The
Alphabet Murders (1966/MGM/Warner
Archive DVD)/First
Men In The Moon
(1964/Sony/Columbia/Twilight Time Limited Edition Blu-ray)/Journey
To The Center Of The Earth
(1959 remaster/Fox/Twilight Time Limited Edition Blu-ray)/That
Man From Rio (1964)/Up
To His Ears (1966/Cohen
Media Blu-ray Set)
Picture:
C+/Blu-rays: B Sound: C+/B/B/B-/B- Extras: C-/B-/B-/B-
Films: B/B-/C+/C+/C+
PLEASE
NOTE:
The
First Men In The Moon
and Journey
To The Center Of The Earth
(1959 remaster) Blu-rays are now only available from our friends at
Twilight Time, are limited to only 3,000 copies and can be ordered
while supplies last, while The
Alphabet Murders
DVD is now only available from Warner Bros. through their Warner
Archive series. All can be ordered from the links below.
Here
are some very name genre films for you to know about and see...
Frank
Tashlin's film of Agatha Christie's The
Alphabet Murders (1966)
is a very special gem of a detective mystery film. Made by MGM's
British division when they had Margaret Rutherford making a series of
decent Miss Jane Marple feature films (reviewed elsewhere on this
site), former comedy animation genius Tashlin moved into live action
filmmaking (only Brad Bird very, very recently has done the same and
succeeded) and made some great, underrated films as a result.
Re-teaming with the underrated Tony Randall from their darkly
hilarious Will
Success Spoil Rock Hunter?
(also reviewed on this site), they decided to make a film of one of
Christie's greatest books, the 1935 hit The
A.B.C. Murders.
Instead
of doing it in an outright manner, they filled the script with little
twists, turns, in-jokes, gags, intertextual references and a love of
the genre and Christie that has rarely been equalled in any film or
TV adaptation of the work of the all-time Queen Of Crime. They get
started in a comical way and for 90 energetic, amusing minutes, the
film starts and never stops. Though some were disappointed that it
was not more like the later 1974 Murder
On The Orient Express,
it does not matter because it captures the spirit of Poirot that has
been lacking in later adaptations (sorry David Suchet) which can miss
the finer points of what Christie achieved, still the biggest selling
female writer of all time and creator of two of the greatest
fictional detectives of all time.
Warner
Archive has thankfully issued the film on DVD as the early 1980s BBC
Marple series seasons hit Blu-ray and the film also stars Anita
Ekberg, Robert Morley, Guy Rolfe, James Villiers, Clive Morton, Cyril
Workham, Patrick Newell (just before joining The
Avengers)
and a young Julian Glover already becoming cast on the villainous
side. This was not enough of a hit to spawn any sequels or series of
Poirot films, but for all involved, a real gem to be proud of.
Definitely see it!
Sadly,
the Original Theatrical Trailer is the only extra.
Nathan
Juran's First
Men In The Moon
(1964) starts out as what will seem like a serious space adventure
about the first time man lands on the moon, complete with news
reports, ballyhoo and science, but things quickly take a humorous,
even bizarre twist when a dirty British Union Jack flag is found just
as the astronauts are to celebrate. How did it get there? We land
up in a home of the elderly where an eccentric man who has been known
for telling wild stories might be telling the truth after all. The
rest of the film (save the last few scenes) is told in flashback at
the end of the 19th
Century where a man experimenting with things scientific (Lionel
Jeffries in fine form) claims to have a new flying machines he is
preparing, though it looks like a metal ball with spikes.
Neighbors
(Edward Judd and Martha Hyer) brush it off, worried more about him
blowing up the neighborhood despite the vast yards each home has, but
soon they are all inside the contraption and LIFTOFF!!!
As
soon as the comedy kicks in, this film joins the cycle of British
whimsy films made at the time (think Around
The World In 80 Days,
Chitty
Chitty Bang Bang,
even musicals like Oliver!)
That is not always counted since it is an outright fantasy film with
science fiction elements and some of the best stop-motion animation
in the long, great history of work by the ingenious Ray Harryhausen.
Things get eerie when the trip gets to the moon and though some
effects may have dated, others have not and many visuals are as
creative and even visionary as they are charming. This is a little
gem worth going out of your way for based on the H.G Wells book from
1901! Get it before they run out of them and look for an uncredited
Peter Finch too.
Extras
include another nicely illustrated booklet on the film including
informative text and another solid Julie Kirgo essay, while the
Blu-ray adds Randall William Cook introducing the film, Tomorrow
The Moon
featurette, Original Theatrical Trailers, a
feature length audio commentary track with Cook and visual effects
master Ray Harryhausen and an
Isolated Music Score track of the exceptional music by Laurie
Johnson.
Henry
Levin's Journey
To The Center Of The Earth
(1959) sold out in its first limited edition Blu-ray release from
Twilight Time sold out, though it was a rather basic edition and had
a mixed transfer. Now, Fox has remastered the film in a new,
upgraded edition and it too is another Limited Edition Blu-ray from
Twilight Time. Here is our coverage of the older edition, which sold
out quickly...
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/11617/A+Bullet+For+The+General+%281968/aka+Quien
That
edition was a little rough, but it seemed the DeLuxe Color film was
looking about as good as it could without a serious upgrade and money
to fix it if a newer print could be found. Now we have a new edition
with a much better image and sound that is a major improvement as
well.
Extras
this time include a slight variation in art of the booklet from the
original release with the same Julie Kirgo essay, Original Theatrical
Trailer and Isolated Music Score of Bernard Herrmann's music for the
film, but this remastered release adds a new feature-length audio
commentary with lead actress Diane Baker, Film Scholar Nick Redman
and Steven S. Smith, who is also a Herrmann scholar. That makes this
the version to get, though it too will soon sell out, so get it if
you are a fan.
Last
but not least are two broad comedy films by Philip De Broca with
Jean-Paul Belmondo that finally gave De Broca a hit in That
Man From Rio
(1964) with Francoise Dorleac and Adolfo Celi (a year before the Bond
blockbuster Thunderball)
in a film that owes something to the Bond films, Tintin comic strip,
Donen's Charade
(1963, reviewed elsewhere on this site), Topkapi,
Rififi,
The
Thin Man
and romanic comedy. Belmondo plays a military man who accidentally
lands up on a plane to Rio where a crazy spy case is unfolding and he
gets entangled without knowing it.
Beautifully
shot and well made, it is far more about the comedy and any real
action, suspense or strong plotting take a backseat to the whirlwind
energy intended. That made it a hit, but not necessarily a great
film. Despite its success, De Broca did not want to make a direct
sequel, so he settled for Up
To His Ears
(1966), pumping up some of the action, leaving the free-flow behind
and signing Bond Gal Ursula Andress as a sexy dancer who lands up
with a bored rich guy (Belmondo again) in a different action spy
romp.
Unfortunately,
the tradeoff weighs it down a bit and it never takes off, but I liked
how it was different and not just a tired repeat of the first.
However, De Broca was getting disinterested in genre work and that
would be the end of these films, but Cohen has issued the films as a
double
Blu-ray
set fans will enjoy and those who have not seen it should catch so
nicely restored.
Extras
include Theatrical Trailers (original and 2014 reissue versions) for
both films, while Rio
adds three making of featurettes (The
Adventures Of Adrien: The Catalan Affair,
Silly
And Serious: The Collaboration Between Georges Delerue And Philippe
de Broca
& Brothers
Of Cinema: The Collaboration Of Jean-Paul Rappeneau and Philippe de
Broca)
and Ears
adds two (That
Man From Hong Kong
& From
Cartouche to Cavaleur: The Collaboration of Jean Rochefort and
Philippe de Broca).
The
1.78 X 1 black and white image on Alphabet
looks good from a good print with some nice moments of detail, but it
still lands up in last place here by default because the Blu-ray
presentations (which I wish this were issued in as well) despite some
fine shots throughout for the format as lensed by Director of
Photography Desmond Dickson, B.S.C. (De Broca's King
Of Hearts,
Olivier's Hamlet,
Konga,
Horrors
Of The Black Museum,
A
Study In Terror
(1965) and some of those Rutherford/Marple films).
The
1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image on Moon
(in Panavision and Pathe Color) and Earth
(in CinemaScope and DeLuxe color in a new 4K scan) are impressive
throughout though Earth has more distortion using the older scope
lens format. Versus the older Twilight Time Blu-ray, grain is
lessened, color increased, depth & detail improved and the film
saved. But Moon
has even more incredible color (now the best example of Pathe Color I
know of on any
home video format) and despite a few rough patches, is an amazing
performer with plenty of demo shots, so much so I almost gave it the
highest rating here. The Director of Photography here was the great
Wilkie Cooper, B.S.C. (Mysterious
Island,
7th
Voyage Of Sinbad,
Jason & The Argonauts
(1964) and key color Rigg/Peel episodes of The
Avengers)
with stunning work as usual.
From
new 2K scans, the 1080p 1.66 X 1 digital High Definition image
transfers on Rio
and Ears
(in EastmanColor) look nice, though Rio
is a little smoother and more refined. This is laidback Eastman
Kodak with flatter color than say, Kodachrome, but both also have
some great shots. It could be argued that the color is a bit
undersaturated, but if so, not by much.
As
for sound, the lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono on Alphabet
is fine for its age, but would likely benefit from a lossless
presentation as the Blu-rays here do.
The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mixes on Moon
(apparently from its 6-track magnetic sound with traveling dialogue
and sound effects from the 70mm blow-up prints of the film) and Earth
(from its 4-track magnetic sound with traveling dialogue and sound
effects from the better 35mm presentations in its original release)
have been nicely updated. Moon
has never sounded so good down
to the Laurie Johnson score, while Earth
is a seriously solid upgrade from the DTS-MA lossless 4.0 sound of
the older Twilight Time Blu-ray that did not have soundstage it
should have had. That leaves Rio
and Ears
with decent PCM 2.0 Mono that is as good as it is going to get,
including the Georges Delerue music scores sonically in the middle
between the other Blu-rays and the DVD.
To
order The
First Men In The Moon
and Journey
To The Center Of The Earth
(1959 remaster)
limited edition Blu-rays, buy them while supplies last at this link:
www.screenarchives.com
… and
to order The
Alphabet Murders
Warner Archive DVD, go to this link for it and many more great
web-exclusive releases at:
http://www.warnerarchive.com/
-
Nicholas Sheffo
