NETWORK PRESENTS: THE BELSTONE FOX. (1973) REVIEW BY SANDRA HARRIS.

Eureka! Entertainment Reveal Masters Of Cinema First Quarter 2015 Line Up

Eureka Entertainment have announced via their twitter feeds (@eurekavideo and @mastersofcinema) their forthcoming releases in The Masters of Cinema series and Eureka Classics collection for the first quarter of 2015.

The latest slate of films from Eureka!'s The Masters of Cinema Series & Eureka! Classics collection bring together some of the most heralded masterpieces of the 20th century. Releases in the Masters of Cinema Series include Two for the Road, one of the great films by Stanley Donen (Singin' in the Rain, Charade), starring Audrey Hepburn and Albert Finney; Fritz Lang’s masterpiece, Metropolis [Reconstructed & Restored] in brand new SteelBook packaging and including a second Blu-ray with more special features; Claude Lanzmann’s landmark documentary meditation on the Holocaust, Shoah and 4 Films After Shoah, a series of films made by Claude Lanzmann as follow-ups to Shoah (including The Last of The Unjust); Elia Kazan at his best with Wild River, a masterful recreation of a difficult, complex period in American history; Sidney Lumet’s The Offence, a harrowing and compellingly constructed chamber drama of police brutality and mental anguish starring Sean Connery; Raymond Bernard’s depiction of the travails of one French regiment during World War I, Wooden Crosses; Man of the West, Anthony Mann’s extraordinary western starring Gary Cooper; and finally Federico Fellini's adaptation of Petronious' myth of Satyricon. The Eureka Classics Collection sees the arrival of Bill Gunn’s revolutionary independent film Ganja &Hess and The Other, the psychological horror film helmed by the legendary director Robert Mulligan. And in cinemas The Last of the Unjust, will be joined by Life of Riley, the final film by the French master Alain Resnais.

Released on 19 January 2015, Albert Finney and Audrey Hepburn 'make something wonderful out of being alive' in Stanley Donen’s Two for the Road. Featuring a score by Henry Mancini, the film will be released for the first time on Blu-ray in a Dual Format (Blu-ray and DVD edition).

Also available from 19 January 2015, Fritz Lang’s, Metropolis [Reconstructed & Restored], the mother of all sci-fi films and a major influence on Ridley Scott (Blade Runner), George Lucas (Star Wars), and pop culture in general (referenced by Madonna, Beyonce and countless others) will be re-released in a 2-disc Blu-ray set in brand new SteelBook packaging, now featuring Giorgio Moroder presents: Metropolis and a 45-min documentary exploring the film’s rediscovery.

Shoah is a work of genius from Claude Lanzmann, an heroic endeavour to humanise the inhuman, to tell the untellable, and to explore in unprecedented detail the horrors of the past. It is one of the most powerful and important, and greatest, films of all time. Premiering on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK, alongside the four films Lanzmann made as follow-ups to Shoah, each of which explore in further depth specific aspects and events of the Nazis' extermination programme. These four films (including The Last of the Unjust, released theatrically on 9 January) will also be released as a standalone DVD set, entitled 4 Films After Shoah. Both Lanzmann box sets will be released on 26 January 2015 to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

The final Monday of the month will also see the release in a Dual Format (Blu-ray and DVD) edition of Ganja &Hess. Flirting with the conventions of blaxploitation and the horror cinema, Bill Gunn’s Ganja & Hess is a highly stylized and utterly original treatise on sex, religion, and African American identity. The edition will represent the original release, restored by The Museum of Modern Art with support from The Film Foundation, and mastered in HD from a 35mm negative.

Expected later in the first quarter of the year, Sean Connery stars as a burned out British Police Detective Sergeant in Sidney Lumet's The Offence, who finally snaps while interrogating a suspected child molester, played by Ian Bannen . Also starring Trevor Howard (Gandhi, The Third Man) and Vivien Merchant (Frenzy, Alfie), The Offence will be released on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK as part of the Masters of Cinema Series.

Like the classic horror films The Exorcist, The Omen, and The Shining, Robert Mulligan's psychological horror film The Other eschews gore in favour of richly detailed psychological horror in its depiction of deeply disturbed children and has gained a huge reputation for its haunting atmosphere and moody cinematography, which critic Roger Ebert has described as "perverse and menacing”. The Other will be released for the first time in the UK on Blu-ray in a Dual Format (Blu-ray and DVD) edition as a Eureka Classic.

Elia Kazan’s Wild River was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”. Starring Montgomery Clift, Lee Remick (Anatomy of a Murder, The Omen). Wild River will be released on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK as part of the Masters of Cinema Series.

Raymond Bernard used a masterful arsenal of film techniques, from haunting matte paintings to jarring documentary-like camerawork in battle sequences, to create Wooden Crosses, a pacifist work of enormous empathy and chilling despair. Wooden Crosses will be released for the first time in the UK on Blu-ray in a Dual Format (Blu-ray and DVD) edition as part of the Masters of Cinema Series.

The controversial and extremely loose adaptation of Petronius’s classical Roman satire, Satyricon, written and directed by Federico Fellini, follows the exploits of two pansexual young men as they move through a landscape of free-form pagan excess. A new 4K digital restoration of Satyricon will be released for the first time in the UK on Blu-ray as part of the Masters of Cinema Series.

And finally, regarded by Jean-Luc Godard as Mann’s greatest film, Anthony Mann's final foray into the western genre is a disturbing examination of man's baser instincts, rising in intensity to the level of Shakespearean tragedy. Starring the legendary actor Gary Cooper Man of the West is the story of Link (Cooper) who tried to forget his killer past until an old evil man and a ruthless gang made him remember. Man of the West will be released for the first time anywhere in the world on Blu-ray as part of The Masters of Cinema Series.

In the last film directed by the prolific French director before his death in March, Alain Resnais turns for the third time to the work of Alan Ayckbourn for inspiration in a sparkling comedy about middle-class infidelity, Life of Riley (Aimer, boire et chanter) will be released in UK & Eire cinemas on 6 March 2015.

Managing Director of Eureka Entertainment, Ron Benson stated “New restorations and home viewing and Blu-ray premières abound - we continue our quest to release the very finest in world cinema, using the very best available materials, all with a meticulous attention to detail."

Further details for all releases will be announced in due course.

The Tarnished Angels Masters Of Cinema Blu-Ray Review

Rating: 12
BD Release Date:
26th August 2013 (UK)
Director:
Douglas Sirk
Cast:
Rock Hudson, Dorothy Malone, Robert Stack
Buy:
(Masters of Cinema) (Blu-ray)
The Tarnished Angels is a film based on the novel Pylon by noted American writer William Faulker; who in fact wrote quite a few screenplays. Faulkner considered it the only good adaptation of his work he saw in his lifetime. Legendary director Douglas Sirk noted for his Technicolor drenched melodramas and the films normally starring Rock Hudson directed it.

The Tarnished Angels is about the very strange relationship between Roger Shumann (Robert Stack), his wife LaVerne (Dorothy Malone), Roger’s mechanic Jiggs (Jack Carson) and local reporter Burke Devlin (Rock Hudson). Roger is a disillusioned World War I flying ace that is making appearances as a stunt pilot, which also features his parachuting wife. They also have a kid Jack but it’s never clear that if Roger or Jiggs is the father on of the kid. The gypsy like lifestyle of the Roger, LaVerne and Jiggs intrigues Burke Devlin. He wants to do a newspaper piece on it much to the dismay to his editor.

Burke is dismayed by the treatment of his family and especially his wife LaVerne. He gets increasingly more and more attracted to his neglected wife. The key line is when Burke compares Roger, Jiggs and LaVerne as extra-terrestrials to his editor. They are very alien like and can’t form any meaningful relationship even with the ones they love. The film will end in tragedy in a way only true melodrama can.

The film is a slight departure from Sirk’s normally work due to the very contrasty black and white, which Sirk choose to shoot in to the echo the depression era the film is set. It is also perhaps his most bleak and pessimistic film. The film has the characteristic irony that goes though all of Sirk’s finest films. The Pylon, which Faulkner’s novel took its name and the pilots fly around is very overt symbolism of the characters going nowhere. It is brilliantly crosscut with the son Jack flying in circle during a tragic plane clash.

Rock Hudson gives a great performance, as the journo who falls deeply for LeVerne but knows nothing will happen. Rock is always one of the constantly surprising actors of the golden age of Hollywood for proof see Seconds and Giant. The film is also shoot in glorious black and white CinemaScope.

The Tarnished Angels also came out not that soon off one of his most successful films Written on the Wind that shared the same leads with the exception of Lauren Bacall. The film originally was one of his least successful films. The resurgence of his work since the 1970s with directors such as Rainer Werner Fassbinder, John Waters, Todd Haynes and even Quentin Tarantino praising his brand of melodrama. The film has since being re-evaluated as one of his key works.

★★★★☆

Ian Schultz

Tess Blu-Ray Review

Tess was the film Roman Polanski made at the end of quite arguably his great period coming on the tails of The Tenant and Chinatown (his masterpiece). Tess however is a very different kettle of fish to those 2 films, one is homage to film noir and one a rather disturbing psychological thriller. Tess based on novel Tess of the d’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy. He made Tess in part as a tribute to his wife Sharon Tate who of course was brutally murdered by The Manson family. Sharon gave Roman a copy not long before her untimely death saying “it would make a great film”.

Tess is about a young woman naturally called Tess. Her family the Durbeyfields find out they a part of old noble family. They have fallen on very hard times and her father makes her see their “relatives”. Her father is hoping for some kind hand-out or work. Tess arrives and her Alec d'Urberville falls madly for her and tries to seduce her but Tess isn’t interested. Alec in reality just bought the name to seem more important than he is. He rapes her and impregnates hers but the child soon dies after birth. She starts working on a dairy farm and begins working as a milkmaid and falls in love with Angel Clare. They start a relationship and get married but it does not end well for all parties concerned.

The film is probably most noted for it being the film that propelled Klaus Kinski’s beautiful daughter Nastassja Kinski to worldwide stardom and it’s luscious photography. Nastassja’s accent is patchy at times but it’s more adequate. The supporting cast is very disappointing especially compared to Polanski’s previous work with no real standouts. It’s from all accounts very faithful to the original Thomas Hardy novel (I’ve never read it) and it’s shows cause for such a simple tale, it does drag a bit especially with it’s near 3 hour running time. Despite its flaws it’s absolutely gorgeous to look at and Nastassja Kinski has always being a captivating screen presence.

Tess was the centrepiece of a recent retrospective of Roman Polanski’s work at London’s BFI and it’s no wonder they have re-released it on a blu-ray/dvd double pack. Polanski is better at psychological torment which Tess touches on near the end with it’s unfortunate incident but check out his earlier work before you watch Tess.

Ian Schultz

★★★★☆

Rating: 12
Directed By: Roman Polanski
Cast: Nastassja Kinski, Peter Firth, Leigh Lawson 
Buy:Tess (DVD & Blu-ray) [1979]

Eureka Entertainment Announce Early 2013 Masters Of Cinema Line Up

Stanley Kubrick, Federico Fellini and Sacha Guitry join the Masters of Cinema Series as Eureka Entertainment announce their release schedule for January and February 2013.

Eureka Entertainment announced today via their twitter feeds (@eurekavideo & @mastersofcinema) the forthcoming releases in The Masters of Cinema series for the months of January and February 2013.

Following a spate of epic releases for the last quarter of 2012 which included Fritz Lang's Die Nibelungen and Carl Dreyer's The Passion of Joan of Arc, The Masters of Cinema Series returns in 2013 with the nearly-impossible-to-see debut feature film by Stanley Kubrick, a long-awaited Blu-ray and DVD Dual Format release of Josef von Sternberg's classic first-collaboration with Marlene Dietrich, new restorations of films by the European giants Fellini and Guitry, and a Blu-ray upgrade of Kaneto Shindô's cult horror confection Onibaba.

Producer of the Masters of Cinema Series, Craig Keller stated “January sees the release of Stanley Kubrick's 1953 debut feature Fear and Desire, newly restored by The Library of Congress — a war-film psychodrama that exhibits many of the thematic obsessions and visual motifs that would course throughout all of Kubrick's films over the next four decades — needless to say, ravishingly photographed, even this early on in his career. We are extremely excited that UK audiences will at last be able to see where that body of work called "Kubrick" all began. Also this month: we've got the HD debut of Josef von Sternberg's immortal The Blue Angel, in both its German and English-language versions (shot by Sternberg simultaneously) featuring Marlene Dietrich as the impossibly erotic cabaret singer who bewitches Emil Jannings — and consigns him to perdition.

In February we present three titles, two of which capitalise on sumptuous HD restorations carried out by Gaumont. The first of these is Federico Fellini's unhinged 1980 post-punk epic, City of Women [La città delle donne / La cité des femmes], starring the great Marcello Mastroianni in a kind of reprise of his role from Fellini's 8-1/2. The second new HD restoration is the initial entry into The Masters of Cinema Series by the French comic genius Sacha Guitry — La Poison [Poison] — starring the equally brilliant Michel Simon (of Renoir's La Chienne and Boudu sauvé des eaux, and Vigo's L'Atalante). We're so proud to introduce this venomously witty murder-comedy to UK audiences — it's a perfect example of why Guitry was revered as a kind of god both by the French public at large and by the critics and filmmakers that went on to form the New Wave. Our last release of the month is a new Blu-ray upgrade of the recently deceased Kaneto Shindô's Onibaba — one of our most popular films — an unsettling, atmospheric erotic horror film whose Scope frames veer between sunlit existential dread and moonlit mystery/suspense.

Managing Director of Eureka, Ron Benson added  “We're very excited by this Jan/Feb lineup — with new HD elements of all five films, each accompanied by numerous supplements and the kind of lengthy booklets our fans will be thrilled to pore over. But we're only getting started — 2013 might be our most exciting year yet."

No Exact dates have been confirmed yet however we’ll update you when we get the details and fingers crossed we’ll have the reviews of the films when they arrive as well as the remaining 2012 Masters Of Cinema releases.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Masters Of Cinema Has Trouble In Paradise This November

ROUBLE IN PARADISE will be released on DVD in the UK as part of the Masters of Cinema Series

Eureka Entertainment have announced that they will be releasing TROUBLE IN PARADISE, for the first time ever on home video in the UK, released in a DVD edition on 12 November 2012.  Widely regarded as one of the greatest romantic comedies ever made, this Hollywood classic, directed by Ernst Lubitsch, legendary filmmaker behind Ninotchka, The Shop Around the Corner, and To Be or Not to Be stars Hollywood icons Herbert Marshall (Foreign Correspondent, The Fly), Miriam Hopkins (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Heiress), Edward Everett Horton (Lost Horizon, Arsenic and Old Lace), and Charlie Ruggles (Bringing Up Baby, Ruggles of Red Gap).

"It's perfection" – Pauline Kael, 5001 Nights at the Movies

"The most sophisticated comedy ever produced in Hollywood … The performances, visuals and screenplay are all exquisite. ✭✭✭✭✭" – Empire Magazine

"It's a masterpiece, as well as being wonderfully good fun. ✭✭✭✭✭" – Radio Times

“If ever a film slipped down a treat, this one does.” – Time Out

Jean Renoir once said of Ernst Lubitsch (Ninotchka, The Shop Around the Corner, and To Be or Not to Be): "He invented the modern Hollywood." And none of the director's films has had greater influence or impact than Trouble in Paradise. With his first comedy of the sound era, Lubitsch created one of cinema's supreme visions of shimmering romance and worldly sophistication.

When career thief Gaston Monescu (Herbert Marshall) meets glamorous pickpocket Lily (Miriam Hopkins), their love soon takes on a professional dimension as they initiate a plot to rob beautiful perfume magnate Mariette Colet (Kay Francis). But as Gaston gets ever closer to his intended prey, his romantic confusion, as well as the threat that his past will catch up with him, throws their plan into jeopardy.

A breathtakingly nimble and elegant examination of the perils of mixing "business" with pleasure, this gloriously adult and witty comedy features a peerless screenplay by Samson Raphaelson, effervescent performances by its stars (including Charlie Ruggles and Edward Everett Horton), and exquisite direction by the legendary Lubitsch. Rarely equalled, never topped, The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present the UK home viewing première of Trouble in Paradise. Released on DVD in the UK on 12 November 2012.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

• New high-definition transfer in the film's original aspect ratio

• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hearing-impaired

• Illustrated booklet featuring the words of Lubitsch, rare archival imagery, and more

• Further details to be announced nearer the release date!

Buy/Pre-order Trouble In Paradise: DVD [1932]