Aloners (2020/Film Movement DVD)/Caged! (1950*)/East Of Eden 4K (1955/Warner 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray)/Kandahar (2022/Universal Blu-ray w/DVD)/The Old Man and The Sea (1958/*both Warner Archive Blu-ray)

4K Ultra HD Picture: B+ Picture: C+/B/X/B & C/B Sound: C/B-/B/B & C+/B- Extras: C/C+/C+/D/C- Films: C/B/B-/C/B-

PLEASE NOTE: The Caged! and Old Man & The Sea Blu-rays are now only available from Warner Bros. through their Warner Archive series and can be ordered from the link below.

A new group of dramas, including a few classics, so check out...

Hoing Sung-Eun's Aloners (2020) is a Korean film that wants to deal with being alienated in a (any) society with technology that isolates, with Jina (Gong Seung-yeon) working at a call center that is getting to her personally. Even when she leaves, she is always on her cell phone all the time and she keeps feeling more and more isolated. A new neighbor at home and new trainee at work is now pushing her to the breaking point.

Though a few moments that worked reminded me of the Korean classic thriller 301/302 (reviewed elsewhere on this site) and the actors are good, the film becomes repetitive and predictable more than I had hoped and any of the troubles anyone has plays more like a self-fulfilling prophecy than a character study for whatever reason. Thus, this was disappointing, but anyone seriously interested should still give it a good look.

Text notes in the inside from cover of the DVD case, trailers and the Luisa Martiri/Tanya Modini short film The Moths Will Eat Them Up (14 minutes, not bad) are the only extras.

John Cromwell's Caged! (1950) is one of the more respectable, famous 'women in prison' films with Eleanor Parker as the naive innocent who gets arrested, convicted and sent to the slammer, facing plenty of end-of-the-line losers and a warden (Agnes Moorehead) who may or may not a help in the long term.

At the time, this was considered brutal and realistic (versus the more censored new invention of television, which few had by then) and versus any underground films (few if any, usually exploitation) that were made on the subject. Versus any recent prison films (Shawshank Redemption) or hit TV shows (Oz, Orange Is the New Black) you can compare it to, it might not be as realistic, but yet, it has its brutal moments that hold up and ring true 73+ years and counting. Hope Emerson received a nomination for Best Supporting Actress from The Academy for good reason and for all those reasons and more I cannot give away (no spoilers here) definitely recommend giving the film a really good look.

Extras include an Original Theatrical Trailer, Screen Director's Playhouse hour-long radio drama version of the film from 8/2/51 and the Technicolor Warner Bros Looney Tunes cartoon Big House Bunny.

Elia Kazan's East Of Eden 4K (1955) is one of only three films James Dean finished before his way-too-early tragic death and it may not be as epic as Giant or as immediate as Rebel Without A Cause, but it is a very strong adaption of the John Steinbeck book about a family with money and secrets in a small town with many of them.

Dean steals the opening scenes and never quits, even in the face of so much talent around him on screen and behind the camera. This is one of the early films where method acting broke through to the mainstream and gives the melodrama more impact. Raymond Massey (Things To Come) is the father whose sense of self is a bit off, while Jo Van Fleet won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for playing the local madame who knows too much. Julie Harris, Burl Ives, Lois Smith and Richard Davalos are great in their roles and Kazan was able to put it all on screen.

Now on Warner 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray, you can really appreciate the film in this impressive new restoration (the color impresses, see more below) as issued as part of the studio's centennial. It is enough of a classic that all serious film fans should see it at least once, especially in this edition.

Digital Copy and feature length audio commentary track by Richard Schickel are the only extras.

Rick Roman Waugh's Kandahar (2022) sounds like it might be a thriller, but has little action in it, which might be a problem somewhat as this very belated entry into the 'battles against Middle East terrorism' cycle sadly offers just about everything we have seen before and dozens of times since 9/11/01. Gerard Butler plays a CIA agent who poses as a telephone repair man (!!!) out to install some spy technology.

Of course, his cover is blown and (with an Afghan translator) has to escape or be captured, resulting in some unspeakable things. Unfortunately, though things like this absolutely happened over there, there is nothing new here to see and I can see the ambition was to try more drama than usual, that makes hardly any difference. The rest of the cast of mostly unknowns is good here and Travis Fimmel (Vikings) shows up in a surprisingly good turn, but even he cannot change the 'I've seen this already' nature of two hour romp. For the extremely curious only!

There are no extras, unless you count Digital Copy and we will not.

Last but not least, John Sturges' The Old Man and The Sea (1958) has Spencer Tracy as Ernest Hemingway's antagonist, who has just netted a big prize fish, but will he surviver got be able to get it back home?

This is the best-known live-action adaption of the classic book and Tracy is able to more than hold his own (versus Tom Hanks in a similar film I was no big fan of, though he is just lost outright) and Tracy remains one of the great actors of all time. It may sound like a simple idea that could not sustain a feature film, but it worked in print and works just fine here. Cheers to Sturges, still one of the great journeyman directors. Those interested can see this version or even a later version (see the link below) so judge for yourself.

Extras include a Behind The Scenes documentary Hemingway: The Legend and The Sea and an Original Theatrical Trailer. You can also read about a later TV version from 1990 with Anthony Quinn in the lead role at this link:

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/15638/Big+White+(2005/MVD+Blu-ray)/Ernest+Hemingw

Now for playback performance. The 2160p HEVC/H.265, 2.55 X 1, HDR (10; Ultra HD Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition image on East Of Eden is a solid restoration of the original CinemaScope production when they were in the last year of being wider (permanently becoming 2.35 X 1 a year later to accommodate optical soundtracks) with labwork by the studio itself in WarnerColor, but release print in 35mm dye-transfer, three-strip Technicolor from Kodak/Eastman Color negative (et al). You get some flaws, softness and distortion typical of this older widescreen format, but you can really see how good it can look and color is impressive throughout. The original 4-track magnetic stereo sound (with traveling dialogue and sound effects) has been impressively upgraded to lossless Dolby Atmos 11.1 (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 mixdown for older systems) making all the music, sound and dialogue as clean and clear as it is ever going to be.

The result was seeing and hearing the film as clearly as ever and offering the best possible impact. Yes, some of the audio shows its age more than others, but I prefer this to previous upgrades of older multi-channel magnetic stereo films to merely 7.1 or 5.1 if it can be rendered this well. Fans will be impressed.

The 1080p 1.33 X 1 black and white digital High Definition image transfer on Caged! can show the age of the materials used in small parts, but this is far superior a transfer to all previous releases of the film I have ever seen, clips included. Video Black is solid, Video White is pretty clean for such a gritty film and Grey Scale is just fine. The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono lossless mix is as good as this film will ever sound with clear dialogue and some good warmth for its age. The combination is fine and delivers.

The 1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Kandahar is consistent for a new Hd shoot, but has a tired 'dark-but-sunny' look all the films on this subject have in the most tired way, though this one is clearer than most, but the anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image on the DVD is very hard to watch and is only here for a convenience at best. The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix has a consistent soundfield and delivers a professional sonic presentation, but not much else. The lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 on the DVD is almost as weak and not so impressive either.

The 1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image on Sea is in color (likely Eastman Kodak 35mm color negative) looks really good and has been restored pretty well, while the DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono lossless mix is pretty much as good as this film will ever sound with some good warmth and fullness for its age. The combination is good.

The anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image on Aloners is a decent digital shoot, probably HD, that is consistent, but can be soft here and there, partly because of the format. The lossy Dolby Digital Korean 2.0 Stereo is weaker than I would have liked, but sometimes passible, so be careful of volume switching and high playback volumes. The combination is trying, but if you like it, you'll just about get through it.

To order Caged! and/or The Old Man & The Sea Blu-rays, go to this link for them and many more great web-exclusive releases at:

https://www.amazon.com/stores/page/ED270804-095F-449B-9B69-6CEE46A0B2BF?ingress=0&visitId=6171710b-08c8-4829-803d-d8b922581c55&tag=blurayforum-20

- Nicholas Sheffo