Josh's Blind Buys: Watching The Unseen Collection (1 Viewer)

[TravisR]

#120 - Phantom Of The Opera (1943)

The 1943 version of Phantom Of The Opera is probably one of Universal's lesser horror pictures, and doesn't really feel part of the same series as the Frankenstein, Wolf Man, Dracula and Mummy titles. This is more of a prestige picture with a little bit of a horror flavor to it, rather than the straight-up horror films led by the aforementioned monsters.

It's like they wanted a classier horror movie so they spent more money. For me, the increased production values took away what I like about the usual Universal horror movies so I'll take the B movie any day of the week. As Matt points out though, it is a good looking movie with excellent sets & costumes.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I think it could have been interesting if they had started the film off as it is, with beautiful color and amazing production design, and had the subtlety descent into something darker and grungier after Rains goes bad. As lavish as the theater looked, imagine how much more effective the film could have been if the streets and sewers were a mirror opposite of darkness and shadow.

 

[Nelson Au]

Hey Josh, lots to discuss from such a plethora of films! I haven't seen those Dracula follow-ups. Not a big vampire fan.

But it's interesting you got Kingdom of the Spiders. I saw your post on that thread so it was good to see your post about it. I hate to saw I remember when that came out and I saw William Shatner on Creature Features promoting it. I never saw it theatrically, but I did see it on TV ages ago. Once. I'm really curious about the disc so I might consider it. You likely never saw a film he did called The Devil's Rain. It's a B-movie for sure made in the same year. Ernest Borgnine is in that film too. He also promoted it on Creature Feature and I think I recall he spoke of the make-up travails on that film, as well as the spiders.

I'm of the opposite mind regarding Chris Pine. I don't know, maybe I'm not giving the 2009 Star Trek a fair shake. I just don't see Kirk in Pine's portrayal. Maybe at another time, I'll revisit those films. As I mentioned earlier, I was amazed to see the Studio One episode with Ralph Bellamy and Shatner. I got the disc today so I'll be giving that a watch. I'll be curious if you've seen that Josh.

Thank you for the review of Phantom of the Opera! I've never been too excited to see it either. But you make an interesting description of it. Not a real horror film. I hope to get to it soon, so many films piling up now.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Nelson - I haven't seen that Studio One, please let me know how it is after you've seen it. If it's good, let me know where you got it

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I just saw The Night Of The Hunter. It was a loaner from a friend so not truly a blind buy, but I want to give it a few informal words just the same. My friend loaned me the Criterion Blu-ray, which looked and sounded amazing. Hours of quality bonus features too!

I'm a big U2 fan, and when they announced that they'd be playing their 1987 album "The Joshua Tree" in full for its thirtieth anniversary, I was skeptical. I've always loved that U2 have been a forward looking band and that they didn't do greatest hits shows, so I didn't know what to make of it. Still, it's a U2 show and I'm me, so I got tickets for the NYC-area shows as well as Philly and Boston (Foxboro, actually). And though I hadn't been that excited in advance, I still did the ritualistic waiting in the general admission line, got great spots, and was blown away. From a purely technical standpoint, it was mindblowing - they had a 200' long screen that was 50' high, ultra widescreen, 8K resolution, beautiful films shot by the photographer Anton Corbijn. I've seen Cinerama films at home, and I've seen 70mm and IMAX in theaters, but I've never seen anything like this before. Each song had visuals that matched the themes or mood. And when the band got to "Exit", the screen briefly flashed images I knew to be reminiscent of Robert Mitchum's hands in the film, the "love" and "hate" tattoos. The performance of the song, about a twisted preacher fallen into darkness, has haunted me since those concerts in a way it hasn't since I first discovered the album decades ago. So I decided it was finally time to see The Night Of The Hunter.

All I can say is, wow!

I've seen a lot of movies, a lot of epic battles between the dark and the light, but this small scale, black and white, 90 minute film might be the most epic of them all. On one hand, dominating the film is Robert Mitchum as the preacher out for blood and cash, willing to slaughter two innocent and traumatized children as a means to an end. On the other hand is Lillian Gish, a meek, God-fearing woman pure as can be, generous and good to the core. And in the middle of them are these two children, and it feels as if the fate of the world and all our souls hangs on the outcoming. Mitchum buries any trace of his winning persona, embodying pure evil in a terrifying fashion. His performance is electrifying and horrifying.

This is a must see film.

 

[Robert Crawford]

The Night of the Hunter is one of my favorite all-time films. I don't have a problem with the Best Actor Nominees from that year, but it is the non-nominated performance by Robert Mitchum as Harry Powell that still resonates more than 60 years later. His performance in that film is iconic and is totally unforgettable in my opinion. It scared the crap out of me when I first viewed this film as a 9-10 year old. I can still hear that old hymn, Leaning on the Everlasting Arms.

 

[RMajidi]

Big shame that it wasn't given its due upon first release. It discouraged Charles Laughton from directing again, so we're left with this one-off masterpiece to ponder what else might have been.

 

[Matt Hough]

I agree. There isn't anything quite like Night of the Hunter anywhere else in cinema. That image of Shelley Winters (no further spoilers to ruin it for somebody else) is unforgettably haunting, and throughout Laughton has made bold directorial choices that leave the viewer completely shaken and unsteady throughout the film's running time. I'm glad I got to review it.

 

[Robert Crawford]

What a great film!

 

[BobO'Link]

#118 - Dracula's Daughter (1936)

...Dracula's Daughter picks up almost immediately following the end of the original Lugosi Dracula (which made me kick myself for not rewatching it beforehand). As the film begins, Van Helsing (again played by Edward Van Sloan) - inexplicably called "Von" Helsing in this film...

Either watching the film or having someone tell you directly is the only way to know it picks up directly from Dracula. But I'd say, while nice, it's not necessary to have watched Dracula just prior to Daughter.

The pronunciation of Von is done more like High German dialect. Von is pronounced something like "phone" with a "v" but not such a long "o" sound, sort of an "ah" sound with leanings toward a long "o". In the movie it sounds something like "Vahn" Helsing which is more correct than the English pronunciation, which sounds like "van" as in - "I drove the van to town."

#120 - Phantom Of The Opera (1943)
...it turns out that the 1943 adaptation of Phantom wasn't the worst thing ever. Nor is it the greatest thing ever...

On the whole, I found the film to be uneven, and it's not one I'm likely to revisit often. ...the film is almost too polished for its own good. There's very little atmosphere, almost no sense of dread. More than special effects, more than gore, more than violence, a horror movie needs to have great atmosphere to function, and without it, this film veers more often to the melodramatic than the terrifying. The film opens with a performance at the opera that goes on far too long, and there are several performances throughout the film that suffer from the same excessive length. A little bit of trimming and a few shadows here and there could have gone a long way towards improving the film.

That's a pretty good summation of this film. I've always called it the non-horror film in Universal's Horror line up and purchased it on DVD simply because I'm a completist. I've never much cared for the film and vastly prefer the 1925 silent with Lon Chaney, which should be included in a two film set with the 1943 remake. It's more of a horror film with some musical trappings rather than a musical with horror trappings, as is the 1943 film. I have a Blu-ray copy of the 1943 film in the Universal Classic Monsters set but haven't yet watched it.

The transfer, part of the Universal Classic Monsters set, was underwhelming, but not awful. Rather, it's typical of what Robert Harris would call "the old Universal". It's completely watchable, but like the transfer on Universal's Rope, rarely shines. While the image is very clean, and the audio is very clear, there are registration issues throughout. According to the old RAH "Few Worlds About" post on the film, this transfer was created from an IP that had those issues baked in, rather than being sourced from the original three strip negatives. When things are in alignment, the color is gorgeous, but the alignment is inconsistent from start to finish.

Well... I didn't know that. It makes me even less inclined to open that copy I have and give it a viewing. I'd not planned to pick up this title again as a single BR, but if they do a full remaster from the original negatives, as with the other films, I may have to get a copy "just because."

 

[Josh Steinberg]

#121 - Abbott And Costello Meet The Mummy (1955)
Viewed on: July 14th, 2017
Viewing Format: Blu-ray (Universal)

After the darkness of The Night Of The Hunter, I needed something a little lighter to end the evening with. I had one "blind buy" title left out of the pile of Universal classics, and that was this one. The timing was right, and I was happy both to see Abbott and Costello again, as well as to wrap up my excursion into Universal classic horror.

Much as The Mummy movies weren't, on the whole, as good as the Frankenstein movies, Abbott and Costello aren't as great here as they were in "...Meet Frankenstein." Whereas that film successfully served as a sequel to the various Frankenstein, Wolf Man and Dracula properties and was able to be comedic without cheapening the monsters, "...Meet The Mummy" does play the mummy (here called "Klaris") more for laughs. While stranded in Cairo, Abbott and Costello find themselves in possession of a medallion that could lead the right person to buried treasure. Richard Deacon, later of Dick Van Dyke Show fame, plays Semu, a cult leader determined to get the medallion and the buried treasure. He teams up with A&C, ostensibly to help them (but in actuality trying to find the treasure), but they all end up terrorized by the mummy. Frankly, the movie just isn't as sharp or hilarious as "...Meet Frankenstein." Abbott and Costello themselves are funny, but the film as a whole plays more as a series of routines than a film with an actual story to tell.

The transfer is very pleasing and comparable to the rest of the fine work on display in the Mummy set. The film is presented in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio, and with DTS-HD MA mono audio. English subtitles are also available.

While "Meet The Mummy" doesn't live up to the high standards of "Meet Frankenstein," Abbott and Costello are such a winning pair that there's still plenty to enjoy in the film. I'm glad to have seen this film, and indeed I'm happy to have seen all of the classic Mummy films, but of the different Universal monsters, these films will probably be the ones that I revisit least.

 

[Nelson Au]

Josh, I'll be sure to report what I thought of the Studio One broadcast of The Defender. I already had sampled a few scenes when it aired on Decades TV earlier this week, which prompted the purchase. The episode can be found as an extra on the first season of The Defenders TV series DVD release from Shout!. I got it from Amazon.

Funny, I just came back from Barnes and Noble and picked up several Criterion titles on their 50% off sale. One was The Night of the Hunter. It's a title I've been passing up for several years I didn't know too much about it. You made me buy it! You'll be amused that when I was paying for the discs at the cash register, they have several box sets there of films and music sets. One was a large black box of U2 The Joshua Tree. I'm not a fan of U2, nor am I not a fan. I'm just not that familiar with the music apart from a few hits. made me think of you.

 

[Tony Bensley]

#121 - Abbott And Costello Meet The Mummy (1955)
Viewed on: July 14th, 2017
Viewing Format: Blu-ray (Universal)

After the darkness of The Night Of The Hunter, I needed something a little lighter to end the evening with. I had one "blind buy" title left out of the pile of Universal classics, and that was this one. The timing was right, and I was happy both to see Abbott and Costello again, as well as to wrap up my excursion into Universal classic horror.

Much as The Mummy movies weren't, on the whole, as good as the Frankenstein movies, Abbott and Costello aren't as great here as they were in "...Meet Frankenstein." Whereas that film successfully served as a sequel to the various Frankenstein, Wolf Man and Dracula properties and was able to be comedic without cheapening the monsters, "...Meet The Mummy" does play the mummy (here called "Klaris") more for laughs. While stranded in Cairo, Abbott and Costello find themselves in possession of a medallion that could lead the right person to buried treasure. Richard Deacon, later of Dick Van Dyke Show fame, plays Semu, a cult leader determined to get the medallion and the buried treasure. He teams up with A&C, ostensibly to help them (but in actuality trying to find the treasure), but they all end up terrorized by the mummy. Frankly, the movie just isn't as sharp or hilarious as "...Meet Frankenstein." Abbott and Costello themselves are funny, but the film as a whole plays more as a series of routines than a film with an actual story to tell.

The transfer is very pleasing and comparable to the rest of the fine work on display in the Mummy set. The film is presented in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio, and with DTS-HD MA mono audio. English subtitles are also available.

While "Meet The Mummy" doesn't live up to the high standards of "Meet Frankenstein," Abbott and Costello are such a winning pair that there's still plenty to enjoy in the film. I'm glad to have seen this film, and indeed I'm happy to have seen all of the classic Mummy films, but of the different Universal monsters, these films will probably be the ones that I revisit least.

My opinions regarding ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE MUMMY (1955) have always been rather of the mixed variety.

This being the last of their Universal films, and having been acutely aware early on in my A&C viewing experience that Bud & Lou's cinematic career was in serious decline by this time, with all of their Universal titles from about LOST IN ALASKA (1952) on having been made more on the cheap, "Meet The Mummy" has been one of my least revisited among their Universal canon, for starters.

Regarding the classic Universal monsters, upon my recent fresh viewing of "Meet The Mummy," while a nice surprise, in terms of how funny Bud & Lou could still be even at this late stage of their careers, also served as a reminder of why I had been so inherently put off from ever giving The Mummy series a chance for so long afterward - the economy of costuming for the Universal monsters that was initially applied in optimal fashion for ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN (1948), had morphed into ridiculously obvious fakery by the time they met the Mummy. For me, the sight of Bud & Lou donning the exact same type of Mummy outfits alongside the "Real" Mummy only served to further highlight the ridiculousness of this absurd fakery! Having finally viewed The Mummy series for the first time just recently (And in their best possible light in their beautifully restored Blu-ray glory!), while I don't expect to revisit them very often, I am glad to have finally seen, and enjoyed these films, at long last!

My advice to the uninitiated is to treat ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE MUMMY and the Universal series of Mummy entries as completely separate entities, at least in terms of the Mummy creature. I feel that no such qualifier is needed for Bud & Lou's other "Meet The Monster" features, as Universal paid the monsters in these films due respect. Just my opinion.

Thank you very much, Josh for your ongoing well written reviews!

CHEERS!

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Tony, thanks as always for your kind words!

My advice to the uninitiated is to treat ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE MUMMY and the Universal series of Mummy entries as completely separate entities, at least in terms of the Mummy creature. I feel that no such qualifier is needed for Bud & Lou's other "Meet The Monster" features, as Universal paid the monsters in these films due respect. Just my opinion.

An opinion with which I agree completely!

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Hi everyone! I want to apologize for the delay in entries. I've seen about half a dozen new titles and just haven't had time to write about them yet, and since I enjoyed them all, I don't want to shortchange the movies with rushed reviews.

But, there is a Kino sale going on and two of the titles were from Kino, so let me briefly mention both in case you want to get them at a discount.

"Deluge" was a 1933 disaster movie that was considered a lost film until very recently. Kino presents the Lobster Films restoration and while not on the level of the Universal monsters, it's still good, and miraculous when you consider it was almost gone forever. I really enjoyed the film, it had a good blend of early and effective special effects and good characters. Worth checking out.

Also worth seeing is John Ford's 1937 film "The Hurricane," which goes out of print on July 31st. Also a good but not perfect transfer. The blurb sounded a little dull but the movie was anything but. More great early special effects and more characters worth spending time with.

More to follow as soon as I get a chance.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I've been out of town for the past 1.5 weeks, so I am just catching up on this thread. I will jump on the bandwagon for fans of Night of the Hunter. This film creeps me out every time I see it -- Mitchum's performance is terrific. I find psychological thrillers like this, Psycho and Cape Fear much more frightening to watch than the hack & slash films which came later (even though I do love the original Halloween).

 

[BobO'Link]

But the original Halloween is more of a psychological thriller than the "hack & slash" films it became as the series progressed. It's the only one of that series I'll willingly watch for that very reason.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

#122 - The Great Wall 3D (2017)
Viewed on: July 15th, 2017
Viewing Format: Blu-ray 3D (Universal - UK region-free import)

The Great Wall came out this earlier year, and based on the critical uproar, you'd think it was the worst thing ever. I was genuinely curious about it - I thought the premise was intriguing. "What if the Great Wall of China was built to keep something out?" Great monster movie idea right there. I missed it in theaters, but ordered the disc from Amazon.co.uk (the domestic disc releases are 2D-only). Much to my surprise, The Great Wall turned out to be a pretty entertaining film. It's not going to be mistaken for Lawrence Of Arabia, but it's not trying to be one of the all-time greats either.

Matt Damon leads an all-star international cast as a mercenary who's found his way to China around the year 1000 in search of gunpowder. While en route to the village and palace where he hopes to find trading partners, he witnesses and survives an attack by what appear to be supernatural forces. Naturally, people there are curious how he survived. It turns out that he's stumbled upon an ancient curse, where supernatural forces descend upon China once every sixty years to attack, and it's up to a secret group of warriors to keep the monsters at bay. It's a Hollywood monster movie premise for sure, but with director Zhang Yimou at the helm, it feels fresh.

Zhang Yimou is a master filmmaker, and his filmography contains works filled with tremendous beauty and elegance. That's part of what makes it so fun to see him "slumming it" on a popcorn movie. He gets good performances from his cast (even when they're saddled with some clunky narrative exposition), and the movie has great moments of action without losing its sense of humor. Most importantly, the action never seems generic or dull. I'm a big fan of the Marvel Studios movies, as an example, but there's a moment that happens in almost all of them where you can pretty much feel the director handing off to the second unit - the movies are great until the third act, and then everything usually becomes a mess of punching and explosions without much visual coherence. I stop caring what's happening to who and just wait for it to end so that the story can resume. Here, by contrast, the action sequences feel part of the movie - they carry the narrative forward and build suspense and excitement. I never mentally checked out watching this.

I was very satisfied with the region-free imported 3D disc from the UK. I didn't check out any of the bonus features, but I was very pleased with the quality of the 3D effects. The film had a lot of depth and dimensionality to it, and the battle scenes made great use of forward projections. Visually, it was involving and fun, and the disc conveyed that perfectly. I listened to it in 5.1 on my system, but a Dolby Atmos track is included for those who have Atmos capabilities.

Was The Great Wall a great movie? Probably not. But I have to say, I enjoyed it more than the average mindless summer blockbuster. It has a fun plot, enjoyable cast, good effects and some nice 3D. As far as escapist fun goes, The Great Wall was a nice way to spend a couple hours.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Josh,

Thanks for the comments regarding The Great Wall. I have that 3-D UK release and then when Amazon discounted the 4K/UHD release I bought that too with some Reward points. This is going to be a title that I watch the 3-D and 4K/UHD discs back to back in their entirety so I can see if I can perhaps forego buying 3-D titles and instead concentrate on 4K/UHD releases going forward. I'm going to try to view those discs this week.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

#123 - Ace In The Hole (1951)
Viewed on: July 17th, 2017
Viewing Format: Blu-ray (Criterion)

When I was in college, I took a film comedy class, and had a young professor who had a great eye towards the classics, particularly works that embraced the highbrow as much as the banana peel. Though I had known a tiny bit of Billy Wilder's output, it was from that class, and a final paper that I had to write, that I discovered most of his films. But because the class was focused on comedies, and because there's only so much time at the end of a semester to get everything done, I had to narrow my focus to a select few of Wilder's films, and much of his dramatic output remained unwatched by me at the time. I've slowly but surely been working to fill that gap in over the years. I treat Billy Wilder films similar to how I treat Kurosawa films: I'm intentionally taking my time. Wilder isn't making anymore movies, and there's no one like him, so I'm trying to spread out the pleasure of watching a Billy Wilder film for the first time over a longer period of time. The annual Barnes & Noble Criterion sale this month seemed like a good chance to finally check out Ace In The Hole, a film that had been on my radar for quite some time.

I don't want to spoil too much of the plot, though I feel this is one of those films where I could tell you everything that happens, and you'd still enjoy it just as much knowing everything about it. But it had been so long since I had read a description of the film to when I finally saw it that I didn't know very much going in. I had heard that Kirk Douglas delivered one of his finest performances; having now seen it, I can agree with that. I had heard Douglas played a down-on-his-luck, disgraced reporter; I can verify that too. He's a former big shot reporter who's fallen so far, the only job he can get is at a tiny New Mexico paper. He happens upon a local mine collapse where one of the miners is still trapped, and manages to milk it into a giant story.

With this framework, Billy Wilder is able to present another one of his thinly veiled commentaries on humanity and the modern world. For a film that's nearly seventy years old, the issues of journalistic ethics that he explores are just as timely and valid as ever. The questions the film asks are as urgent as ever. I'm not sure there was ever a time when Ace In The Hole wouldn't have been relevant, but it seems especially timely now. Perhaps this is a film where every generation since its release has had an opportunity to feel that way about it.

While not flawless, the disc from Criterion is generally very good. The film is presented in its original Academy ratio in black & white. It's a little inconsistent; some sections look great, while others appear a little more dupey, and show some age and damage. The mono audio, presented via an uncompressed PCM track, is also generally good, and subtitles are available. I didn't examine any of the disc's bonus features.

Ace In The Hole is essential viewing for Billy Wilder fans, people who enjoy stories about journalism and, while we're at it, probably all members of the human race. While the Criterion disc isn't absolutely pristine, it is more than good enough to allow the film's power to shine through.