The MGM LE Collection has already been hugely hit or miss both in terms of technical quality and the strength of the films released. I’ve seen ten discs thus far, with three more here for review, and the only certified winner is the long-awaited DVD debut of Samuel Fuller’s Park Row. It’s a great, important [...]

Susan Slept Here is a glorious bath of Technicolor about a 35-year-old Oscar-winning screenwriter (played by Dick Powell) whose Christmas Eve includes a couple of cops delivering him a 17-year-old delinquent (Debbie Reynolds). She’s the Susan of the title, she does indeed sleep there, and they even end up driving over to Las Vegas on [...]

Just up, my review of Arrow’s Region B release of Rififi. The UK Blu-ray is a gem. Folks locked to Region A can hope for the Criterion Collection to upgrade its DVD edition in the near future.

It’s going to be tough for anything else to best the Criterion Collection’s Blu-ray of Sweet Smell of Success as my favorite of the year. There’s time, of course, and lots of things could happen. But right now? Hard to imagine a better all around package. It’s so nice to fall in love with a [...]

Exposure Cinema in the UK released Fritz Lang’s While the City Sleeps on DVD about three weeks ago. I finally had the chance to get my hands on a copy the other day and turned in a review of the disc for The Digital Fix. In short, it’s an easy choice between paying something like [...]

It’s a strange analogy but film noir on DVD has become something like an oasis in the desert lately. With the trickle of classic titles at an all-time low in R1, it’s film noir which has stirred the pot this summer. VCI brought out New York Confidential and Olive Films licensed Dark City plus the [...]

(This is also at the DVD Times site. Same content both places. I just wanted to have it here too.)
When Warner Home Video opted last year to drastically change its business model in terms of classic film releases in R1, the impact was most felt by those who had loyally been purchasing the studio’s box [...]

^ That’s the shot from Murder by Contract that leads into Vince Edwards’ hitman Claude posing as a barber and taking the first step in his new career. Great, sly use of humor there. I felt like there was probably more to explore with that film than time and space comfortably allowed in my new [...]

While usually steeped in the anxiety which met and followed World War II, film noir can, on rare occasions, take place prior to the 20th century. There are a few examples set during the Victorian period (with John Brahm’s Hangover Square being a particular standout), but, otherwise, the only director I’m aware of who was [...]

Otto Preminger’s 1953 light drama The Moon Is Blue, when remembered at all, is usually recognized as being the first post-Code Hollywood film where the word “virgin” is uttered and there may be some vague association with other censorship battles beyond that single word (which is said several times). Dig deeper to find out that [...]