made, The Delphi Bureau is now only available from Warner Bros. through their Warner Archive series and this import version of Witness For The Prosecution comes from Umbrella Entertainment. All can be ordered from our friends at the respective links below.



Here are some dramas you should know about...



The original 1949 All The King's Men has been issued by the Twilight Time label as a Limited Edition Blu-ray. We covered the great political drama on DVD years ago at this link:


http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4279/All+The+King's+Men+(1949/Sony+DVD



Another high profile film not enough people have seen, I enjoyed it more than the remake and more here than on DVD, so those interested should get this version as soon as possible before they run out of copies.


Expanded extras (versus the older DVD) includes another illustrated booklet on the film including informative text & Julie Kirgo essay, Isolated Music Score Track and Original Theatrical Trailer, but you can read about the 2006 Sean Penn remake at this link:


http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4307/All+The+King's+Men+(2006/Theatrical+Film+Revie



Twilight Time has also issued another Limited Edition Blu-ray in John Guillermin's The Blue Max (1966), an underrated WWI epic about a young pilot (George Peppard) who intends to win the medal of the title by reaching a certain confirmed number of kills of the opposition, but the cost becomes increasingly twisted in this epic, finally available in an ace (pun intended) new transfer with a tons of goodies to boot. Jeremy Kemp is his friendly competition, Karl Michel Volger his opposition, James Mason the higher-up who wants to use him for propagandist purposes and Ursula Andress as Mason's woman who likes to sleep with pilots and gets involved with Peppard.


The film is remarkable in that it tells the story of the Germans and only them from the period and asks us to watch without prejudice as they slowly self-destruct. The script is smart, performances top rate, look of the film grand, directing some of Guillermin's best and flying sequences rarely matched in all of cinema history. Sure, some visual effects are dated, but so much is not and so much is done naturally and fully that it gives the film a whole new dimension that has allowed it to age well. It never feels as long as its 156 minutes length, but it is still a long film, yet it is an experience more than worth your time.


Extras includes another illustrated booklet on the film including informative text & Julie Kirgo essay, Isolated Music Score Track that is the complete score including much music not used by the director from Jerry Goldsmith's score, more alternative music cues on the feature length audio commentary track with Kirgo and fellow Nick Redmond & John Burlingame (a huge fan and scholar on this film too) and the Original Theatrical Trailer.



Paul Wendkos' The Delphi Bureau: The Merchant Of Death Assignment (1972) is the pilot telefilm for a short-lived TV spy series that tried to be witty and classy with upscale humor in the Thin Man/Avengers mode with Laurence Luckinbill as Glenn Garth Gregory. It has some action, but is maybe more about the comedy and plays like a forerunner of Scarecrow & Mrs. King more so than an actual spy show. The series only lasted a single season.


Luckinbill is good here and carries this well, but the teleplay is all over the place, including more than a few takes on Hitchcock as it winds around a plot involving stolen military vehicles and hardware. Celeste Holm is his socialite contact and there are some nice touches here and there with its set-up, so I can see why it went to series. It is just not great, but more than interesting enough to give it a look and the cast that includes Bradford Dillman, Dean Jagger, Cameron Mitchell, Bob Crane, Joanna Pettet, Lucille Benson and Pamelyn Ferdin, Warner Television has serious aspirations for this to be a success. Wonder if the TV show built on this or not.


There are unfortunately no extras.



Herbert I. Leeds' Island In The Sky (1938) is in a similar mode, but instead of spying, Gloria Stuart (Cameron's Titanic, Universal's original Invisible Man) plays the wife to be of a Assistant District Attorney (Michael Whalen) who is called on a case just when they were having fun at the fancy club of the title at the top of a fancy, schmancy new skyscraper. At first, this seems like it will be a drama with some romance, but when the his emergency call turns out to be an odd mystery, she gets more involved than expected (especially of women at the time) and they have to prove a man is innocent of murder.


Of course, the case is not as easy as it seems. Fox Cinema Archive has issued this DVD as part of their on-line only collection and it is a nice little gem that may show its age at times, but has some great moments, looks good often and shows why Stewart was a star to begin with. It is hard to say if Fox wanted a mystery movie series out of this, but it is too bad that did not happen because this had potential for that. Mystery and movie fans should really see this one.


There are unfortunately no extras which would have been nice despite of/because of the age of the film, but it deserves some.



Billy Wilder's film of Agatha Christie's Witness For The Prosecution (1957) is last but not least here, also a murder mystery with the law closely involved, courtrooms and lawyers in this case in another classic Wilder hit. Tyrone Power is a man who tells lawyer Charles Laughton (who with Elsa Lanchester driving him crazy about his health (they are a riot together) gives us shades of Nero Wolfe) he is innocent of murder, so the counselor takes on the case despite recent bad health.


Marlene Dietrich is an ex-wife of his who seems like she might be of help until she becomes the title character, condemning him and turning on him, but something is not quite right about the whole situation and we get some classic twists I will not ruin for you. It is one of the better films based on a Christie book, though I think it has aged unevenly at times, but is still a solid work and everyone should see this one at least once.


There are shockingly no extras.



Twilight Time has the best picture performers here with the 1080p 1.33 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Men and 1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Max looking really good with only minor complaints. Men easily succeeds its decent DVD counterpart with more depth, detail and better Video Black and Video White, while Max finally gets the DeLuxe color correct with a stunning new transfer of the film shot in real anamorphic 35mm CinemaScope by legendary Director of Photography Douglas Slocombe, B.S.C. (the Indiana Jones Trilogy, Never Say Never Again, The Italian Job (1969), Rollerball (1975)) in some of his most impressive work.


The 1080p 1.66 X 1 digital black and white High Definition image transfer on Witness can show the age of the materials used and has some detail issues, suggesting an older HD master, but this is far superior a transfer to all previous releases of the film on video and is nice to see looking even this good despite more soft shots than I would have liked.


That leaves the 1.33 X 1 DVDs with Delphi (in color and shot on 35mm film) tying Witness for second place and Island having some nice shots, but being softer much more often than I wish it were and both deserve Blu-ray editions.



As for sound, the DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix on Max is well mixed and derived from the 6-track magnetic stereo mix for 70mm blow-up prints of the film. However, the Jerry Goldsmith music can sound much better in fidelity than the dialogue and even sound effects, which are of the traveling kind, so the DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 1.0 Mono lossless mix on Men is in surprisingly good shape and can compete, so both films tie for the best-sounding.


The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 1.0 Mono lossless mix on Witness is a little less clear, not as consistent as Men and a bit disappointing. Therefore, the lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono on Delphi can compete, but the lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono on Island is the oldest film here and its soundtrack is the most aged.




You can order All The King's Men and The Blue Max limited edition Blu-rays, buy them while supplies last at this link:


www.screenarchives.com


...to order the Witness For The Prosecution Umbrella import Blu-ray, go to this link:


http://www.umbrellaent.com.au/


...and to order The Delphi Bureau, go this this link for it and many more great web-exclusive releases at:


http://www.warnerarchive.com/



- Nicholas Sheffo


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