Gangster (2013/Inception DVD)/The Hypnotic Eye (1960/Allied Artists)/Hysteria (1964/Hammer/MGM/Warner Archive DVDs)/Insomnia (1997/Criterion Blu-ray w/DVD)/The Venetian Affair (1966/MGM/Warner Archive DVD)

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

PLEASE NOTE: The Hypnotic Eye, Hysteria and The Venetian Affair are all now only available from Warner Bros. through their Warner Archive series and all can be ordered from the link below.

Here are some thrillers for your consideration, including one you may have seen the U.S. remake of...

From the producers of Peter Medak's The Krays, Ray Burdis' Gangster (2013) tells the pretty believable true story of a young man in Scotland named Paul Ferris bullied by four older boys who become gangsters, but he happens to as well and in part by them by default and necessity. We get the teen years section, but most of the film has the characters as adults and Martin Compston plays Ferris very well as that adult. Also ironically issued as The Wee Man, this makes for a decent, if sometimes uneven entry into the Gangster genre, especially since it is a new story from a place we rarely get such stories.

The underrated John Hannah (TV's Out Of The Blue, cable's Spartacus series) shows up as a criminal head who may be up to more than it first appears, Patrick Bergen, Denis Lawson (Star Wars alumni) and Stephen McCole (Rushmore) are among the strong supporting cast. I liked the script, dialogue and key scenes at their best, but several scenes were not as strong. However, it is worth a look telling a story that is familiar, but with twists an s turns you might not expect and a locale we don;t see or hear enough of.

A trailer is unfortunately the only extra.

George Blair's The Hypnotic Eye (1960) is the first of two films here trying to jump on the Diabolique/Psycho bandwagon, as Allied Artists tried to make it big. Women are mutilating themselves without realizing it. Is it psychology or hypnotism or both? A psychologist (Guy Prescott) and a detective (Joe Patridge) need to find out before it is too late, but a hypnotist (Jacques Bergerac) and his assistant (Allison Hayes) might know more than they are telling.

Playing like a comical William Castle film more often than expected, this is amusing all the way, has some wild moments and while the makers intend some humor, other things unintentionally funny happen. A film for the MST3K crowd, it is worth a look.

There are unfortunately no extras.

Freddie Francis' Hysteria (1964) was the Hammer Studios and MGM trying to make Robert Webber a lead actor and pull off a thriller with its own twist endings. Is he going insane and killing then forgetting, or is something else going on? Who is the mysterious, beautiful, sexy gal in an 8 X 10 photo he found? Though the script is not great (by producer and Hammer legend James Sangster), the film is well laid out and the mystery is not bad, including some nice touches by Francis, but it is also worth seeing for all the creepy moments that do work.

Maurice Denham, Sue Lloyd and Maurice Denham, along with some good music, nice locations and good editing are a plus. Hammer tried to make several straight-out thrillers, but they never stuck like their monster movies. Still, this one is worth a look.

A trailer is unfortunately the only extra.

Later remade into a hit by Christopher Nolan with Al Pacino and Robin Williams, Erik Skjoldbjaerg's Insomnia (1997) is an enduring thriller about Detective Jonas Engstrom (the great Stellan Skarsgard) who suffers the title illness while investigating the murders of s sick serial killer where the sun is out 24-hours a day in Northern Norway. The killer is methodical, even washing the hair of his female victims and he is hiding, maybe in plain sight. He has the skills, mind and experience to find the killer, by his personal issues and problems start to slowly get in the way, yet he is determined to get the killer. Can he succeed before another dead body shows up?

The supporting cast is superior, the film is way up there and worthy of other serial killer films of the time like Se7en and The Silence Of The Lambs and remains as exciting, smart, cutting edge, suspenseful, dark and purely cinematic as it as when I first saw it when it first showed up. I liked the remake very much, but still give the edge to the original for being even bolder, darker and more effective. A great thriller, this one is worth going out of your way for, especially in this remarkable upgrade by Criterion over their old DVD edition.

Extras expanded over the older Criterion DVD issued years ago include the Original Theatrical Trailer, expanded illustrated booklet on the film including informative text & essay by Jonathan Romley, new on camera interview with Skjoldbjaerg & Skarsgard and two short films by Skjoldbjaerg: Near Winter (1993) and Close To Home (1994).

Finally, Jerry Thorpe's The Venetian Affair (1966) has Robert Vaughn as a spy, but instead of being a film artificially made of a few Man From U.N.C.L.E. episodes (see more reviewed elsewhere on this site), he plays a more vulnerable ex-CIA agent trying to investigate who might be a traitor, selling secrets and even planning a bombing. A CIA head (Edward Asner) is not a fan, nor is the main villain (Karl Boehm of Powell's Peeping Tom), but does have a friend to help out (the underrated Roger C. Carmel) and we get no less than Elke Sommer, Luciana Paluzzi, Felicia Farr and Boris Karloff as a scientist with innovate ideas.

Despite the Bondian/U.N.C.L.E. Tendencies, this wants to be a more realistic spy thriller, but it never quite gets there despite such a great cast, nice locations and decent production values. Fans of Vaughn, the cast and spy genre should definitely still give this one a look.

A trailer is unfortunately the only extra.

Transfers on all these releases are nice, but the 1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on the Insomnia Blu-ray is not only a new 4K upgrade from the older Criterion DVD from years ago that had some issues, but is stunning in its color, detail, style and depth throughout. I always liked the look of this film (shot on Kodak 35mm negative), but this has plenty of demo-quality shots. Even when styled with less detail, it still looks great. This carries over to the anamorphically enhanced DVD, the second-best looking disc here. Director of Photography Erling Thurmann-Andersen does an incredible job here with atmosphere to spare.

The rest of the DVDs tie for third place, from the anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image on Gangster (shot on a RED HD camera) and Affair (shot in real 35mm anamorphic Panavision and processed in MetroColor) to the anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 black and white 35mm image on Hysteria and Eye. All gave some nice shots, but show their age at times print wise, save Gangster, simply showing softness with the limits of its HD camera of choice. All deserve Blu-ray releases.

The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Stereo lossless mix on Insomnia is one of the best Dolby SR (Spectral Recording) analog theatrical sound releases of the SR era, so play this back in Pro Logic or one of its variants to get the full impact of the mix and you will be impressed. Versus the older DVD and newer DVD's lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo which sound good, they are no match for the superior sound work here. Those who only think 5.1 mixes are the best will be especially surprised by this one, up there with Falling Down and The Silence Of The Lambs in this respect. For Criterion Blu-ray fans, think of De Palma's Blow Out (a regular Dolby A-type analog theatrical release, reviewed elsewhere on this site) as another example of how well this can work.

As for the rest of the DVDs, the lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 on Gangster is a little softer and inconsistent than I expected, mixed oddly, so the lossy, aged Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono on Hysteria and Eye can tie it and the lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono on Affair actually sounds better as the third-best sounding release here.

To order The Hypnotic Eye, Hysteria and The Venetian Affair, go to this link for them and many more great web-exclusive releases at:

http://www.warnerarchive.com/

- Nicholas Sheffo