January '21 Digital Week IV

Blu-ray Releases of the Week 

Buster Keaton Collection, Volume 4 

(Cohen Film Collection)

Two of Buster Keaton’s second-tier features—Go West (1925) and College (1927)—make up the latest volume of Cohen’s Buster Keaton Collection, but even in these scattershot comedies there’s much to enjoy, notably the uproarious sequences in College of Keaton desperately trying out different track and field events to impress a coed. Even second-rate Keaton is worth watching, however, as these both of these films show. There are excellent new hi-def transfers; extras are Hal Roach’s 1923 short, also titled Go West, and a featurette, Buster Keaton: Screenwriter.

Leonore 

(Naxos)

Beethoven’s only opera Fidelio began life as Leonore before the composer extensively tweaked it, but occasionally the first draft is staged, as it was last March by New York City’s enterprising company Opera Lafayette a week before the COVID-19 shutdown. Nathalie Paulin makes a splendid and valiant title heroine, who dresses as a man to spring her beloved husband from prison, in Oriol Tomas’ spirited staging, and Beethoven’s heroic score is given a spirited reading by the orchestra and chorus under conductor Ryan Brown. Both hi-def video and audio are first-rate.

Snowpiercer—Complete 1st Season 

 (Warner Bros)

Korean director Bong Joon Hoo’s 2013 post-apocalyptic sci-fi flick about a high-speed train circling the globe carrying what’s left of humanity after a disastrous attempt to fix global warming (elites in front, dregs in back) ran off the rails but still spawns this new series starring Jennifer Connolly as the head of Hospitality and Daveed Diggs as leader of the opposition. The series depends less on Bong’s willful weirdness but even with top-notch visuals and acting—Connolly’s ice queen hasn’t been used to such good effect since The Hot Spot—there’s a nagging feeling that Snowpiercer is a gigantic allegory in search of a compelling story to tell. The series’ 10 episodes look dazzling in hi-def; extras are several short featurettes.

VOD/Virtual Cinema Releases of the Week

The Salt of Tears 

(Distrib Films US)

French director Philippe Garrel, who has consistently chronicled relationships that scream male toxicity, creates his most toxic protagonist yet: Luc (Logann Antuofermo), who meets and woos Djemila (Oulaya Amamraon) then discovers his girlfriend Geneviève (Louise Chevillotte) is pregnant then—when he moves for a new job—takes up with Betsy (Souheila Yacoub), only to yearn for the others. Despite obviousness and sense of deja vu, Garrel’s film takes Luc to task in a low-key way, and the acting of the principals (including André Wilms as Luc’s world-weary dad) helps ground things emotionally. 

A Woman’s Work: The NFL’s Cheerleader Problem 

(1091 Pictures)

When the NFL started getting hit with lawsuits from cheerleaders sick of being paid little or nothing despite working many hours for teams owned by billionaires, the suits were thought of as little more than nuisances, but as Yu Gu’s eye-opening documentary demonstrates, the fearless women behind them are shining a necessary light on the still prevalent belief in the business world that women are worth less than men. The director concentrates on two women—Lacy, a Raiders cheerleader, and Maria, a Bills cheerleader—who pressed on with their fights despite overwhelming odds, including pushback from other (current and former) cheerleaders, pundits and fans, all of whom decided that they should be happy doing what they do for literal pennies.

DVD Releases of the Week

Six in Paris 

(Icarus Films)

This 1965 omnibus film set in various Paris neighborhoods is mainly forgettable because none of the filmmakers are able to make their shorts memorable as both narrative and sense of place. In fact, only Claude Chabrol’s final segment, La Muette, despite its heavyhanded O. Henry irony, scores; too bad that someone like Godard whiffs (I expected less from Roach, Rohmer, Douchet and Pollet, and alas got it). Nicely restored in hi-def, the film would at least look much better on Blu-ray, so it’s unfortunate this has been released only on DVD.

Sudden Fear 

(Cohen Film Collection)

Joan Crawford appropriately chews the scenery as a famous Broadway playwright who falls in love with a middling actor (who’s played with appropriate menace by Jack Palance) in this tautly-made 1952 thriller by director David Miller. Miller shrewdly imbues the film with a palpable sense of unsettling dread through the foggy B&W photography of Charles B. Lang, Jr. along with Elmer Bernstein’s intense musical score. The lone extra is an audio commentary.

CD Releases of the Week

Holmboe—String Quartets, Volume 1 

(Dacapo)

Nørgård/Ruders—Works for Solo Cello 

(Ondine)

For such a small country, Denmark has had an outsized influence on classical music for more than a century, since the heyday of the great symphonist Carl Nielsen. Nielsen’s student, Vagn Holmboe (1909-96), though barely known elsewhere (I’ve never had the chance to attend a concert where his music was being played), was a formidable composer of both chamber and orchestral music. 

The Dacapo label, which released a series of CDs in the late 1990s of Holmboe’s entire string quartet output, played by the Kontra Quartet, now begins a new recording cycle of these accomplished works. As performed by the Copenhagen-based Nightingale String Quartet, the masterworks on the first CD—the early quartets Nos. 1 and 3 and the late No. 15—make a wonderful introduction to a superb and sinfully unknown composer.

Versatile American cellist Wilhelmina Smith tackles demanding solo pieces by two contemporary Danish composers on her excellent new disc. Smith performs three solo sonatas by Per Nørgård (b. 1932) as well as Bravourstudien, a set of solo variations by Poul Ruders (b. 1976), and easily meets the myriad challenges of these difficult works with a bracing combination of vigorousness and sensitivity.

May '18 Digital Week III

Blu-rays of the Week 

Unforgotten—Complete 2nd Season 

(PBS Masterpiece)

In the second season of this compulsively watchable PBS Masterpiece series, investigators Cassie Stuart and Sunny Khan once again focus on an initially baffling cold case: the remains of a body found crammed in a suitcase, the deceased killed 27 years before, and (again) no shortage of suspects. The twists and turns of the investigation are compelling throughout all five hours, thanks to smart writing and finely-shaded performances by Sanjeev Bhaskar and especially Nicola Walker as the detectives. It all looks supremely good on Blu.

Bruckner/Messiaen 

(LSO)

The London Symphony Orchestra and music director Sir Simon Rattle tackle a pair of uncompromising works in this excellent 2016 performance: the imposing, epic Romanticism of Anton Bruckner’s hour-long Symphony No. 8, and the subtle shadings of Olivier Messiaen’s 25-minute Coleurs de la Cite Celeste/Colors of the Celestial City. The playing, of course, is stupendous, particularly by pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard as the exceptional soloist in the Messiaen work; hi-def video and audio are both fine.

Two Thousand Maniacs 

(Arrow)

In what was his finest moment of gory exploitation, Herschell Gordon Lewis directed this ridiculously silly 1964 splatter flick about clueless Northerners who stumble upon murderous Southerners and find themselves victims in a re-litigation of the Civil War. It’s nuttily entertaining in its way (and based on the musical Brigadoon, of all things); an extra Lewis feature, Moonshine Mountain—also 1964—is less interesting foolishness. The films look decent in hi-def; extras include Lewis’s intros to both films and Maniacs commentary, video essays, interviews and an appreciation. 

DVD of the Week

Marx Reloaded 

(Icarus)

Jason Barker’s breezy 52-minute documentary, from 2011, filters the devastating effects of the then-recent financial collapse through a Karl Marx lens, offering the failures of capitalism as proof that it’s time to take a fresh look at Marx and see how relevant his ideas are in an era of even greater financial inequality. Barker interviews several philosophers, including the famous Slovenian Slavoj Žižek, and includes a dated parody of The Matrix in its occasionally amusing animated segments. The lone extra, Marx for Beginners, is a diverting six-minute 1978 short.

CD/DVD of the Week 

Messiaen—Catalogue d’Oiseaux/Catalogue of Birds 

(Pentatone)

Olivier Messiaen’s compositions are drenched in birdsong, from his chamber and orchestral works to even his masterpiece, his lone opera Saint Francois d’Assise. But it’s his massive, multi-part Catalogue of Birds—seven books of thirteen pieces, each based on a bird from a specific region of France, and composed in 1956 to 1958—that’s the apotheosis of these works. And who better than fellow French pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard to do justice to this often treacherously demanding music, especially the 30-minute centerpiece, The Reed Warbler. On three CDs, Aimard purposefully traverses some of Messiaen’s greatest solo piano music; on DVD, the pianist introduces each of the pieces, along with discussing Messiaen’s technique and legacy.

April '18 Digital Week III

Blu-rays of the Week 

Hostiles 

(Lionsgate)

Writer-director Scott Cooper always wanted to make a western, and this intermittently powerful drama—which displays a knack for the wide spaces and unexpected violence that the Indian territories comprised—is a thoughtful study of the men and women caught up in the casual brutality that was their daily existence circa 1892. It’s a little long, and some scenes fall flat, but this is assured work from Cooper, with sturdy performances by Christian Bale, Rosemund Pike and Wes Studi among a large and varied cast. And the final shots are haunting. The film looks spectacular on Blu; lone extra is a 60-minute making-of documentary. 

Bill Nye—Science Guy 

(PBS)

This engaging documentary portrait of the world’s most popular scientist since Carl Sagan (his mentor) shows Nye in his natural habitat: not the lab, but in front of crowds and cameras spreading the gospel of scientific inquiry and learning to millions of all ages. It’s quite touching seeing those interested in science or in scientific careers after watching his TV show, and Nye himself is quite pleasant, but there are also his missteps, like when he debated a prominent creationist and the ensuing publicity gave millions in donations to a creationist museum, the very antithesis of Nye’s own advocacy. There’s an excellent hi-def transfer; extras include several deleted scenes.

Killer Klowns from Outer Space 

(Arrow)

The textbook definition of a guilty pleasure is this grade-Z horror comedy from 1988 about the title characters terrorizing a bunch of horribly awful actors and actresses; the Chiodo brothers can focus the camera in the right direction, at least, and their sense of humor is intact if infantile. As always with cult items, your mileage may vary. The film looks presentable on Blu-ray; many extras include an archival Chiodo brothers’ commentary, making-of documentary, interviews with filmmakers and stars, and several of the Chiodos’ earlier films.

Paddington 2 

(Warner Bros)

Director Paul King’s slight comic adventure has its share of charming moments, and a cast of top-flight British performers (Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins, Julie Walters, Hugh Grant, Peter Capaldi and Brendan Gleeson) ensures it stays in its lane, but the story—a term in jail for our favorite (and innocent) anthropomorphic bear—threatens to completely scuttle the film. Still, Paddington 2 remains disarming throughout, which is the most you can expect from a sequel. The hi-def transfer looks great; extras include featurettes and a music video.

A Pistol for Ringo/The Return of Ringo 

(Arrow)

This pair of Spaghetti westerns, from 1965 and 1966, respectively, are both directed by Duccio Tessari, who follows a clean-cut gunslinging hero as he takes his revenge—yes, there’s enough vengeance to go around for two films—on bunches of faceless, thieving and murdering Mexicans. It’s often borderline risible, but fans of the western genre will find something to enjoy here. Both films have fine hi-def transfers; extras comprise commentaries for both films, interviews and featurettes.

Unforgotten—Complete 1st Season 

(PBS)

This latest in PBS’s Masterpiece Mystery series is an absorbing procedural about a pair of detectives working a re-opened case when the remains of a body appear decades after the victim disappeared. Narrowing the suspects to a manageable few who have motive if not opportunity, the detectives methodically find their way to the truth. Forceful acting by Nicola Walker and Sanjeev Bhaskar as the partners is reinforced by a superb supporting cast led by veteran Tom Courtenay as one of those under suspicion. The six episodes look terrific on Blu.

(Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the DVD I reviewed in this blog post. The opinions I share are my own.)

DVD of the Week 

Claws—Complete 1st Season

(Warner Bros)

This tongue-in-cheek series about manicurists in Manatee County, Florida who want to start their own upscale salon, by hook or by crook—mostly the latter—is as subtle as its title, with streams of easy jokes, broad stereotypes and even broader acting. But there’s something appealingly off-kilter that prevents it from ever getting too precious, even if ten one-hour episodes—and with more seasons to come—are too much of a not-so-great thing.

April '18 Digital Week II

Blu-rays of the Week 

The Color of Pomegranates 

(Criterion)

Armenian director Sergei Parajanov’s 1969 masterpiece—a riotous blend of color, music, sound, poetry and religious imagery—is an impressionistic biography of the 18th century Armenian troubadour Sayat-Nova; but even if the mainly abstract tableaux make his film difficult to “get,” the director’s stunning visual and aural artistry is always in evidence. Criterion’s restored hi-def transfer has given this hard-to-see classic its best “look” on video, while several extras give context to Parajanov’s singular cinema: critic Tony Rayns’ commentary; video essay on the film's symbols and references; scholar James Steffen interview; Sergei Parajanov: The Rebel, a 2003 documentary; The Life of Sayat-Nova, a 1977 documentary; and a 1969 documentary, The Color of Armenian Land.

The Royal Funeral of Louis XIV/Les Funérailles Royales de Louis XIV 

(Harmonia Mundi)

This dazzling recreation of the musical pageant that followed the 1715 death of the French monarch is set in the gorgeous chapel at the palace of Versailles, where the Sun King lived and reigned, and features a procession of funereal music by many French court composers. The setting is truly spectacular, the music is equally magnificent, and the performances by the ensemble Pygmalion, choir and soloists are also first-rate; the only quibble is that, at 100 minutes, it all starts to overstay its musical welcome.

Seijun Suzuki—The Early Years, Vol. 2 

(Arrow)

The renowned Japanese cult director made a voluminous number of films in his lengthy career, so it’s problematic to place him in any kind of box other than this second boxed set of five of his earliest efforts. Although all over the stylistic and narrative map, they’re linked as studies of low-lifes and other shady characters, all shot in an exuberant manner. Of the five, the most interesting are The Sleeping Beast Within and Smashing the O-Line (both 1960), each featuring actor Hiroyuki Nagato in vastly different roles: but all are definitely worth a look. Hi-def transfers are first-rate; extras comprise an O-Line commentary by critic Jasper Sharp and critic Tony Rayns interview.

Shakespeare Wallah 

(Cohen Film Collection)

One of the earliest Merchant-Ivory productions, this 1965 comic drama follows a British classical theater troupe on tour through India and the romantic and other entanglements that ensue throughout. The movie suffers from obvious writing (by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala), stilted directing (by James Ivory) and wooden acting in several key roles: its saving grace is its depiction of mutual condescension between colonizer and colonized. On Blu-ray, the restored B&W film looks superb; extras include interviews with Ivory, Merchant, and actors Shashi Kapoor and Felicity Kendal.

Sleeping Dogs 

(Arrow)

Roger Donaldson’s 1977 drama helped put the New Zealand film industry on the map, and its resonant depiction of a democratic nation overtaken by martial law feels all too relevant. A then-unknown Sam Neill is fierce and vivid as an everyman caught up in an anarchic political climate, and Warren Oates provides down-and-dirty support as an American army man trying to restore order. The hi-def transfer is good and grainy; extras a commentary by Donaldson, Neill and actor-writer Ian Mune; The Making of Sleeping Dogs (2004), a 65-minute retrospective documentary on the film's production; and The Making of Sleeping Dogs (1977), an archival on-set featurette.

DVD of the Week

Killing for Love 

(Sundance Selects)

The sensational murder trial of young American woman Elizabeth and German boyfriend Jens—both given life sentences for killing her parents—is recounted in Marcus Vetter and Karin Steinberger’s engrossing and unsettling documentary. Centered around an interview with Jens, currently in prison and recanting his confession, the film is a disturbing dive into the intricacies and unfairness of our justice system. Imogen Poots and Daniel Bruhl provide the voiceovers for both protagonists. 

March '18 Digital Week IV

Blu-rays of the Week

Beyond a Reasonable Doubt 

While the City Sleeps 

(Warner Archive)

This pair of films noir by German director Fritz Lang dates from 1956; these were the last pictures that the creator of classics M and Metropolis would make in Hollywood. Reasonable Doubt uses capital punishment for a twisty melodrama starring Dana Andrews and Joan Fontaine, while City Sleeps (also with Andrews, alongside George Sanders and Vincent Price) darkly explores the case of the “lipstick killer,” who murders young women. Both films are watchable if unexciting; the appropriately moody widescreen B&W compositions are enhanced by flawless hi-def transfers.

Copland Conducts Copland 

(Naxos)

This 1976 L.A. concert teams 75-year-old composer Aaron Copland conducting his own works, played with verve by the Los Angeles Philharmonic: it’s a greatest hits collection of sorts, starting with Fanfare for the Common Man and including El Salon Mexico, The Tender Land suite and an excerpt from his ballet Rodeo. But the highlight is a swinging version of Copland’s charming Clarinet Concerto, played by none other than 67-year-old Benny Goodman, who commissioned the work from Copland in 1947. Video and audio are adequate if unexceptional; no extras, although Copland briefly describes each piece before it’s played.

Dolores 

(PBS)

In the grand tradition of social activists like Cesar Chavez—whom she married—is Dolores Huerta, who remains mostly unknown despite her vast importance in the historic farm workers’ union movement she and Chavez led. Peter Bratt’s expansive documentary portrait, built around an interview with the now 87-year-old—and still vigorous—Huerta, intimately explores her long career championing workers’ and women’s rights, with personal encomiums by Hillary Clinton, Gloria Steinem and many others. The film looks excellent in hi-def.

The Passion of Joan of Arc 

(Criterion)

One of the towering silent-era masterpieces, Danish director Carl Theodor Dreyer’s 1928 drama recreates the trial and death of Joan of Arc with an intimacy and intensity that’s nothing short of riveting. Add to that Renee Falconetti’s miraculous performance as Joan; her mesmerizing face, held in relentless close-ups by Dreyer, show both the agony and the ecstasy of Joan’s martyrdom, culminating in her burning at the stake. The hi-def transfer is exceptionally good; Criterion’s extras include an alternate version of the film, three separate musical scores, audio commentary, interviews, and a video essay.

Sacha Guitry—Four Films 1936-1938 

(Arrow Academy)

A true bon vivant, French triple-threat Sacha Guitry made witty, talky films with his inimitably—and at times annoyingly—gregarious personality at their center, and this boxed set collects four features he churned out in a space of two years: The New Testament, My Father Was Right, Let’s Make a Dream and Let’s Go Up the Champs Elysses. Bright and clever, these films go down easily, despite staginess and the occasional overbearing sequence. All four films look lovely in hi-def; extras include scholar Ginette Vincendeau’s intros and commentaries; video essays; sound tests; and a 60-page book.

Stopping Traffic 

(Gravitas Ventures)

Activist Sadhvi Siddhali Shree urgently tackles the sadly relevant topic of sex trafficking in her trenchant documentary, which travels the world for its eye-opening glimpse, landing not only in places we aren’t surprised by (i.e., Mexico, Iraq, the Philippines) but also various U.S. locations. It’s unapologetically blunt in its depiction of sex trafficking’s horrors, and is tough to watch at times: but a necessary polemic. The film looks fine on Blu-ray.

DVD of the Week

Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In—Complete 3rd Season 

(Time-Life)

This latest Laugh-In release brings together episodes from the 1969-70 season of the classic comedy-variety show hosted by Dick Rowan and Dan Martin, perfect ringmasters for a crazed stew of corny jokes, goofy skits, musical interludes and political satire, starring a motley crew of regulars (Ruth Buzzi, Goldie Hawn, Arte Johnson, Lily Tomlin, Jo Ann Worley) and guest stars (Johnny Carson, Ringo Starr, The Monkees, Diana Ross, Zsa Zsa Gabor). Along with the 26 full episodes, bonus features comprise a Lily Tomlin interview and a tribute to the series’ creator George Shlatter.

March '18 Digital Week II

Blu-rays of the Week 

The Drowning Pool 

(Warner Archive)

For his return as private detective Lew Harper (see Harper below), Paul Newman is once again his usual laconic self as Harper investigates a threat made against one of his former flings (who happens to be played by Newman’s ow wife Joanne Woodward). Director Stuart Rosenberg’s 1975 sequel is better than the original, even if it has its share of missteps—especially in the long and implausible sequence that gives the movie its title. But the cast is in fine form, from Newman and Woodward to Murray Hamilton, Richard Jaeckel and underrated ‘70s actresses Gail Strickland and Linda Haynes. There’s a solid hi-def transfer; lone extra is a vintage on-set featurette.

Harper 

(Warner Archive)

In his first go-round as Lew Harper—based on Ross Macdonald’s novel—Paul Newman makes an engaging PI in a case involving the disappearance of an eccentric multi-millionaire. This overlong, occasionally entertaining 1966 feature was directed by Jack Smight and written by William Goldman, who can’t decide whether this is a spoof or a straight drama. Several able actresses—Lauren Bacall, Julie Harris, Janet Leigh, Pamela Tiffin and Shelley Winters—are left adrift. The film looks excellent on Blu-ray; lone extra is a Goldman commentary.

Basket Case 

(Arrow)

Frank Henenlotter—who went on to make Frankenhooker—made his directing debut in 1982 with this bizarre cult item about a young man whose homicidal ex-conjoined twin is kept in a wicker basket, which—naturally enough—can’t keep murders at bay for long. Shot for little money in scuzzy Manhattan neighborhoods, the movie is ridiculously cheap-looking and borderline inept, but the audacity of the premise and how victims are offed—including the grandly gory finale—makes this a worthwhile entry into early 80s gore. The film looks as good as can be expected in hi-def; plentiful extras include Henenlotter’s commentary, interviews, featurettes and outtakes.

Le nozze di Figaro/The Marriage of Figaro

(BelAir Classiques)

One of Mozart’s classic operas is given an intelligent 2004 staging in Paris by director Jean-Louis Martinoty, who understands that Mozart’s characters are anything but cardboard, and that his singers must also be more than capable of plumbing their psychological depths. That they do—led by Austrian mezzo Angelika Kirchschlager’s funny but touching Cherubino—makes this one of the best recent Figaros on the market; the orchestra and chorus, led by conductor Rene Jacobs, are also equal to the task. Hi-def audio and video are first-rate.

DVDs of the Week 

The Assistant 

(Icarus/Distrib Films)

The still-dazzling Nathalie Baye (age 67 when she made this) makes an especially alluring monster in this pulse-pounding 2015 Hitchcockian thriller by directors Christophe Ali and Nicolas Bonilauri about a still-grieving mother who becomes an indispensable assistant to a hotshot young exec who caused her beloved son’s death. While there’s nothing here that no one hasn’t seen before, Ali and Bonilauri keep this twisty melodrama percolating nicely as Baye weaves her diabolical web.

The Chastity Belt 

(Warner Archive)

This labored 1967 comedy—originally released in the U.S. as On the Way to the Crusades, I Met a Girl Who—follows a knight (a bemused Tony Curtis) and his new bride (an even more bemused Monica Vitti) whose wedding night is interrupted when he’s called to fight the Crusades—and supposed hijinks ensue. Director Pasquale Festa Campanile lost his comic touch on this one: even a game supporting cast that includes Hugh Griffith is well-nigh invisible. Worst of all is that the two stars have zero chemistry: comic, dramatic and romantic.

March '18 Digital Week I

Blu-rays of the Week 

Faces Places 

(Cohen Media Group)

This typically headstrong and humane documentary shows once again that the now 89-year-old French director Agnes Varda continues to make beautiful, humble but insightful films that display real people as themselves, with no condescension or artifice. For this journey, Varda has been joined by 33-year-old photographer and provocateur JR, who shares her indomitable spirit; the result is a joyful, lovely valentine to humanity in all of its manifestations. The 90-minute movie is very funny, thoughtful, touching, and makes viewers yearn for more cinematic travels from these kindred souls. The hi-def transfer is as transfixing as the film is; extras include a 45-minute interview with Varda and JR and three extended scenes.

Godard + Gorin—Five Films 1968-1971 

(Arrow Academy)

After making his seminal 1967 classic, Weekend, French director Jean-Luc Godard went down the rabbit hole of polemical politics, joining with leftist critic Jean-Pierre Gorin for a series of strident and increasingly insular snapshots of radical French socialism after the 1968 student riots through 1971. The five films collected here—A Film Like Any Other, British Sounds, Wind from the East, Struggles in Italy and Vladimir and Rosa—are often inscrutable, naïve and poseurish, but they are also valuable historical documents from ground level, so to speak. Most intriguing is seeing the Maoist radicals in British Sounds making up new lyrics to then-current Beatles songs like “Hello Goodbye” and “Honey Pie” to more closely reflect their fight against the establishment. Arrow’s restoration makes these 16mm films look splendid; extras are A Conversation with JLG, a two-hour 2010 Godard interview; Godard’s hilarious 1971 Schick aftershave commercial; and critic Michael Witt’s 90-minute explication of this period in Godard’s career.

Lady and the Tramp 

(Disney)

One of Disney’s true—if perennially underrated—classics, this 1955 animated masterpiece gets a new lease on hi-def life through Disney’s Signature Collection: although what was on the 2012 Blu-ray release is present and accounted for, including featurettes, deleted scenes, music video, storyboards and interviews, there are a few add-ons. Mainly, these comprise two new ways to watch the film aside from the original theatrical version (in ultra-widescreen 2.35:1 aspect ratio, the first animated feature shot and shown that way): a sing-long version and one that allows the viewer to access Walt Disney story meetings.

Pique Dame (Queen of Spades)

La Forza del Destino (The Force of Destiny) 

(C Major)

In Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s opera Queen of Spades, based on a story by Alexandr Pushkin, gambling and card-playing takes center stage, and the sumptuous music conjures up portraits of ordinary and extraordinary madness: Stefan Herheim’s 2017 Amsterdam staging accentuates its dramatic intimacy, with superb orchestral playing and strong performances by Misha Dibyk and Svetlana Aksenova. La Forza del Destino, Giuseppe Verdi’s operatic epic, receives a crackling 2008 Vienna production that stars Nina Stemme and Salvatore Licitra at their vocal peak. Both discs include superlative hi-def video and audio.

Tom Jones 

(Criterion Collection)

Tony Richardson’s rollicking adaptation of Henry Fielding’s classic novel about a bastard battling 18th century English society may have won the Oscar for Best Picture of 1963, but don’t hold that against it. It’s a splendid, visually and aurally witty ride (John Addison’s harpsichord-laden score also won an Oscar), with a veritable British who’s who in supporting roles—Hugh Griffith, Susannah York, and its three Oscar-nominated Supporting Actresses, Diane Cilento, Edith Evans and Joyce Redman—all held together by Albert Finney’s charismatic and charming portrayal of the devilishly rakish Tom. Criterion’s typically first-rate release includes stunning new hi-def transfers of Richardson’s original cut and a pointless (and seven minutes shorter) director’s cut, archival interviews with Finney and Addison, and new interviews with Vanessa Redgrave (Richardson’s widow) and Robert Lambert, who edited the director’s cut.

DVDs of the Week

The Coming War on China 

(Icarus Films)

In John Pilger’s timely and sadly relevant documentary focuses on the complicated relationship between the United States and China, from the first U.S. hydrogen bomb test at Bikini atoll to the recent ramping up of U.S. missile bases within striking distance of the Chinese mainland. Through incisive interviews and archival footage, Pilger’s analysis might not be completely on-target—he tends to poo-poo China’s own political and moral shortcomings in order to keep shining a light on what the U.S. has wrought through its double-dealing—but it’s provocative enough to make one worried about what the future might bring, now that we have an incurious, easily swayed president in the White House.

Sunstroke 

(Icarus/Distrib Films)

Russian director Nikita Mikhalkov has made several distinct and memorable films in the past 40 years—highlighted by 1980’s Oblomov and 1994’s Burnt by the Sun—and his latest, if not up to their level, is an engrossing if old-fashioned costume drama combining romance and war’s stark reality. A pro-Soviet lieutenant in a Bolshevik prison camp in 1920 reminiscences about a beautiful stranger he met 13 years earlier; obvious parallels between pre-Soviet bliss and Communist-era brutality notwithstanding, Mikhalkov knows how to tell an absorbing story with his perfectly-matched leads Martins Kalita and Victoria Solovyova. Two caveats: a pro-Tsar stance seems strongly pro-Putin in the current climate, and the film—which has a three-hour running time elsewhere—runs only 160 minutes in this release.

February '18 Digital Week IV

Blu-rays of the Week 

Antony and Cleopatra 

(Opus Arte)

One of Shakespeare’s most complex and least-produced plays is also one of his greatest, and Iqbal Khan’s staging at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon catches a good portion of its denseness, at least. Although Antony Byrne’s lackadaisical Antony disappoints, Josette Simon makes a lively and sympathetic Cleopatra, with a chilling death-by-asp scene; also noteworthy is Laura Mvula’s haunting music. Hi-def video and audio are first-rate; extras are Khan’s commentary and interviews with Khan, Simon, Byrne and Mvula.

Gate II 

(Scream Factory)

In this 1990 sequel to the trashily effective horror flick, a rambunctious minion—possessed by one of the teens from the first film, who put it in a cage to serve as his “pet”—gets loose and terrorizes the locals, including an hilariously silly attack in which it infects a pair of idiots in a car. This inferior follow-up does have its moments, but those are few and far between compared to the original; there’s also a solid hi-def transfer, while the extras include new interviews with the director, writer, and visual effects and makeup creators.

Leatherface—The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III 

(Warner Archive)

Tobe Hooper’s original 1974 Texas Chainsaw, made on a shoestring, proved that ultra-low budgets aren’t an impediment to effective horror as long as a talented filmmaker is at the helm. But director Jeff Burr’s belated and unnecessary 1990 sequel gets it mostly wrong, dragging out hoary old tropes like its characters acting as stupidly as only people in trashy horror movies can. The film looks decent enough on Blu-ray; extras are an alternate ending, making-of, deleted scenes with commentary and an audio commentary.

Scalpel 

(Arrow)

In this weirdly intriguing 1976 B-movie, a loony surgeon remakes a shattered woman’s face into that of his missing daughter’s, hoping she’ll help him inherit millions—a plan that works until his daughter suddenly returns. Director John Grissmer takes a risible story and keeps it percolating, helped immeasurably by a remarkable pair of performances from Judith Chapman as the daughter and the woman with her face. There are two excellent hi-def transfers to choose from—Arrow’s and cinematographer Edward Lachman’s—new interviews with Grissmer, Chapman and Lachman, Grissmer’s intro, and a commentary.

Tell Them We Are Rising—The Story of Black Colleges and Universities 

(PBS)

In this telling 85-minute documentary that recounts a century and a half of black institutions of higher learning in the U.S. (which began appearing prior to the Civil War), director-writer-producer Stanley Nelson—just as he did with his incisive Freedom Riders—finds many voices, then and now, for a bracing and important history lesson. We hear from students, professors and experts while we watch precious archival footage, all of which provides the necessary context to appreciate this concisely and clearly told primer. The film has a fine hi-def transfer.