Movie & TV stuff by Mel Neuhaus
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MINNELLI MISFITS Unlike other Minnelli Misfits (and his dramas in general), 1960’s HOME FROM THE HILL is – sordidness and all – IMO one of the director’s finest; for those skeptics, it is now on triumphant display in all its tarnished glory from The Warner Archive Collection. The story, based upon William Humphrey’s bestseller, concerns … Continue reading House of the Rising Sons →
MINNELLI MISFITS Those looking at the subtitle of this remaining month’s series should not be taken aback. Calling a Vincente Minnelli movie a misfit – at least in my way of thinking – ain’t a bad thing. It hails from the director’s close association with musicals and charming domestic comedies. The August choices are stark … Continue reading The Tramp is a Lady →
MEAN TRAILS A non-flinching dark thriller that just happens to be set in the Old West, 1948’s BLOOD ON THE MOON, directed by Robert Wise, moseys onto Blu-Ray, via the carpetbaggers at the Warner Archive Collection/Warner Home Entertainment. Another early Wise triumph, preceding his brilliant noir classic The Set-Up by a year, MOON is nearly … Continue reading I Paint Ranches →
MEAN TRAILS One cool idea that is mostly (but not completely) successful, 1948’s STATION WEST, from RKO studios, hitches up to DVD-R from the cowpunchers at The Warner Archive Collection/Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. When a series of gold robberies encompass the mass murder of soldiers assigned to guard the latest transport, the federal government steps … Continue reading Horse Opera Vengeance,…
MEAN TRAILS A surprisingly adult American frontier nightmare, 1949’s ROUGHSHOD, directed by Mark Robson, bucks its way onto DVD-R, thanks to the wranglers at The Warner Archive Collection. Much of what Robson learned during his tenure under Val Lewton becomes instantly apparent from the fade-in. A band of outlaws escapes a maximum security prison, and … Continue reading Westward Hoes →
MEAN TRAILS You don’t have to be a top tier movie fanatic to savor the joys of the words “film noir.” Indeed, it is likely the most watched genre in the classic flick universe. No surprise then that there were offshoot genres: spoofs (a la Bob Hope), horror pics (Val Lewton and beyond), romantic dramas … Continue reading Spellbound Westbound →
Last year we waxed rhapsodic when EyePop 3D gave us a stereoscopic Blu-Ray of the 1929 Marx Brothers classic The Cocoanuts. Now, they’ve gone one better with a superb immersion edition of the quartet’s 1930 movie follow-up ANIMAL CRACKERS. Both projects originated from Broadway hits (and both were filmed at Paramount’s Astoria studio in Queens, … Continue reading Animal Crackers as Duck Soup →
A dour yet vastly engrossing account of a trained group of female Red Cross ANC medics in the heat of battle – all the more riveting as it was released WHILE these events were still occurring – 1943’s SO PROUDLY WE HAIL pitches its tent on High Definition Blu-Ray, thanks to the field surgeons at … Continue reading Women in War →
A twisted love story with a dash of horror – more suitable to Universal than MGM – 1941’s A WOMAN’S FACE writhes onto DVD-R via the restoration cosmetologists at The Warner Archive Collection. While one might initially think this a Metro B-effort, nothing could be farther from the truth. In fact, FACE is an all-stops-out … Continue reading If Looks Could Kill →
A smack in the 1%’s faces – 1941 style – the rare comedy treat NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH, starring Bob Hope, comes clean on Blu-Ray from the fact checkers at Kino-Lorber Studio Classics/Universal Studios. A more raucous and frenzied version of Brewster’s Millions, this irreverent farce (scripted by Don Hartman and Ken Englund, based on … Continue reading Where Hope Lies →
