Big
Gamble, The (1961/Fox
Cinema Archives DVD)/A Cry
In The Night (1956/Warner
Archive DVD)/Gotham: The
Complete Second Season
(2015 - 2016/DC Comics/Warner Blu-ray set)/Superbeast
(1972/MGM Limited Edition Collection DVD)/The
Terrorists
(1974/Fox/Studio Canal/Umbrella Region 4 PAL Import DVD)/To
Have And Have Not
(1944/Warner Archive Blu-ray)
Picture:
C/C+/B/C/C+/B Sound: C/C+/B/C/C+/C+ Extras: D/D/C+/D/D/C+
Main Programs: C/C+/B-/C-/B-/B
PLEASE
NOTE:
The
Terrorists
Import DVD is now only available from our friends at Umbrella
Entertainment in Australia, can only play on players that can handle
the PAL DVD format and can be ordered from the link below, Big
Gamble
& Superbeast
are online-only releases and can be ordered from the sidebar of the
website and the Cry
In The Night
DVD and To
Have And Have Not
Blu-ray is now only available from Warner Bros. through their Warner
Archive series. All can be ordered from the links below.
And
now for a new mix of action and genre releases...
Richard
Fleischer's The
Big Gamble
(1961) is a 'get rich scheme' tale with Steven Boyd, Juliette Greco
and David Wayne selling goods by establishing a trucking business in
Africa, but the elements and other unforeseen events land up more
than getting in the way of their journey to riches in this
professional, competent and mixed tale arriving on DVD from the Fox
Cinema Archives series. Any Fleischer film is worth a look and this
is not exception, even with a cut-up TV print as it is here, but this
Irwin Shaw-penned 100 minutes tends to be more generically plotted
and predictable. Still, it has some good moments if you can get
through the flat parts.
There
are sadly no extras.
Frank
Tuttle's A
Cry In The Night
(1956) is quite the curio with Raymond Burr as a very mentally
disturbed man who is spying on couples kissing in a romantic place in
the park when he is spotted by a man (Richard Anderson of The
Six Million Dollar Man
and Bionic
Woman)
who is knocked out by the voyeur, who then kidnaps his date (a young
Natalie Wood) leading tot he film's ordeal. The police get involved
and there are more surprises, but know that Edmond O'Brien and Brian
Donlevy co-star in what has to be one of the most interesting curios
we've revisited in a long time. With all those names, this is a
must-see for all serious film fans.
Not
bad overall, but it drags sometimes. This Warner film has been
issued on DVD by Warner
Archive and definitely is the kind of film that should be in print.
Catch it if you are interested, as it has some interesting moments
and I like these actors.
There
are sadly no extras.
Gotham:
The Complete Second Season
(2015 - 2016) continues
the prequel series of the years before the advent of Batman, but like
the series Bates
Motel
(based on Hitchcock's 1960 masterpiece Psycho)
and the Daniel Craig era of James Bond, this is prequel history the
characters did not necessarily need and was not there when the
characters originally caught on. The show has been a hit
nevertheless, as this review of the debut season shows...
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/13773/Gotham:+The+Complete+First+Season+(2014
So
what we see are the rise of the villains that would run Gotham and
origins of other good people, plus some side characters we've never
heard of before. The big glaring issue here is this means all of
Batman's villains are 10 to 20 years older than he is, which is dumb
and does not make any sense. However, DC
Comics/Warner needs all the hits they can get in the face of Marvel's
theatrical successes and this goes along nicely with the Arrow,
Flash,
Supergirl
and even Legends
Of Tomorrow
hit shows, proving how strong the DC stable was, always has been, is
and always will be. Still, it is happening before all those shows,
so it is in its own alternative universe in all kinds of ways and
cannot be seen as absolutely connected to the current universe.
Guess
DC will never really get away from those multiple earths.
Extras
include Digital HD Ultraviolet Copy for PC, PC portable and other
cyber iTunes capable devices and an episode guide on paper foldout,
while the Blu-rays add Character Profiles, 2015 Comic-Con Panel and
four Making Of featurettes.
Gordon
Schenck's Superbeast
(1972) is
a very, very, very, very, very, very low budget attempt to do a
monster film in the Dr. Moreau mode, but it lacks the budget,
make-up, script, pacing and suspense to go anywhere. This was a time
when low budget monster pictures could work if things were really
pushed, but they're not. Issued on DVD as an MGM
Limited Edition Collection, this was shot in the Philippines (where
it was really cheap to do at the time) and has Antoinette Bower and
Harry Lauter among its cast trying to bring this to life. Too bad it
is D.O.A. And I don't mean the Noir classic.
There
are sadly no extras.
Casper
Wrede's The
Terrorists
(1974) has
Sean Connery as a top police official taking on Ian McShane as a
clever terrorist whose crew takes a plane and its passengers and crew
hostage as leverage for a kidnapped official elsewhere with others
that are part of McShane's gang. 42+ years later considering the
title and subject matter is as topical as ever, it is not a bad film
at all with suspense, good pacing, a smart screenplay and good acting
all around.
Fox
issued this in the U.S. and Studio Canal apparently now at least has
world rights, issued here by Umbrella in Australia as an import DVD.
Connery had just left the Bond role again (1971's Diamonds
Are Forever
was a huge hit) and he was trying to get a hit outside of the series,
taking on meaty scripts like this one and even when the films were
not as big, they were always interesting and he was still considered
bankable along with being one of the world's biggest movie stars by
that time. Maybe some of this has aged a bit, but that never hurts
it much and the music score by Jerry Goldsmith is a plus. If you
have not seen this one or not seen it in a long time, catch it ASAP.
There
are sadly no extras.
Last
but not least is Howard Hawks' To
Have And Have Not
(1944), the film that the director used to launch Lauren Bacall as a
star. It worked, but to Hawks' dismay, she and co-star Humphrey
Bogart fell in love with each other. What Hawks might have hoped was
infatuation was a serious romance that had Bogart finally part from
his wife and their volatile marriage. The energy and drama of all
this behind the scenes luckily translated into a strong classic on
screen from what Hawks described as Ernest Hemingway's worst book.
The film would be a critical and commercial hit.
Bogart
is a boat captain making a living (his assistant has a drinking
problem) when he is asked to help French Resistance members against
the occupying Nazis, but is uninterested until a young woman (Bacall)
also gets interested. A pesky investigator, secrets, suspense and
some smart twists (William Faulkner co-wrote the screenplay!)
continue to hold up ad make this a classic all on its own. It has a
touch of Noir, but it is anti-Axis WWII material, yet you get
sizzling romance and star power made by a Hollywood that used to know
how to makes movies and let movies be movies. I have to admit, I
like this one as much as ever and it amazing it took so long to reach
Blu-ray, but its here and worth going out of your way for.
Extras
include the original Lux
Radio Theater
radio drama adaptation of the film, the Original Theatrical Trailer,
the 1946 Merrie
Melodies
animated short Bacall
To Arms
spoofing Bogie & Bacall among other things with Elmer Fudd as a
waiter & Bugs Bunny as dinner and A
Love Story: The Story Of To Have And Have Not featurette.
Gamble
is a 1.33 X 1 TV print of a 2.35 X 1 CinemaScope film and save that
the color is not bad, it can be a problematic viewing, while the
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 black and white image on Night
is pretty consistent and decent with only very minor issues.
The
1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on the episodes
of Gotham
and 1080p 1.33 X 1 black & white digital High Definition image
transfer Have
are the best transfers here and save a few minor detail issues, are
impressive enough throughout. Gotham
looks better than the DVDs of the debut season and play just fine,
while Have
can show the age of the materials used, but this is far superior a
transfer to all previous releases of the film restored nicely and
with the great look it is known for.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image on Superbeast
looks a bit worn and aged aside from what you would expect from such
a low budget film, soft and color inconsistent, but its watchable,
but the anamorphically enhanced 1.66 X 1 image on Terrorists
is the best I have seen the film in a long time with a decent print
that is colorful enough (DeLuxe did the color) ans though detail can
be lacking at times, it is an improvement.
As
for sound, Gamble
is lossy
Dolby Digital 2.0
Stereo at best, leaving
Night,
Superbeast
and Terrorists
with lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono sound, but Night
and Terrorists
land up sounding the best with clearer sound than expected. The rest
sound second-generation.
That
leaves the DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix on Gotham
easily the sonic winner, the only multi-channel release on the list
and is as well mixed and presented as all DC Comics series of this
period have been. Have
offers DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono lossless sound that shows
its age, but is restored and sounds about as good as it ever well and
certainly is better than I have ever heard this film in all these
years.
To
order The
Terrorists
Umbrella import DVD, go to this link for it and other surprise
releases:
http://www.umbrellaent.com.au/
… and
to order the Cry
In The Night
DVD and/or To
Have And Have Not
Blu-ray from Warner Archive, go to this link for them and many more
great web-exclusive releases at:
https://www.warnerarchive.com/
-
Nicholas Sheffo
