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Over the course of its 11 seasons and 259 episodes, Married… With Children attracted plenty of famous and soon-to-be-famous guest stars, including Matt LeBlanc, Kathleen Freeman, Pamela Anderson, Milla Jovovich, and Jerry Springer, to name just a few. But one of the most memorable guest-starring appearances came from one of the era’s leading comedians, Sam Kinison, who appeared in an episode as Al Bundy’s guardian angel. Katey Sagal, who starred as Peg Bundy on the show, spoke at a fan event and said that Kinison’s presence on the set was both surprising and unforgettable. (Click on the media bar below to hear Katey Sagal) https://www.hollywoodoutbreak.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Katy_Segal_Married_With_children_.mp3

Married… With Children is currently streaming on Pluto TV, Hulu, and Peacock.

The post Katey Sagal’s Most Memorable ‘Married’ Guest Star: Sam Kinison appeared first on Hollywood Outbreak.

Don’t believe anything you read. Hocus Pocus is a damn good movie. From its opening frame, the 1993 film contains all the magic and wonder you could want from a gateway horror movie – earning its place next to other ‘90s essentials like Halloweentown. It’s got a talking black cat, spooky spellcasting, a zombie, and three children-eating witches – oh my! Released in the height of summer (July 12), the Kenny Ortega-directed feature hasn’t lost its allure. In fact, its legacy is as strong as ever. It’s still an extraordinarily fun picture 30 years later.

Hocus Pocus endures because of nostalgia. In the era of TV reboots, remakes, and requels, millennials yearn for their childhood and a simpler time. There’s a reason we got a completely unnecessary sequel last fall. But more importantly, Hocus Pocus defines an entire generation of horror fans. For many, it was their very first spooky movie.

Richard Widmark reportedly used his clout to amp up this revisionist western, but the result seems forced at best, and hampered by Universal’s TV-grade production values. The sober screenplay brings in good ideas but the execution can’t quite hold its own with the more progressive westerns of the genre-changing years 1968-’69. A cast of familiar faces makes much of it look fresh: Carroll O’Connor’s venal saloon keeper steals the show, while interesting casting gives us Lena Horne as Widmark’s romantic partner.

Death of a Gunfighter

Region B Blu-ray

Powerhouse Indicator

1969 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 94 min. / working title Patch / Street Date February 27, 2023 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £15.99

Starring: Richard Widmark, Lena Horne, Carroll O’Connor, David Opatashu, Kent Smith, Jacqueline Scott, Morgan Woodward, Larry Gates, Dub Taylor, John Saxon, Darleen Carr, Michael McGreevey, Royal Dano, James (Jimmy) Lydon, Kathleen Freeman, Harry Carey Jr., Walter Sande, Victor French.

Cinematography:...

Diversity has historically been slow to come to the highly filmed stretch of Orion Avenue in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley known as Cameron Woods. But the same throwback suburban qualities that have long brought film crews to its spacious ranch-style homes and Cape Cods — it’s called “The Leave It to Beaver Street” for a reason — are drawing new residents who look more like the surrounding city.

Cameron Woods residents are still mostly white, a contrast to the rest of Van Nuys where it’s situated and heavily Latino. Traditionally, the 30 or so homes on this upscale stretch of Orion Avenue between Victory Boulevard and Erwin Street rarely came up for sale, instead passing to family members or the children of neighbors. But as more of those homeowners have been “aging out” or otherwise moving on, the increased turnover is bringing greater diversity.

While there are still few if any Latino residents here,...

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Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Announces The Beloved Classic

Singin’ In The Rain To Be Released On 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray™

Acclaimed as one of the greatest Musical films of all time,

will Be Available For The First Time In 4K Resolution With High Dynamic Range (Hdr)

Burbank, CA, – To celebrate the 70th anniversary of the 1952 acclaimed and beloved film, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment announced today that Singin’ In The Rain will be released on Ultra HD Blu-ray Combo Pack and Digital on April 26.

Singin’ In The Rain is widely considered to be one of the greatest musical films in cinematic history. The musical romantic comedy was directed by choreographed by Gene Kelly (On the Town) and Stanley Donen (On the Town) and stars Kelly, Donald O’Connor, Debbie Reynolds, Jean Hagen, Millard Mitchel and Cyd Charisse.

The film was written by Adolph Green and...

Burbank, CA – To celebrate the 70th anniversary of the 1952 acclaimed and beloved film, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment announced today that Singin’ in the Rain will be released on Ultra HD Blu-ray Combo Pack and Digital on April 26.

Singin’ in the Rain is widely considered to be one of the greatest musical films in cinematic history. The musical romantic comedy was directed by choreographed by Gene Kelly (On the Town) and Stanley Donen (On the Town) and stars Kelly, Donald O’Connor, Debbie Reynolds, Jean Hagen, Millard Mitchel and Cyd Charisse.

The film was written by Adolph Green and Betty Comden and produced by Arthur Freed. The music is by Nacio Herb Brown and the lyrics are by Arthur Freed.

O’Connor won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, and Betty Comden and Adolph Green won the Writers Guild of America Award for their screenplay, while...

A bona fide film classic, George Stevens’ movie is less revered as an excellent adaptation of Theodore Dreiser than for its intense, almost hallucinatory romantic scenes between Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor. A guileless poor boy tries to succeed above his economic background and entangles himself between two very different women. I guess the Academy wasn’t ready to take the glamorous young MGM beauty seriously: both Clift and their co-star Shelley Winters received acting nominations, but not Liz. Stevens’ first ‘fifties picture is perhaps the most balanced of his ‘heavy’ and ‘important’ works, a tragedy that’s too deeply felt to be merely ponderous.

A Place in the Sun

Blu-ray

Viavision [Imprint] 8

1951 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 122 min. / Street Date August, 2020 /

Starring: Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, Shelley Winters, Anne Revere, Keefe Brasselle, Fred Clark, Raymond Burr, Walter Sande, Ted de Corsia, Kathleen Freeman, Kasey Rogers, Douglas Spencer, Ian Wolfe.

Cinematography: William C. Mellor...

Filmmakers/authors discuss the movies they wish more people were familiar with.

Movies Referenced In This Episode

Eurocrime! The Italian Cop and Gangster Films That Ruled the ’70s (2012)

Live Like A Cop, Die Like A Man (1976)

Island of Lost Souls (1932)

Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau (2014)

Top Gun (1986)

Water Power (1977)

Taxi Driver (1976)

In Fabric (2018)

A Climax of Blue Power (1974)

Forced Entry (1975)

Once Upon A Time In America (1984)

Nashville Girl (1976)

Ms .45 (1981)

Act of Vengeance a.k.a. Rape Squad (1974)

High Plains Drifter (1973)

Design For Living (1933)

Trouble In Paradise (1932)

Melody (1971)

Oliver! (1968)

Moonrise Kingdom (2012)

That’ll Be The Day (1973)

Stardust (1974)

The Errand Boy (1961)

Looney Tunes: Back In Action (2003)

The Bellboy (1960)

Which Way To The Front? (1970)

Hardly Working (1980)

A Night In Casablanca (1946)

The Cocoanuts (1929)

Duck Soup (1933)

Boeing Boeing (1965)

Confessions of a Young American Housewife (1974)

Cockfighter (1974)

The Second Civil War (1997)

I, A Woman (1965)

The Devil At Your Heels (1981)

The...

The Berlin Film Festival has added special screenings for Vadim Perelman’s Persian Lessons with Nahuel Pérez Biscayart and Lars Eidinger, and Anne Fontaine’s Police, starring Omar Sy and Virginie Efira. Both are world premieres.

The former, set in Occupied France in 1942, follows a man who is arrested by the SS alongside other Jews and sent to a concentration camp in Germany. Police focuses on three Parisian police officers charged with driving a stranger back to the border. Scroll down for more details.

There will also be a special screening of Jerry Lewis’s 1963 movie The Nutty Professor. Previously announced special screenings include Johnny Depp starrer Minamata and Roberto Benigni-voiced Pinocchio.

The festival has also revealed movies in the Berlinale Classics lineup, including Fellini’s Il bidone (The Swindle), and two of the earliest narrative films about the Holocaust, Ostatni Etap (The Last Stage) and Daleká Cesta (Distant...

One of Fritz Lang’s least-known thrillers had aspects that appealed to him, and he certainly applied his personal viewpoint and visual talents. It’s a period Gothic with women in corsets, about a deranged writer who lets his desires get out of hand. It may be actor Louis Hayward’s best work. Jane Wyatt is the suffering wife, but the real honors go to Dorothy Patrick, in an all-too brief appearance.

House by the River

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1950 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 83 min. / Street Date January 14, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Louis Hayward, Lee Bowman, Jane Wyatt, Dorothy Patrick, Ann Shoemaker, Jody Gilbert, Peter Brocco, Howland Chamberlain, Sarah Padden, Kathleen Freeman, Will Wright, Carl Switzer.

Cinematography: Edward Cronjager

Film Editor: Arthur D. Hilton

Original Music: George Antheil

Art Direction: Boris Leven

Written by Mel Dinelli from a novel by A.P. Herbert

Produced by Howard Welsch

Directed by...

Did star James Stewart and director Anthony Mann corner the market on upscale ‘A’ ’50s westerns? This beauty sends Stewart, Ruth Roman and Corrine Calvet on a breezy trek over a Canadian glacier, with Walter Brennan as a folksy, ditsy sidekick — not very original but endearing. John McIntire saves the day as a charmingly malevolent self-appointed Judge Roy Bean-type swindler and murderer — he’s so hilariously evil, even Stewart’s character is amused. The special edition has two aspect ratio versions, a full commentary and two film history featurette-docus.

The Far Country

Blu-ray

Arrow Academy

1955 / color / 1:88 + 1:2 widescreen / 97 min. / Street Date November 12, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: James Stewart, Ruth Roman, Corinne Calvet, Walter Brennan, John McIntire, Jay C. Flippen, Harry Morgan, Steve Brodie, Connie Gilchrist, Robert J. Wilke, Chubby Johnson, Royal Dano, Jack Elam, Kathleen Freeman, Connie Van, Eugene Borden, John Doucette, Chuck Roberson.

Cinematography: William H. Daniels...

The Collector

Blu ray – All Region

Indicator/Powerhouse

1965/ 1.85:1 / Street Date September 24, 2018

Starring Terence Stamp, Samantha Eggar

Cinematography by Robert Surtees, Robert Krasker

Directed by William Wyler

German-born William Wyler was a storyteller who asked the audience not to understand him too quickly. A notorious perfectionist, he was a masterful old-school director of enduring entertainments distinguished by thoughtfulness and, a rare trait for the times, ambiguity.

At their best, Wyler’s films were acutely observed slices of American life, particularly concerning its ongoing civil wars – Davis treading on Southern decorum in Jezebel, Dana Andrew’s bitter post-war abasement in The Best Years of Our Lives and the deal-breaking social gulf between the would-be lovers of Roman Holiday. In The Collector, those class conflicts get the horror movie treatment.

Frederick Clegg, the gaunt loner lurking at the edges of Wyler’s psycho-thriller, is the very model of the modern Incel. Emotionally...

"The Mild, Mild West" 

By Lee Pfeiffer

The Warner Archive has released the 1965 comedy "The Rounders" on Blu-ray. The film is primarily notable for the  teaming of Glenn Ford and Henry Fonda, two estimable Hollywood stars who could be relied upon to play convincingly in both dark, somber dramas and frolicking comedies. "The Rounders" was directed and written by Burt Kennedy, who adapted a novel from by Max Evans. Kennedy was a veteran of big studio productions who worked his way from screenwriter to director. If he never made any indisputable classics, it can be said that he made a good many films that were top-notch entertainment. Among them: "Support Your Local Sheriff", "The War Wagon", "Hannie Caulder" and "The Train Robbers". While Westerns were Kennedy's specialty, he did have a prestigious achievement with his screenplay for Clint Eastwood's woefully underseen and under-praised 1990 film "White Hunter, Black Heart". It's...

By Lee Pfeiffer

Olive Films has released the 1963 Jerry Lewis comedy "Who's Minding the Store?" on Blu-ray. The film was made at the peak of Lewis's solo career following the breakup of Martin and Lewis some years before. The movie was directed by Frank Tashlin, who collaborated with Lewis on his best productions. It can be argued that, with the exception of Lewis's inspired "The Nutty Professor" (released the same year as "Store"), his work never reached the heights that he achieved by working with Tashlin, a talented director and screenwriter who never quite got the acclaim he deserved. "Store" is one of Lewis's best movies because it's also one of his funniest. He plays Norman Phiffier, a nerdy manchild who fails at even the most elementary of careers. When we meet him he's trying to make ends meet by running his own dog-walking service, which provides some amusing sight...

Easily the most mellow of the films of Sam Peckinpah, this relatively gentle western fable sees Jason Robards discovering water where it ain’t, and establishing his private little way station paradise, complete with lover Stella Stevens and eccentric preacher David Warner. Some of the slapstick is sticky but the sexist bawdy humor is too cute to offend . . . and Peckinpah-phobes will be surprised to learn that the movie is in part a musical.

The Ballad of Cable Hogue

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1970 / 1:85 widescreen / 121 min. / Street Date June 6, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring Jason Robards Jr., Stella Stevens, David Warner, Strother Martin, L.Q. Jones, R.G. Armstrong, Peter Whitney, Gene Evans, William Mims, Kathleen Freeman, Susan O’Connell, Vaughn Taylor, Max Evans, James Anderson.

Cinematography: Lucien Ballard

Art Direction: Leroy Coleman

Film Editor: Frank Santillo, Lou Lombardo

Original Music: Jerry Goldsmith

Written by John Crawford and Edmund Penney

Produced by Sam Peckinpah...

The laid-back, plot challenged non-violent western gets a boost in this folksy comedy about two aging cowboys with less sense than the horses they tame. Glenn Ford and Henry Fonda star together for the first time, leaving behind their older images… they’re too tender-hearted for their own good. If the sex comedy wasn’t quite so dated, Burt Kennedy’s picture might be a classic.

The Rounders

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1965 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 84 min. / Street Date April 18, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Glenn Ford, Henry Fonda, Sue Ane Langdon, Hope Holiday, Chill Wills, Edgar Buchanan, Kathleen Freeman, Joan Freeman, Denver Pyle, Barton MacLane, Doodles Weaver, Peter Fonda, Peter Ford, Bill Hart, Warren Oates, Chuck Roberson.

Cinematography: Paul Vogel

Film Editor: John McSweeney

Original Music: Jeff Alexander

From the Novel by Max Evans

Produced by Richard E. Lyons

Written and Directed by Burt Kennedy

Producer Richard E. Lyons is...

“Here y’are, baby. Take this, wipe the lipstick off, slide over here next to me, and let’s get started.”

The Nutty Professor will screen double feature with Jerry Lewis, The Man Behind The Clown will screen Saturday Nov 12th at 1pm at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium (470 East Lockwood) as part of this year’s St. Louis International Film Festival. This event is Free

Since his earliest days, Sliff Lifetime Achievement Award honoree Jerry Lewis had the masses laughing with his visual gags, pantomime sketches, and signature slapstick humor. But Lewis was far more than just a funny performer. After his breakup with partner Dean Martin, he moved behind the camera, writing, producing, and directing many of the adored classics in which he starred. In this double bill, Gregory Monro’s brisk, informative documentary reveals the man behind the clown, and The Nutty Professor provides the proof of Lewis’ comic genius.

Ivan Tors and Curt Siodmak 'borrow' nine minutes of dynamite special effects from an obscure-because-suppressed German sci-fi picture, write a new script, and come up with an eccentric thriller where atom scientists behave like G-Men crossed with Albert Einstein. The challenge? How to make a faceless unstable atomic isotope into a worthy science fiction 'monster.' The Magnetic Monster Blu-ray Kl Studio Classics 1953 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 76 min. / Street Date June 14, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Richard Carlson, King Donovan, Jean Byron, Leonard Mudie, Byron Foulger, Michael Fox, Frank Gerstle, Charles Williams, Kathleen Freeman, Strother Martin, Jarma Lewis. Cinematography Charles Van Enger Supervising Film Editor Herbert L. Strock Original Music Blaine Sanford Written by Curt Siodmak, Ivan Tors Produced by Ivan Tors Directed by Curt Siodmak

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

How did we ever survive without an "Office of Scientific Investigation?" In the early 1950s, producer Ivan Tors launched himself with a trio of science fiction movies based on that non-existent government entity, sort of an FBI for strange scientific phenomena. As of this writing, Kino has released a terrific 3-D Blu-ray of the third entry, 1954's Gog. The second Tors Osi mini-epic is the interesting, if scientifically scrambled Riders to the Stars, which shows up from time to time on TCM but has yet to find its way to home video in any format. The first of the series, 1953's The Magnetic Monster is considered the most scientifically interesting, although it mainly promotes its own laundry list of goofy notions about physics and chemistry. As it pretends that it is based on scientific ideas instead of rubber-suited monsters, Tors' abstract threat is more than just another 'thing' trying to abduct the leading lady. Exploiting the common fear of radiation, a force little understood by the general public, The Magnetic Monster invents a whole new secret government bureau dedicated to solving 'dangerous scientific problems' -- the inference being, of course, that there's always something threatening about science. Actually, producer Tors was probably inspired by his partner Curt Siodmak to take advantage of a fantastic special effects opportunity that a small show like Magnetic could normally never afford. More on that later. The script plays like an episode of Dragnet, substituting scientific detectives for L.A.P.D. gumshoes. Top-kick nuclear troubleshooter Dr. Jeff Stewart (Richard Carlson) can't afford to buy a tract home for his pregnant wife Connie (beautiful Jean Byron, later of The Patty Duke Show). He is one of just a few dauntless Osi operatives standing between us and scientific disaster. When local cops route a weird distress call to the Osi office, Jeff and his Phd. sidekick Dan Forbes (King Donovan) discover that someone has been tampering with an unstable isotope in a room above a housewares store on Lincoln Blvd.: every metallic object in the store has become magnetized. The agents trace the explosive element to one Dr. Serny (Michael Fox), whose "lone wolf" experiments have created a new monster element, a Unipolar watchamacallit sometimes referred to as Serranium. If not 'fed' huge amounts of energy this new element will implode, expand, and explode again on a predictable timetable. Local efforts to neutralize the element fail, and an entire lab building is destroyed. Dan and Jeff rush the now-larger isotope to a fantastic Canadian "Deltatron" constructed in a super-scientific complex deep under the ocean off Nova Scotia. The plan is to bombard the stuff with so much energy that it will disintegrate harmlessly. But does the Deltatron have enough juice to do the job? Its Canadian supervisor tries to halt the procedure just as the time limit to the next implosion is coming due! Sincere, likeable and quaint, The Magnetic Monster is nevertheless a prime candidate for chuckles, thanks to a screenplay with a high clunk factor. Big cheese scientist Jeff Stewart interrupts his experimental bombardment of metals in his atom smasher to go out on blind neighborhood calls, dispensing atom know-how like a pizza deliveryman. He takes time out to make fat jokes at the expense of the lab's switchboard operator, the charming Kathleen Freeman. The Osi's super-computer provides instant answers to various mysteries. Its name in this show is the acronym M.A.N.I.A.C.. Was naming differential analyzers some kind of a fetish with early computer men? Quick, which '50s Sci-fi gem has a computer named S.U.S.I.E.? The strange isotope harnesses a vague amalgam of nuclear and magnetic forces. It might seem logical to small kids just learning about the invisible wonder of magnetism -- and that understand none of it. All the silverware at the store sticks together. It is odd, but not enough to cause the sexy blonde saleswoman (Elizabeth Root) to scream and jump as if goosed by Our Friend the Atom. When a call comes in that a taxi's engine has become magnetized, our agents are slow to catch on. Gee, could that crazy event be related to our mystery element? When the culprit scientist is finally tracked down, and pulled off an airliner, he's already near death from overexposure to his own creation. We admire Dr. Serny, who after all managed to create a new element on his own, without benefit of a billion dollar physics lab. He also must be a prize dope for not realizing that the resulting radiation would kill him. The Osi troubleshooters deliver a stern lesson that all of us need to remember: "In nuclear research there is no place for lone wolves." If you think about it, the agency's function is to protect us from science itself, with blame leveled at individual, free-thinking, 'rogue' brainiacs. (Sarcasm alert.) The danger in nuclear research comes not from mad militarists trying to make bigger and more awful bombs; the villains are those crackpots cooking up end-of-the-world scenarios in their home workshops. Dr. Serny probably didn't even have a security clearance! The Magnetic Monster has a delightful gaffe in every scene. When a dangerous isotope is said to be 'on the loose,' a police radio order is broadcast to Shoot To Kill ... Shoot what exactly, they don't say. This line could very well have been invented in the film's audio mix, if producer Tors thought the scene needed an extra jolt. Despite the fact that writer-director Curt Siodmak cooked up the brilliant concept of Donovan's Brain and personally invented a bona fide classic monster mythology, his '50s sci-fi efforts strain credibility in all directions. As I explain in the Gold review, Siodmak may have been the one to come up with the idea of repurposing the climax of the old film. He was a refugee from Hitler's Germany, and had written a film with director Karl Hartl. Reading accounts in books by Tom Weaver and Bill Warren, we learn that the writer Siodmak had difficulty functioning as a director and that credited editor Herbert Strock stepped in to direct. Strock later claimed that the noted writer was indecisive on the set. The truly remarkable aspect of The Magnetic Monster comes in the last reel, when Jeff and Dan take an elevator ride way, way down to Canada's subterranean, sub-Atlantic Deltatron atom-smasher. They're suddenly wearing styles not worn in the early 'fifties -- big blocky coats and wide-brimmed hats. The answer comes when they step out into a wild mad-lab construction worthy of the visuals in Metropolis. A giant power station is outfitted with oversized white porcelain insulators -- even a set of stairs looks like an insulator. Atop the control booth is an array of (giant, what else) glass tubes with glowing neon lights inside. Cables and wires go every which-way. A crew of workers in wrinkled shop suits stands about like extras from The Three-Penny Opera. For quite some time, only readers of old issues of Famous Monsters of Filmland knew the secret of this bizarre footage, which is actually from the 1934 German sci-fi thriller Gold, directed by Karl Hartl and starring Hans Albers and Brigitte Helm. Tors and Siodmak do their best to integrate Richard Carlson and King Donovan into this spectacular twenty-year-old stock footage, even though the extravagant production values and the expressionist patina of the Ufa visuals are a gross mismatch for The Magnetic Monster's '50s semi-docu look. Jeff's wide hat and David Byrne coat are there to make him look more like Hans Albers in the 1934 film, which doesn't work because Albers must be four inches taller and forty pounds beefier than Richard Carlson. Jeff climbs around the Deltatron, enters a control booth and argues with the Canadian scientist/turnkey, who is a much better match for the villain of Gold. Jeff changes into a different costume, with a different cap -- so he can match Albers in the different scene in Gold. The exciting climax repurposes the extravagant special effects of Otto Hunte and Günther Rittau, changing the original film's attempted atomic alchemy into a desperate attempt to neutralize the nasty new element before it can explode again. The matching works rather well for Jeff's desperate struggle to close an enormous pair of bulkhead doors that have been sabotaged. And a matched cut on a whip pan from center stage to a high control room is very nicely integrated into the old footage. The bizarre scene doesn't quite come off... even kids must have known that older footage was being used. In the long shots, Richard Carlson doesn't look anything like Hans Albers. A fuel-rod plunger in the control room displays a German-style cross, even though the corresponding instrument in the original show wasn't so decorated. Some impressive close-up views of a blob of metal being bombarded by atomic particles are from the old movie, and others are new effects. Metallurgy is scary, man. The "Serranium" threat establishes a pattern touched upon by later Sci-fi movies with organic or abstract forces that grow from relative insignificance to world-threatening proportions. The Monolith Monsters proposes giant crystals that grow to the size of skyscrapers, threatening to cover the earth with a giant quartz-pile. The Sam Katzman quickie The Day the World Exploded makes The Magnetic Monster look like an expensive production. It invents a new mineral that explodes when exposed to air. The supporting cast of The Magnetic Monster gives us some pleasant, familiar faces. In addition to the beloved Kathleen Freeman is Strother Martin as a concerned airline pilot. Fussy Byron Foulger owns the housewares store and granite-jawed Frank Gerstle (Gristle?) is a gruff general. The gorgeous Jarma Lewis has a quick bit as a stewardess. The Kl Studio Classics Blu-ray of The Magnetic Monster is a fine transfer of this B&W gem from United Artists. Once hard to see, it was part of an expensive MGM-Image laserdisc set twenty years ago and then an Mod DVD in 2011. The disc comes with a socko original trailer that explains why it did reasonably well at the box office. Every exciting moment is edited into a coming attraction that really hypes the jeopardy factor. At that time, just the sight of a hero in a radiation suit promised something unusual. Nowadays, Hazardous Waste workers use suits like that to clean up common chemical spills. The commentary for The Magnetic Monster is by Fangoria writer Derek Botelho, whose name is misspelled as Botello on the disc package. I've heard Derek on a couple of David del Valle tracks for Vincent Price movies, where he functioned mainly as an Ed McMahon-like fan sidekick. His talk tends to drift into loosely related sidebar observations. Instead of discussing how the movie was made by cannibalizing another, he recounts for us the comedy stock footage discovery scene from Tim Burton's Ed Wood. Several pages recited from memoirs by Curt Siodmak and Herbert Strock do provide useful information on the film. Botelho appreciates actress Kathleen Freeman. You can't go wrong doing that. Viewers that obtain Kino's concurrent Blu-ray release of the original 1934 German thriller Gold will note that the repurposed scenes from that film look much better here, although they still bear some scratches. On a scale of Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor, The Magnetic Monster Blu-ray rates: Movie: Good + Video: Very Good Sound: Excellent Supplements: Commentary with Derek Botelho, Theatrical trailer Deaf and Hearing Impaired Friendly? N0; Subtitles: None Packaging: Keep case Reviewed: June 8, 2016 (5138magn)

Visit DVD Savant's Main Column Page Glenn Erickson answers most reader mail: [email protected]

Text © Copyright 2016 Glenn Erickson...

In the 1980s, bored film critics sometimes claimed to see homoerotic themes in any 'buddy picture'  about guys being friends with guys. Only one bold comedy dared to confront this notion directly -- in this show, Dennis Quaid spends a full two hours inside Martin Short, yet the finished picture is still perfectly suitable for all audiences and age groups! Savant Blu-ray Review Warner Home Video 1987 / Color /1.78:1 / 116 min. / Street Date August 4, 2015/ available through Warner Bros. / 13.09 Starring Dennis Quaid, Martin Short, Meg Ryan, Kevin McCarthy, Fiona Lewis, Vernon Wells, Robert Picardo Cinematography Andrew Laszlo Visual Effects Supervisor Dennis Muren Art Direction James H. Spencer Film Editor Kent Beyda Original Music Jerry Goldsmith Written by Jeffrey Boam, Chip Proser, story by Chip Proser Produced by Michael Finnell, Peter Guber, Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall, Jon Peters, Chip Proser, Steven Spielberg Directed by Joe Dante

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Warner Home Video shows...

By Lee Pfeiffer

Warner Home Entertainment has recently released their special edition DVD of director Joe Dante’s “Innerspace” on Blu-ray. The 1987 film is a sci-fi comedy that afforded Martin Short and Meg Ryan early career leading roles in a tale of inspired lunacy. The premise of the script centers on a narcissistic former military test pilot Tuck Pendelton (Dennis Quaid) who volunteers for an unprecedented scientific experiment. Doctors have the technology to shrink him and inject him into the body of a rabbit. They also obviously have the ability to bring him back into the outside world where he can resume his normal activities at his normal size. The purpose of the experiment is to allow medical technicians to eventually inject operatives into human beings so that they can perform miracle surgeries. However, there are some bad guys who are looking to benefit from the amazing technology by selling it to the highest bidder.

'The Man from U.N.C.L.E.' 2015: Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer. 'The Man from U.N.C.L.E.' movie is a domestic box office bomb: Will it be saved by international filmgoers? Directed by Sherlock Holmes' Guy Ritchie and toplining Man of Steel star Henry Cavill and The Lone Ranger costar Armie Hammer, the Warner Bros. release The Man from U.N.C.L.E. has been a domestic box office disaster, performing about 25 percent below – already quite modest – expectations. (See also: “'The Man from U.N.C.L.E.' Movie: Bigger Box Office Flop Than Expected.”) This past weekend, the $80 million-budget The Man from U.N.C.L.E. collected a meager $13.42 million from 3,638 North American theaters, averaging $3,689 per site. After five days out, the big-screen reboot of the popular 1960s television series starring Robert Vaughn and David McCallum has taken in a mere $16.77 million. For comparison's sake:...

'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.' with Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer. 'The Man from U.N.C.L.E.' box office: Bigger domestic flop than expected? Before I address the box office debacle of Warner Bros.' The Man from U.N.C.L.E., I'd like remark upon the fact that 2015 has been a notable year at the North American box office. That's when the dinosaurs of Jurassic World smashed Hulk and his fellow Halloween-costumed Marvel superheroes of Avengers: Age of Ultron. And smashed them good: $636.73 million vs. $457.52 million. (See also: 'Jurassic World' beating 'The Avengers' worldwide and domestically?) At least in part for sentimental (or just downright morbid) reasons – Paul Walker's death in a car accident in late 2013 – Furious 7 has become by far the highest-grossing The Fast and the Furious movie in the U.S. and Canada: $351.03 million. (Shades of Heath Ledger's unexpected death...

Robert Redford movies: TCM shows 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,' 'The Sting' They don't make movie stars like they used to, back in the days of Louis B. Mayer, Jack Warner, and Harry Cohn. That's what nostalgists have been bitching about for the last four or five decades; never mind the fact that movie stars have remained as big as ever despite the demise of the old studio system and the spectacular rise of television more than sixty years ago. This month of January 2015, Turner Classic Movies will be honoring one such post-studio era superstar: Robert Redford. Beginning this Monday evening, January 6, TCM will be presenting 15 Robert Redford movies. Tonight's entries include Redford's two biggest blockbusters, both directed by George Roy Hill and co-starring Paul Newman: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, which turned Redford, already in his early 30s, into a major film star to rival Rudolph Valentino,...

The 2014 TCM Classic Film Festival will honor legendary actor, filmmaker and humanitarian Jerry Lewiswith a multi-tiered celebration of his remarkable career. Highlighting the tribute, Lewis will have his hand and footprints enshrined in concrete in front of the world-famous Tcl Chinese Theatre IMAX. In addition, Lewis will be on-hand for a screening of one of his most memorable films: The Nutty Professor (1963). Marking its fifth year, the TCM Classic Film Festival will take place April 10-13, 2014, in Hollywood. The gathering will coincide with TCM’s 20th anniversary as a leading authority in classic film.

“Jerry Lewis is a very important name whenever movie comedy is discussed and enjoyed,” said TCM host Robert Osborne, who also serves as the official host of the TCM Classic Film Festival. “Jerry has provided the world with great merriment and laughter, while also showing, in such films as Martin Scorsese’s The King of Comedy,...

Review by Sam Moffitt

Jerry Lewis is a national treasure! No, strike that, let me correct that…Jerry Lewis is a global treasure. He belongs to the whole world and here is a documentary celebrating all things Jerry Lewis. Tracing his career from the age of five when he first entered show business, (I am not kidding, he was raised in vaudeville and burlesque by his father and mother who were both performers!) to the present day. Much time is devoted to his insane career with the late Dean Martin and his charity work for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. We also see and hear a lot about his legendary run with Paramount Pictures in the 60s when he wrote, directed and starred in a series of box office hit comedies.

Be advised, this is not a warts and all portrait, Lewis himself is credited as the producer of this documentary!

Lana Turner movies: Scandal and more scandal Lana Turner is Turner Classic Movies’ "Summer Under the Stars" star today, Saturday, August 10, 2013. I’m a little — or rather, a lot — late in the game posting this article, but there are still three Lana Turner movies left. You can see Turner get herself embroiled in scandal right now, in Douglas Sirk’s Imitation of Life (1959), both the director and the star’s biggest box-office hit. More scandal follows in Mark Robson’s Peyton Place (1957), the movie that earned Lana Turner her one and only Academy Award nomination. And wrapping things up is George Sidney’s lively The Three Musketeers (1948), with Turner as the ruthless, heartless, remorseless — but quite elegant — Lady de Winter. Based on Fannie Hurst’s novel and a remake of John M. Stahl’s 1934 melodrama about mother love, class disparities, racism, and good cooking, Imitation of Life was shown on...

Billy Wilder movies, Johnny Carson interviews tonight on TCM Billy Wilder is Turner Classic Movies’ Director of the Evening tonight, July 8, 2013. But before Wilder Evening begins, TCM will be presenting a series of brief interviews from The Tonight Show, back in the old Johnny Carson days — or rather, nights. The Carson interviewees this evening are Doris Day, Charlton Heston, Tony Curtis, Chevy Chase, and Steve Martin. (See also: Doris Day today.) (Photo: Billy Wilder.) As for Billy Wilder, TCM will be showing the following: Some Like It Hot (1959), The Fortune Cookie (1966), The Spirit of St. Louis (1958), and The Seven Year Itch (1955). Of course, all of those have been shown before and are widely available. Some Like It Hot vs. The Major and the Minor: Subversive and subversiver Some Like It Hot is perhaps Billy Wilder’s best-known film. This broad comedy featuring Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis...

Warner Archive Collection 4th anniversary DVD / Blu-ray releases The Warner Archive Collection (aka Wac), which currently has a DVD / Blu-ray library consisting of approximately 1,500 titles, has just turned four. In celebration of its fourth anniversary, Wac is releasing with movies featuring the likes of Jane Powell, Eleanor Parker, and many more stars and filmmakers of yesteryear. (Pictured above: Greer Garson, Debbie Reynolds, Ricardo Montalban in the sentimental 1966 comedy / drama with music The Singing Nun.) For starters, Jane Powell and Debbie Reynolds play siblings in Richard Thorpe's Athena (1954), whose supporting cast includes Edmund Purdom, Vic Damone, frequent Jerry Lewis foil Kathleen Freeman, Citizen Kane's Ray Collins, Tyrone Power's then-wife Linda Christian, former Mr. Universe and future Hercules Steve Reeves, veteran Louis Calhern, not to mention numerology, astrology, and vegetarianism. As per Wac's newsletter, the score by Hugh Martin and Martin Blane "gets a first ever Stereophonic Sound remix for this disc,...

By Lee Pfeiffer

The word "restrained" doesn't often fit into analysis of Jerry Lewis' film career, but in Hook, Line and Sinker, a 1969 black comedy, the legendary funnyman is indeed restrained, as least in comparison to most of the characters he played. The film is an unusual entry from this period of Lewis' film work in that he did not direct the movie. Instead, George Marshall, an old hand at helming diverse films, took on that responsibility. There isn't much discernible difference in the end result and one could easily be forgiven if they were to assume that Lewis directed. He plays Peter Ingersoll, a typical middle class suburbanite who is living the American dream. He has a boring but steady 9 to 5 job as an insurance salesman, a pretty wife (Anne Francis), two polite children, a comfortable home and a devoted best friend, Scott Carter (Peter Lawford), who also...

Chicago – The best musical of all time was recently released in a beautiful, lavish, packed limited edition — the kind that we see typically around the holiday season but rarely in July. The gorgeous box set for the timeless “Singin’ in the Rain” is easily one of the best Blu-ray releases of the year to date, a must for true movie collectors.

Rating: 4.0/5.0

What more is there to say about “Singin’ in the Rain” that hasn’t already been written? (Although it is interesting to notice the thematic and visual parallels to the 2011 Oscar winner for Best Picture, “The Artist,” something I hadn’t considered when seeing Michel Hazanavicius’ film last year.) “Singin’ in the Rain” is a pure delight, the kind of movie that I enjoy more with each passing year. And even though I’ve seen the movie a dozen times (I have a mother who adored it and...

Already taken through a polishing process ten years ago, Singin’ in the Rain is back for its 60th Anniversary, and it has really been given a superior treatment for the Blu-Ray release.

A legendary film, and one that now makes a cute pairing with similarly “talkie” exposition film, The Artist, Singin’ in the Rain is not only a cute and clever statement on its own industry and an entertaining love story, but it’s also one of the greatest musicals ever. It is such an icon of the genre, and put together so well, that a list of the top musical numbers in film would be hard-pressed not to include every musical number from Singin’ in the Rain. Not least, Gene Kelly‘s title number, which is among the most recognizable, and most referenced scenes in movie history.

The 60th Anniversary Edition comes with a lot of special features available on previous releases,...

Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: July 17, 2012

Price: Two-dvd $14.96, Blu-ray $19.98, Ultimate Collector’s Edition Blu-ray/DVD Combo $84.99

Studio: Warner Home Video

Singin’ in the Rain didn’t win an Academy Award back when it was first released in theaters in 1952, but it still became one of the most loved musicals of all time. It’s the American Film Institute’s No. 1 Movie Musical. We’re glad to see the film get its Blu-ray debut for its 60th birthday. A gift for fans indeed.

The movie’s story is reminiscent of the 2012 Best Picture winner The Artist. Set in 1927 Hollywood, Singin’ in the Rain stars Gene Kelly (Cover Girl) as Don Lockwood, a silent movie star with Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen, The Shaggy Dog). When the talkies are introduced and Don and Lina’s film is changed into a musical, Don’s voice is perfect for the new medium, but Lina gets left behind.

The Movie Pool has a strange attraction to The Magnetic Monster DVD!

The Set-up

Scientists battle an out-of-control isotope that sucks up energy and threatens to destroy all life on earth.

Directed by Curt Siodmak 

 

The Delivery

You might be surprised to learn that there is no actual monster in The Magnetic Monster. Instead, we have a killer isotope. Seriously. We have a renegade element that goes crazy after some scientist that lives above an appliance store bombards it with gamma rays or some such, much like how Bruce Banner became the Hulk. To the filmmaker's credit, they attempted to base their science fiction film on actual science, with hit and miss results. Some of it actually makes sense, but most is just technical goggledygook that sounds absurd by today's level of technical knowledge.

The film capitalized on the fear of technology and atomic power that raged in the country during the 1950s,...

I hate Illinois Nazis, but I do love the Blues Brothers. Certainly a format named Blu would welcome the iconic bluesmen (the Blu Brothers?)? True enough, but those expecting new special features will get the blues. Jake Blues (John Belushi) has just finished a three-year stint in Joliet prison. He.s met at the gate by his brother Elwood (Dan Aykroyd) who escorts the newly freed jailbird to visit Sister Mary .The Penguin. Stigmata (Kathleen Freeman) at the St. Helen of the Blessed Shroud Orphanage. It seems the orphanage is overdue on their property taxes and is going to be closed down. The brothers commit to raising the $5000 needed, but the Penquin is having none of their...

In honor of the opening of the film Burlesque, starring Cher, Christina Aguilera and Stanley Tucci, the Movie Geeks are presenting what we feel are the best motion picture musicals.

Honorable Mention: Mary Poppins

“Practically Perfect in Every Way”, this is how the incomparably magical nanny Mary Poppins describes herself with nary a boastful smirk on a revealing tape measure in the still-charming 1964 Disney classic musical set in post-Victorian London circa 1910. Mary Poppins is the first movie I can remember seeing in a theater as a child I still feel genuine warmth about this movie as an adult. Such was the impact of Julie Andrews in her big screen debut, as she epitomizes the title character with equal quantities of starch and sugar. There are so many delightful scenes in Mary Poppins that it’s hard to choose which to highlight, though one of the best ones has to be...