Arsene
Lupin Double Feature
(1932, 1938/MGM)/Chase A
Crooked Shadow (1958)/The
Crooked Road (1965/Seven
Arts)/Eye Of The Devil
(1966/MGM/Warner Archive DVDs)/The
Mechanic (1972/United
Artists/MGM/Twilight Time Limited Edition Blu-ray)
Picture:
C/C/C+/C/B Sound: C/C/C/C/B- Extras: C-/D/D/D/B Films:
C+/C/C/C+/B
PLEASE
NOTE:
The
Mechanic
limited edition Blu-ray is only available from our friends at
Twilight Time and only 3,000 copies will be made, while all four
thriller DVDs is now only available from Warner Bros. through their
extensive and growing Warner Archive series. All can be ordered from
the links below.
This
group of thrillers are all interesting ambitious films intended
to have impact, often included major name stars and were well-backed
in their original releases. Now all curios, some work better than
others, but you should know about all of them.
The
Arsene Lupin Double Feature
offers MGM's attempts to adapt (if loosely) the six novel series by
Maurice Leblanc (released between 1909 and 1925) among
the early attempts to Americanize the character somewhat and have a
hit. Edwin S. Porter (The
Great Train Robbery)
had tried first in a silent 1908 film, followed by Vitagraph in 1917,
followed by a 1920 silent indie with Wedgwood Nowell, Wallace Berry &
Laura La Plante, while the British gave it a shot in 1916. MGM would
try two with sound first.
Jack
Conway's Arsene
Lupin
(1932)
actually brought together John Barrymore and Lionel Barrymore in one
film, a big deal then, in a classy and somewhat comic based on a play
adaptation of one of the novels (813
from 1910) that may show its age a bit, but is well-paced, has the
two Barrymores in their first film together and is a solid 84
minutes. Karen Morley (Scarface
(1932) and Mask
Of Fu Manchu)
makes a great female lead and the I enjoyed this despite its safe
conclusion.
Being
that MGM was not going to have the two leads together again, they
tried out the character again in the 1938 mystery Arsene
Lupin Returns.
This time, we get Melvyn Douglas and Warren William as the dueling
males and Virginia Bruce as the female lead based on the same book,
but this is a new script and set-up that is different enough to work
about as well. It takes a while to get started, but once it does, it
is also entertaining. MGM decided to throw in the towel and after
Universal took a shot remaking the same story yet again in 1944,
Lupin disappeared from Hollywood. Sad.
A
trailer the second film is the only extra.
Michael
Anderson's Chase
A Crooked Shadow
(1958) is a latter attempt to have a Diabolique-type
thriller with a wild twist at the end from a capable director and
decent cast. Anne Baxter is a woman who had a decent life when a man
(Richard Todd) shows up claiming to be her brother... who is dead.
The more she tries to prove her claim that she is certain of, the
more it looks like things have been rigged so something seems to be
going very wrong. Herbert Lom is a detective who is not sure who to
believe.
Produced
by Douglas Fairbanks Jr., the film has some good moments, plus the
locales and actors are good, but this pre-DNA thriller has plenty of
other problems in its plotting that logic collapses early and anyone
who loves the genre can see the seams stressed early on. Despite
that, I was glad to see it again, made just before Hitchcock upped
the ante with Psycho
in 1960.
There
are sadly no extras.
Don
Chaffey's The
Crooked Road
(1965) has Robert Ryan as an American reporter in a foreign country
(fictional) where his story could cause all hell to break loose
there. A powerful man (Stewart Granger) has married a woman (Nadia
Gray) who was involved with said reporter. This has some good
moments too, especially with one of the exchanges of acting, but the
story is mixed and as a mystery, it is on the weak side. Mauris
Goring is a plus here, but that is not enough to save a problematic
narrative. Still, I liked what hey did try and the attacks on
journalists have only gotten worse since this was released about half
a century ago.
There
are sadly no extras.
J.
Lee Thompson's Eye
Of The Devil
(1966) is a dark thriller in the tradition of Rosemary's
Baby
and Wicker
Man
before they were made, Deborah Kerr and David Niven as a high society
couple with money, a son and daughter. When he discovers his
vineyards are in trouble, he travels back to them, but she decides
they will join him not knowing the real secret of what is going on
there. We discover there is a big secret and worse, at least some of
the people there are part of some secret society that looks at least
somewhat Satanic.
Kerr's
character stays a bit longer than she should for as intelligent as
her character is, even
with the help of an old friend played by Edward Mulhare, but creepy
turns by Flora Robson, Donald Pleasence, David Hemmings and Sharon
Tate keep this dark as Thompson shows his skills in creating
suspense. Though not totally successful, it is a major curio
everyone should see at least once. Director of Photography Erwin
Hillier (Happy
Go Lovely,
Dam
Busters,
The
Quiller Memorandum)
delivers amazing shots and sites throughout.
There
are sadly no extras, but nice to have this one out as The
Innocents
hits Blu-ray.
After
some support roles, often in ensembles, got him attention, Charles
Bronson spent some time establishing himself as a lead actor. After
several films, including with James Bond director Terence Young, he
found even more success with Michael Winner and the peak of their
work commercially might have been Death
Wish,
but I would argue The
Mechanic
(1972) is a far superior film and some of the best work all involved
ever made.
Bronson is the title character, a for-hire assassin who has made big
money for himself and is possibly the best in the business. He has
been doing this for a while and when a big new job comes up, he teams
up with a young, skilled hitman (Jan-Michael Vincent in his early
prime hen it looked like he would be the next big superstar) as the
hit becomes more deadly and complicated.
Today
this would set up some phony, tired franchise, but we get a mature,
intelligent, adult thriller instead that also manages to be a great
send-up
of the buddy film cycle going on at the time that started in the late
1960s and would last to the end of the decade. Scripted by Lewis
John Carlino (Frankenheimer's Seconds,
reviewed elsewhere on this site), it also tackles the other new wave
theme of the young new guy not having what it takes yet versus older,
experienced men. Smart and realistic throughout, it holds up well
and has not aged as much as many films like it from its period or
since. The supporting cast includes Jill Ireland, Keenan Wynn, Frank
DeKova and Celeste Yarnall. The action is a big plus too, but get it
while supplies last since only 3,000 are being produced!
Extras
include an illustrated booklet with a solid essay by Julie Kirgo,
while the Blu-ray adds an Isolated Music Score of the great work by
Jerry Fielding, feature length audio commentary track by film scholar
Nick Redmond and the film's Director of Photography, the great
Richard H. Klein and the
Original Theatrical Trailer.
The
1.33 X 1 black and white on the 2 Lupin
films looks good for their age in this format, but could use some
work a bit and are a little soft throughout. The anamorphically
enhanced black and white 1.78 X 1 on Chase
and 1.85 X 1 image on Eye
have some good shots throughout as well, but also tend to be soft
more often than one would like, but the anamorphically enhanced black
and white 1.78 X 1 on Road
outdoes them all with a more consistent transfer including in detail,
depth and print quality. That
easily leaves 1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer
on Mechanic
the visual champ looking better than it has in a very long time with
normal grain, color consistency and detail that proves once again to
be one of the best-made, best-looking films Bronson ever made.
As
for sound, all the films here are theatrical monophonic releases, but
the DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 1.0 lossless Mono mix on Mechanic
is easily the best-sounding film here and not just because it is the
newest. Instead, it was well recorded, mixed and thought out for its
time, a quiet thriller that never wastes sound all the way down to
Jerry Fielding's underrated score, which you can hear isolated and
watch with the film. It also reminds us how important sound is to
creating true suspense in a serous thriller. The lossy Dolby Digital
2.0 Mono on all the Warner Archive DVDs are hearable, but all are
also a bit weaker and softer than I would have liked and could use
some work and/or new sonic transfers from the best available
materials. Maybe for Blu-ray?
You
can order
The
Mechanic
limited edition Blu-ray among other great releases while supplies
last at this link:
www.screenarchives.com
...and
to order any of the four Warner Archive DVDs, go to this link for
them and many more great web-exclusive releases at:
http://www.warnerarchive.com/
-
Nicholas Sheffo
