DVD Review: Bombs Over Burma (1942, AKA The Devil’s Sister).

Directed by Joseph H. Lewis
Produced by Arthur Alexander & Alfred Stern
Screenplay by Joseph H. Lewis & George Wellington Pardy
Story by Milton Raison
Cinematography: Robert E. Cline
Edited by Charles Henkel Jr.
Music by Lee Zahler

Cast: Anna May Wong (Lin Ying), Noel Madison (Me-Hoi), Leslie Denison (Sir Roger Howe), Nedrick Young (Slim Jenkins), Dan Seymour (Pete Brogranza), Frank Lackteen (Hallam), Teala Loring (Lucy Dell), Dennis Moore (Tom Whitley), Connie Leon (Ma Sing)

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Several years ago, I kinda went nuts over Joseph H. Lewis — one of the best of the B movie directors, spurred on as much by his 50-plus episodes of The Rifleman as by films like Gun Crazy (1950), The Big Combo (1955) and A Lawless Street (1955). And I’m ecstatic that Film Masters has given us a decent-looking DVD of Bombs Over Burma (1942).

With the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and the United States’ entry into World War II, as you’d expect, war was on everybody’s minds. It’d been going on for a while, but now it was here. As with most big topical stories, Hollywood saw potential in the war — and they got right on it. One of the first was PRC with Bombs Over Burma (1942), which went from announcement to theaters in just a couple of months.

Anna May Wong is a Chinese school teacher/secret agent who tackles a spy ring (lead by a traitorous English diplomat working with the Germans) that’s sabotaging the construction of the vital Burma Road.

Miss Wong is always fascinating to watch; there’s just something about her (she’s incredible in Sternberg’s Shanghai Express). She’s especially effective in the early scenes when a young boy is killed in a raid, and it’s cool to see her have a real lead for a change.

This being a Poverty Row war movie, you wouldn’t expect a lot of battle scenes, but they’re here — patched together from stock footage and really impressive editing (Lewis started out as an editor). Of course, this being a Joseph H. Lewis picture, you can expect a strong visual sense — even in a rush job like this (I doubt the shoot ran any more than a week).

Lewis’ visuals (like his habit of placing things in the foreground to add depth) is what makes this DVD from Film Masters such a nice thing to have. Chances are, Bombs Over Burma never really looked all that good. But this is the best transfer, by far, that I’ve ever seen.

Film Masters has done a lot for this film, removing dirt, stabilizing the picture and God knows what else —without giving it that weird, waxy, pixel-y look that comes from too much restoration knob-twiddling. For what was almost certainly a 16mm print, the detail is quite good and the contrast levels are fine.

They didn’t have as much luck with the sound, but that’s the fault of the material. PRC pictures almost always had muddy sound — at least they did by the time the 16mm prints and the VHS tapes and DVDs made from them came along. I’m sure the fine folks at Film Masters did what they could with what they had.

There are hundreds, maybe thousands of cheap little movies like this that look just awful when you can find a copy of them to watch. I’m so thankful that Film Masters is going to the trouble to fix some of ’em up — and I recommend this one, especially to fans of the ever-inventive Joseph H. Lewis.

4K Blu-Ray News #386: The Million Eyes Of Sumuru (1967).

Directed by Lindsay Shonteff
Starring Frankie Avalon, George Nader, Shirley Eaton, Maria Rohm, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Klaus Kinski

Blue Underground has announced an upcoming 4K release of Lindsay Shonteff’s The Million Eyes Of Sumuru (1967). The picture isn’t hard to find — Blue Underground released it and its sequel, Jess Franco’s The Girl From Rio (1969), as a gorgeous Blu-Ray twin bill a while back. Thing is, now they’ve found the presumed-lost camera negative and it’s 10 minutes longer!

Why did Shirley Eaton (who plays Sumuru) get third billing? And why did AIP not mention on the posters that this was based on a series of novels by Sax Rohmer?

Shot in Technicolor and Techniscope (at the Shaw Brothers studio in Hong Kong), this should be a crazy piece of pop art eye candy. Can’t wait!

Blu-Ray News #385: Dick Tracy RKO Pictures Collection (1945-47).

RKO’s four Dick Tracy films are just wonderful. Produced between 1945 and ’47, the first two star Morgan Conway as the detective, while the second two saw the return of Ralph Byrd, who’d starred in four Dick Tracy serials at Republic. They’re more faithful to the comic strip than the serials, and they do a great job of bringing common Tracy characters to the screen. In some ways they seem geared to kids, but the violence and darker themes will make you wonder. A friend calls them “kid noir.”

While these Tracy pictures have been languishing in PD Hell for years, VCI had the best-looking set by far. And now they’re bringing them to Blu-Ray, which is a reason to celebrate. (I absolutely adore these movies.)

Dick Tracy (1945)
Directed by William A. Berke
Starring Morgan Conway, Anne Jeffreys, Mike Mazurki, Lyle Latell

Morgan Conway is Dick Tracy and Mike Mazurki is an escaped convict, Splitface, who’s out for revenge. He ends up kidnapping Tracy’s girl, Tess (Anne Jeffreys).

Dick Tracy Vs. Cueball (1946)
Directed by Gordon Douglas
Starring Morgan Conway, Anne Jeffreys, Lyle Latell, Rita Corday, Ian Keith

Cueball (Dick Wessel) starts taking out some of his partners in crime, then figures it might be a good idea to get rid of Dick Tracy, too. Gordon Douglas’s direction is typically solid and economical.

Dick Tracy’s Dilemma (1947)
Directed by John Rawlins
Starring Ralph Byrd, Kay Christopher, Lyle Latell, Jack Lambert, Ian Keith

The Claw (Jack Lambert) is part of a gang responsible for stealing a fortune in furs from a warehouse and killing the night watchman. Dick Tracy (Ralph Byrd) and his partner Pat Patton (Lyle Latell) go from suspecting insurance fraud to wondering if there’s a serial killer on the loose. The Claw is creepy, the killings are pretty brutal and the film has a more shadowy, noir-ish look than the other three. Probably the best of the series.

Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome (1947)
Directed by John Rawlins
Starring Boris Karloff, Ralph Byrd, Anne Gwynne, Lyle Latell, Skelton Knaggs 

While Dick’s Tracy’s Dilemma might be the best, Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome boasts the most star power. Here, Byrd takes second billing behind the great Boris Karloff. This time, Gruesome (Karloff, naturally) uses a paralyzing gas to pull off a bank heist, while Tess Truehart (Anne Gwynne) is there! Karloff looks like he’s having a good time making this one.

From introductions to galleries to commentaries, there are all sorts of extras on the way for this new Blu-Ray set. I’m doing commentaries for the two Byrd films. Judging from the work-in-progress files I was sent to work with, this is going to be quite nice. Highly recommended.

 

Blu-Ray Review: Blazing Saddles (1974).

Directed by Mel Brooks
Produced by Michael Hertzberg
Screenplay by Mel Brooks, Norman Steinberg, Andrew Bergman, Richard Pryor, Alan Uger
Story by Andrew Bergman
Director Of Photography: Joseph Biroc
Film Editors: Danford Greene & John C. Howard
Music by John Morris

Cast: Cleavon Little (Sheriff Bart), Gene Wilder (The Waco Kid), Slim Pickens (Taggart), Harvey Korman (Hedley Lamarr), Madeline Kahn (Lili Von Shtupp), Mel Brooks (Governor William J. Le Petomane, etc.), Burton Gilliam (Lyle), Alex Karras (Mongo), David Huddleston (Olson Johnson), Liam Dunn (Rev. Johnson), John Hillerman (Howard Johnson), George Furth (Van Johnson), Claude Ennis Starrett, Jr. (Gabby Johnson), Carol Arthur (Harriett Johnson), Richard Collier (Dr. Sam Johnson), Charles McGregor (Charlie), Robyn Hilton (Miss Stein), Don Megowan, Dom DeLuise, Count Basie

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From The Producers (1968) and The Twelve Chairs (1971) through Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein (both 1974), Mel Brooks was on one helluva roll. You can’t go wrong with any of them (though The Twelve Chairs doesn’t get as much love as the others). What’s impressive is how well these pictures hold up after all these years.

Blazing Saddles offended people back in 1974, long before political correctness and cancel culture threatened to completely destroy comedy. It’s brilliant satire, a genuinely funny movie — and something no one seems to notice, a clearly affectionate spoof of Hollywood Westerns. (“You’d do it for Randolph Scott.”)

I’m not going to waste your time with quotes and a synopsis. If you know the movie, you know where the funny parts are. Chances are, you’re smiling or out-and-out laughing just thinking about it.

Much has been made of Young Frankenstein‘s spot-on recreation of the Universal 1930’s B&W monster movie aesthetic. Equally impressive (to these Western-loving eyes, at least) is the look of Blazing Saddles, shot by Joseph Biroc, who gave us Westerns like Roughshod (1948), Forty Guns (1957), Ulzana’s Raid (1972) and Cahill, US Marshall (1973). Biroc knew how to shoot a cowboy picture and he gave Blazing Saddles the ‘Scope and Technicolor look it needed. It was sharp, bright and saturated in the theater, something that’s been missing till the Blu-Ray came along.

Turns out Blazing Saddles is a real jewel on Blu-Ray, a huge improvement over the DVD (which was certainly serviceable) and an accurate representation of what it was supposed to look like all along. The disc also offers up the supplemental stuff from the DVD: Brooks’ commentary, a couple of documentaries (Back In The Saddle and Intimate Portrait: Madeline Kahn), the unsuccessful TV pilot Black Bart, additional scenes and the theatrical trailer. And it’s got that terrific poster on the front (by John Alvin).

As a film, Blazing Saddles is funny, it’s considered a classic and it’s certainly worthwhile. As a Blu-Ray, this disc is an upgrade worthy of another dip into your wallet. Highly recommended.

Blu-Ray News #384: Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid (1973).

Directed by Sam Peckinpah
Written by Rudy Wurlitzer
Starring James Coburn, Kris Kristofferson, Richard Jaeckel, Katy Jurado, Chill Wills, Barry Sullivan, Jason Robards, Slim Pickens, Bob Dylan

Criterion is bringing out Sam Peckinpah’s Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid (1973) on 4K and Blu-Ray in July. And since Peckinpah’s last Western was such a mutilated mess by the time MGM got done with it, Criterion is packing all three existing version into the set —
• 50th Anniversary Release, supervised by editors Paul Seydor & Roger Spottiswoode
• Sam Peckinpah’s Final Preview Cut
• Original Theatrical Release

Opinions on the film (no matter which cut you’re looking it) are all over the place. It’s brilliant in some places, other places not. It does, however, contain what I consider the saddest single scene in all of cinema — the great Katy Jurado sitting down beside the gut-shot Slim Pickens as he dies (with “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” on the soundtrack).

Of course, there will be all sorts of extras. This is gonna be a nice set, something us Peckinpah nuts have been hollering for for years. I’m really looking forward to messing around with this thing.

Talking Up The Gauntlet On The Forgotten Filmcast.

I’ve always loved talking about movies with Todd Liebenow at The Forgotten Filmcast. It’s a great podcast. 

The current episode (#215!) has “frequent guest Toby Roan” concerns Clint Eastwood’s The Gauntlet (1977), “a film he loves so much, [he] just wrote a whole book about it.” I had a blast, as I always do when Todd has me over. Click on the Frazetta half sheet to listen in.

DVD News #383: Bombs Over Burma (1942).

Directed by Joseph H. Lewis
Starring Anna May Wong, Noel Madison, Leslie Denison, Nedrick Young, Dan Seymour, Dennis Moore

Here we go! Another PRC picture gets a little respect. Film Masters is bringing Joseph H. Lewis’ Bombs Over Burma (1942, AKA The Devil’s Sister) to DVD later this month. It’s a WWII story of a school teacher (Anna May Wong) helping stop the destruction of a crucial bridge by the Japanese and an English spy.

4K News #382: Hatari (1962).

Directed by Howard Hawks
Starring John Wayne, Hardy Krüger, Elsa Martinelli, Red Buttons, Gérard Blain, Bruce Cabot

With its incredible Technicolor location scenes in Africa — such as John Wayne strapped to the front of a truck actually trying to catch a rhinoceros, Howard Hawks’ Hatari! (1962) is the kind of film you’d think Blu-Ray was made for.

But when it was released on Blu-Ray a few years ago, word quickly spread that it looked terrible — and many of us decided to stick with our old DVDs and hope something better would come along. Well, it looks like some better has come along — Kino Lorber has announced an upcoming 4K release. The announcement does not mention a Blu-Ray disc being included.

Hatari! is a cool movie, Hawks’ usual “group of people doing a difficult job thing.” Recommending it comes down to transfer and format, not the film itself.

Blu-Ray Review: The Creeping Flesh (1973).

Directed by Freddie Francis
Produced by Michael P. Redbourn
Original Screenplay by Peter Spenceley & Jonathan Rumbold
Director Of Photography: Norman Warwick, BSC
Film Editor: Oswald Hafenrichter
Music by Paul Ferris

Cast: Christopher Lee (Dr. James Hildern), Peter Cushing (Professor Emmanuel Hildern), Lorna Heilbron (Penelope Hildern), Jenny Runacre (Marguerite Hildern), George Benson (Professor Waterlow), Kenneth J. Warren (Charles Lenny), Duncan Lamont (Inspector), Harry Locke (Barman), Hedger Wallace (Dr. Perry), Michael Ripper (Carter), Catherine Finn (Emily), Robert Swann (Young Aristocrat), David Bailie (Young Doctor), Maurice Bush (Karl), Tony Wright (Sailor), Marianne Stone (Assistant), Alexandra Dane (Whore), Larry Taylor (Warder), Martin Carroll (Warder), Dan Meaden (Lunatic), Sue Bond

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My junior year in high school, on the last day before the Christmas break, there were all sorts of activities going on around the school. The one I remember, since it’s what I chose to do, was The Creeping Flesh (1973) running in the auditorium. The girl I was sweet on at the time was not near as excited about it as I was!*

Of course, Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee are some of the biggest names in horror movies of the 60s and early 70s, thanks largely to their terrific work for Hammer Films. Pairing them had been a cinematic sure thing since 1957’s Curse Of Frankenstein, and Tigon signed them both for The Creeping Flesh. They also put one of the UK’s best horror directors at the helm, former cinematographer Freddie Francis.

In Victorian England, anthropologist Emmanuel Hildern (Peter Cushing) comes home from Papua New Guinea with one hell of a souvenir — the ancient skeleton of a giant humanoid (delivered by Michael Ripper). He learns that while he was away, his wife passed away in a mental institution run by his psychiatrist half-brother (Christopher Lee). Cushing’s daughter (Lorna Heilbron) had been told her mother died long ago.

One evening, Cushing gets a bit of water and begins to clean the skeleton, first washing off its hand. Almost immediately, flesh begins to form on a finger, which Cushing quickly chops off.

Playing his typical obsessed, absent-minded, well-meaning scientist, Cushing wonders if evil is a disease — and if these cells can point to a cure for evil in the world. Soon, a serum is prepared using blood from the regenerated flesh and the tests go drastically wrong.

Of course, we’re all waiting for the skeleton to get wet and go on a rampage. But not so fast, there’s all kinds of other stuff going on. Maybe Cushing’s daughter is inheriting her mother’s madness (she was really a drunk and a harlot). The conniving Lee is chasing after money and notoriety — which he thinks he can have, if he can just get ahold of his brother’s giant skeleton. Naturally, Lee has it stolen — during a rainstorm.

If all this sounds like The Creeping Flesh is uneven, it is. Its plot goes all over the place, making for a very fun ride.

Peter Cushing is terrific in a part that must’ve been a lot of fun to play. Lee has a smaller part (why is he billed first?), but he’s always great as pompous, elitist swine like this.

Peter Cushing and Freddie Francis

Freddie Francis seems to be having a lot of fun stylistically here. POV shots from inside the skeleton’s head are cool — repeating a technique he used in another Cushing-Lee picture, The Skull (1965). He does a great job of keeping the narrative working as it zigs and zags from one weird plot point to the next (with the help of editor Oswald Hafenrichter). Francis’ films are often handicapped by lackluster scripts, and The Creeping Flesh shows what he could do with something better.

Here in the States, The Creeping Flesh is part of a Mill Creek Blu-Ray set called Psycho Circus that also includes Francis’ Torture Garden (1967), an Amicus anthology film with Cushing in it, and Brotherhood Of Satan (1971) with Strother Martin, L.Q. Jones and Ahna Capri. All three pictures are pressed onto a single disc, which seems fine. They were distributed by Columbia back in the day, so they have the typically top-notch transfers that the studio licenses to Mill Creek. I love the 70s-era film grain so perfectly presented here in The Creeping Flesh.

There are no extras, except for a reversible cover. I really like the cover (above) that makes use of each film’s original poster art (also used for the disc’s menu).

The Creeping Flesh is a lot of fun, and in my case it’s slathered with a heavy layer of nostalgia. The disc here is quite nice, and since it gives you another Francis-Cushing picture looking just as good, turns out to be a bargain. It’s certainly recommended for fans of such stuff. 

*My English teacher was in charge of picking the movie. He showed me a short list and asked what he should go with. Completely selfishly, I encouraged him to go with The Creeping Flesh. This is still the closest I’ve come to one of my goals — curating some sort of retrospective or festival!

4K/Blu-Ray News #381: Dr. Terror’s House Of Horrors (1965).

Directed by Freddie Francis
Starring Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Bernard Lee, Jeremy Kemp, Michael Gough, Donald Sutherland

I’ve been on a bit of a Peter Cushing – Freddie Francis kick of late (watch for some upcoming posts on ’em), so I was really excited to hear about Vineger Syndrome’s upcoming 4K/Blu-Ray release of Cushing in Francis’ Dr. Terror’s House Of Horrors (1965). Packed with extras and transferred from the 35mm (Technicolor and Techniscope) camera negative, the set will include both a Blu-Ray and 4K disc.

It was shot by Alan Hume, who’d go on to do a few things you might’ve heard of — Eye Of The Needle (1981), For Your Eyes Only (1981) and Return Of The Jedi (1983).

Dr. Terror was the first of Amicus’ run of anthology horror pictures. Francis would direct a couple more, Torture Garden (1967) and Tales From The Crypt (1972), while Cushing would appear in almost all of them. This is maybe the best of the bunch, though I’m quite fond of Tales From The Crypt, so it’s easy to recommend this one very, very highly.

Note in the ad up top that it was sent out with Antonio Margheriti’s Horror Castle (1963) or George Pal’s War Of The Worlds (1953). Wow.