Review Category: DVD/Blu Ray

Forty years after it was broadcast in the ‘Drama Two’ slot on BBC 2, the acclaimed dystopian serial 1990 has secured its first-ever sell-through release, courtesy of Simply Media. Created by TV drama stalwart Wilfred Greatorex, 1990 was part of a new wave of darker speculative dramas that reached British TV screens in the 1970s. These shows’ downbeat and doom-laden predictions about humanity’s future stood in the sharpest possible contrast to the optimism and lightness that characterised so much of the genre TV output of the 1960s.

Taking inspiration directly from George Orwell’s 1984, a seminal treatise on the nightmares of totalitarianism, 1990 depicts life in a then-future Britain that has isolated itself from the world and slid into tyranny. In a country in which freedom of speech has been outlawed and surveillance of citizens’ lives has become all-pervasive, small groups of rebels and dissidents attempt to outwit the authorities and subvert the system; even if that means finding ways to escape the country’s closed borders in the hope of finding a freer life abroad.

 

The central protagonist in 1990 is Jim Kyle, a journalist who attempts to rebuff the attentions of the spies and snoopers of the Public Control Department (PCD) whilst secretly working for the underground resistance movement. In the shadows, Kyle meets with ‘Faceless’, a whistle-blower who feeds him vital information about the PCD’s plans. Edward Woodward’s performance as the conflicted ‘man of principle’ is expertly judged and delivered brilliantly. Kyle is a flawed hero, a political activist whose motivations are a tangle of contradictions, who struggles to navigate the minefield of his public and private lives and remain on the side of decency and of honour.

 

The pressures facing Kyle are made more intense by his entanglement with the beguiling senior PCD official Delly Lomas (a pitch-perfect turn by Barbara Kellerman). Kyle is attracted to Lomas, but repulsed by her role as an enforcer of the state’s will. Behind the scenes, ruthless PCD boss Herbert Skardon (Robert Lang, embodying the ‘banality of evil’ with complete conviction) hunts down saboteurs and malcontents without mercy, and soon turns his scrutiny in Kyle’s direction.

 

Across eight episodes, the first series of 1990 explores how downtrodden citizens either accept, rebel against or attempt to escape Fortress Britain. Kyle has to hold down his job as a hack on a government-censored paper, while he and his handful of activist allies keep the hopes of a clandestine opposition alive. As the first series concludes, Skardon rips away all the protection surrounding Kyle, making him a ‘non-citizen’ in the hope of breaking his will. Much of the future of the fightback will depend on whether Kyle’s spirit snaps under that pressure before a rescue mission can be put into effect.

 

Very much a product of its televisual times, 1990 relies more on character conflict, sharp dialogue and clever plotting than on major action set-pieces to illustrate the clash between the rebels and the state. That said, with the series making use of the then-popular combination of outdoor film and in-studio video, most episodes benefit from some excellent and atmospheric location work, which showcase the urban environs of 1970s’ Britain at their grimmest and greyest best. Those sequences help to infuse the series with a palpable sense of time and place.

 

When it was first shown, 1990 was a future-facing drama, which imagined the country’s potential degeneration thirteen years hence. Viewing it four decades on from that initial transmission, it is striking how many of this now-historic show’s themes and anxieties (particularly about the relationship between the individual and the state) continue to resonate in the present day.

 

Simply Media deserve praise for bringing this hidden archival treasure into the public realm. It is a shame, though, that no restoration or remastering work has been carried out on tape stock visibly marred by the scars of age. It is also a missed opportunity that this is a ‘vanilla’ release. At minimum, the inclusion of a ‘viewing notes’ booklet could have provided some useful context and commentary for those seeing the show for the first time.

 

The better news is that Simply has already committed to releasing the second (and concluding) series of 1990 in May. The best news of all is that series two is an even more compelling and gripping watch than the excellent series one.

 

1990 SERIES ONE / CERT: 15 / CREATORS: WILFRED GREATOREX / STARRING: EDWARD WOODWARD, BARBARA KELLERMAN, ROBERT LANG, TONY DOYLE, PAUL HARDWICK, CLIFTON JONES / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

As far as alluring film titles and lurid thrillers go, giallo films have always ruled the roost, and The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave is no exception. Emilio Miraglia’s Italian thriller is a lesser known product of the prolific giallo craze of the early ‘70s but a surprisingly unique experience for giallo die-hards and sub-genre first timers alike.

The first thing that really hits when watching, are the overt gothic themes, which help to make this more than a simple giallo, just as the giallo stylisms make this more than a simple Euro Gothic experience. The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave is nothing if not a fascinating snapshot of the transitioning horror genre at the end of the 60’s. There’s the perverted aristocrat murdering redheads in a crumbling manor, supernatural occurrences, family feud, brutal, terror from beyond the grave. All of them staples of classic Gothic literature and film.

Then there’s the profitable practice of censor-baiting, nudity and graphic violence, drug-using, sexually promiscuous socialites, and the twisting, perhaps illogical, narrative Giallo films often use. Yet Evelyn never feels as dopey or exploitative as many mid-70s Italian films did. Its too well-filmed for that. Miraglia’s film shares much of its finesse with Lucio Fulci’s Lizard in a Woman’s Skin (also released 1971) and, like Fulci, owes much to the work of giallo founder Mario Bava.

The colouring is stunning, but not as fantastical as Bava sometimes gets, Evelyn ditches the overt modernity of giallo in favour for the shadowy blood red world of classic Italian Gothic. Scenes seem directly constructed to enjoy the transition from ‘60s to ‘70s, or classic to contemporary. One sequence has Alan (Anthony Steffen) and his red-haired victim wandering through the cobwebbed dilapidation of the castle, only to arrive in a sleek affluent living space full of J&B bottles, fur, and fancy ‘70s light shades.

Steffen storms around the castle in various velvet and suede flared ensembles, the prize piece being a long black velvet religious-looking gown he wears for his kinky sex murders. It’s a very 1971 take on Dracula imagery, but a very Dracula take on the giallo killer. More surprising that the film’s protagonist is a murderous fetishist slowly losing grip on his sanity. The violent impulsiveness makes Alan look like a 70’s update of The Whip and the Body‘s Kurt Menliff, and a stark precursor to American Psycho‘s Patrick Bateman. Steffen, a western star, doesn’t really have the range for the emotional stuff, but does well as a ticking time bomb of psycho-sexual frustration.

Aside from its interest as a genre artefact, The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave is a beautifully fulfilled piece of film. The cinematography is on point, it’s nasty, glamorous, seductive, silly, and for a genre defined by the work of only a handful of composers, Maraglia’s giallo benefits from the unique scoring of Bruno Nicolai. In the end, The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave doesn’t quite pull off its shocking twist but there’s so much on offer that it’s well worth checking out.

THE NIGHT EVELYN CAME OUT OF THE GRAVE / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR: EMILIO MIRAGLIA / SCREENPLAY: MASSIMO FELISATTI, FABIO PITTORRU, EMILIO MIRAGLIA / STARRING: ANTHONY STEFFEN, MARINA MALFATTI, ERIKA BLANC / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Initially almost buried by the studio that bankrolled it, and subsequently reappraised to such extent that it’s now regarded as one of the most influential movies ever made, the question this new Blu-ray edition of Nicholas Roeg and Donald Cammell’s co-directorial debut raises is, does it deserve the attention it receives? The answer is … perhaps.

Although the highly-stylised depiction of sexual congress was undoubtedly the chief cause of controversy and talking point upon its release, the main focus of Performance – as its title indicates – is the issue of identity raised when principal character Chas (Fox) relocates to the seedy hippy dive of frustrated ex-rock star Turner (Jagger, making his acting debut) after going on the run from criminal lynchpin Harry Flowers (Johnny Shannon). Chas has killed a potential business partner of Flowers, and Harry’s one-time favoured heavy is now his number one target. Turner’s run-down London mansion proves an alluring alternative to making a break for Barnstaple, Chas assuming the shabby bohemian chic will provide the perfect disguise. But once Chas and Turner begin to understand one another’s predicaments, the introduction of hallucinogenic substances starts to blur the differences between the two men…

Written by artist Cammell and shot by cinematographer Roeg, Performance is actually much less demanding than its reputation might suggest. Cammell’s script started life as an attempt to reproduce A Hard Day’s Night for the Rolling Stones, and while that idea might have changed almost completely by the time the script got to the screen, some of its simplicity survives in the straightforward nature of the actual plot. Where the film really comes into its own is in the schizophrenic editing of Roeg’s mischievous camerawork, although the jittery nature of the finished product might have been better served being reserved solely for the psychedelic sequences in the second half.

James Fox, cast against type, is brilliant as Chas, an indeterminate sexual presence whose buttoned-down personality unravels as quickly as his livelihood, while Mick Jagger is enigmatically appropriate as the flailing visionary who Chas imagines travelling in the other direction. If Chas’ latter journey had been given a touch more substance, the film’s “message” might have felt a little less flimsy; as it is, it’s difficult to say where Cammell and Roeg’s sympathies lie, with only the crime lord seemingly getting a happy ending. Perhaps the meaning of Performance is that roleplay can never supersede rolling up your sleeves and getting stuck in.

Arriving four years after Antonioni’s Blow-Up, Performance feels like either a film whose thunder has been stolen, or one that’s trying to steal the thunder of another. But as a visceral, post-Altamont further wrench away from the Summer of Love, it’s a hard film to argue with.

Special Features: Influence and Controversy / Vintage featurette Memo from Turner / Trailer

PERFORMANCE / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR: DONALD CAMMELL, NICHOLAS ROEG / SCREENPLAY: DONALD CAMMELL / STARRING: JAMES FOX, MICK JAGGER, ANITA PALLENBERG / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Nisekoi: False Love Season 2 starts with Chitoge mulling over her romantic feelings for Raku despite their relationship being a pretence for the sake of appearances. She struggles with these feelings and whether or not she wants to explore them further or even tell Raku about them.

 

This makes up the first episode, and based on that, it would be easy to expect that questions about the central relationship of the anime would dominate the series. In fact season 2 all but ignores it for most of the episodes. The first few episodes build on what has come before, but around the mid-point the show promptly forgets about it. The titular false love isn’t really a factor again after this until the last episode. In the space in-between, Chitoge is almost phased out completely as a character. Raku spends more time with Haru and Kosaki in these episodes than anyone else. In these episodes Raku’s supposed relationship with Chitoge seems to be nothing more than a plot point, and one that is easily forgotten by the show itself.

 

This diversion does have the benefit of making Nisekoi feel less like an inevitable ‘Will they? Won’t they?’ situation between its leads, but it also makes it feel less focused. It doesn’t seem to be about more than putting its characters in typical high school situations and letting them interact with each other. Well apart from an awkwardly placed OVA in which three of the characters are magical girls and the animators have way too much fun with the old joke that magical girls are naked in transformation sequences. Unlike other OVAS which act as bonus features in their respective DVDs, this one is tacked on to an episode, and as a result it makes no sense.

 

Alongside the aforementioned flaws the show is also repetitive. Raku’s and Chitoge’s scenes together usually boil down to her trying to hint at how she feels, him not getting it, and her hitting him for being oblivious. Raku’s scenes with Haru don’t quite share this problem, and there is something of a progression to their interactions but a lot of the scenes in the process are much of the same. She gets annoyed at him, he does something to try to refute her perception of him, she decides it proves that she was right all along.

 

Nisekoi is capable of charming, heartfelt or hilarious moments. A few of the episodes even work to telling something of a decent high school romance. Its prime issues lie in its lack of focus or idea of what story exactly it’s telling. When the titular False Romance takes centre stage again it almost feels like an afterthought, not something that builds on the series and by the end it hasn’t developed any further.

 

NISEKOI SEASON 2 / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: AKIYUKI SHINBO / WRITERS: VARIOUS / STARRING: KANA HANAZAWA, KOUKI UCHIYAMA, NAO T YAMA, AYANE SAKURA, KANA ASUMI / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

The director Tony Scott is generally associated with his mainstream actioners, from Top Gun to Unstoppable. But his first feature, now receiving a new Blu-ray release, was a much more arthouse affair: The Hunger, an erotic vampire movie which, back in 1983, bombed at the box office and was so slated that Scott vowed never again to read reviews of his movies. But it’s since built up a cult following, particularly among the goth sub-culture who’ve taken to its lurid take on the vampire mythos.

 

The Hunger stars Catherine Deneuve as ancient vampire Miriam Blaylock and David Bowie as her husband John. Miriam met John in 18th century France, and granted him eternal life. But not eternal youth, it turns out; though he’s managed to hold onto his good looks until the 1980s, one day John begins to age rapidly. With John all old and wrinkly, Miriam grows attracted to Dr. Sarah Roberts (Susan Sarandon), a scientist studying the causes of ageing, not to find answers but to take her on as a new lover.

 

This love triangle may be pleasingly unconventional, but it is pretty much all there is going on in The Hunger. Much like the more recent Only Lovers Left Alive, it’s often a ponderous movie, with Scott’s staccato cutting between scenes only superficially livening up the pace and failing to mask the scarcity of plot. There are a few sequences when the story begins to grab the attention – John realising he’s beginning to age; Sarah furious at Miriam for poisoning her blood, in what could be interpreted as an AIDS allegory; an energetic final confrontation – but these are bookended by the more plodding sequences.

 

That said, even the less interesting parts of the story can be a delight to watch, with a gothic class to Stephen Goldblatt’s dark and blue-tinged cinematography, plus three incredible central performances. Deneuve is alluringly icy as the dominating Miriam, while Sarandon plays Roberts with a much more grounded charm, earning our sympathy as she’s horrifyingly changed by Miriam’s callous manipulation. Bowie is another perfect casting choice; aloof, detached, but somehow mesmerising, he’s as much at home as a soul-searching vampire as he was as the alien in The Man Who Fell to Earth. It’s just a shame that, for a significant amount of his screen time, his performance is hidden behind prosthetics used to age him.

 

Appropriately, though, The Hunger hasn’t aged as poorly as some other films of the period have – it’s just as captivating and as frustrating as ever. If you’re looking for an easy vampire flick or for some typical Tony Scott action, this is probably not for you, but if you’re open to something a little more unusual, it may be worth a try.

 

Special Features: Commentary with Susan Sarandon and Tony Scott

THE HUNGER (1983) / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR: TONY SCOTT / SCREENPLAY: IVAN DAVIS, MICHAEL THOMAS / STARRING: DAVID BOWIE, CATHERINE DENEUVE, SUSAN SARANDON / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW (HMV EXCLUSIVE)

As with all Nordic noir Midnight Sun is intricately plotted, well-acted and rammed full of shocking and surprising revelations. But Måns Mårlind and Björn Stein’s drama takes the premise to extraordinary lengths, often entering territory more akin to Twin Peaks mysticism than crime procedural.

 

When a French national is murdered, homicide investigator Kahina Zadi (Bekhti) travels to Kiruna in the northern reaches of Sweden. An area beset by cultural issues and tensions between Swedes and the indigenous Sami descendants, Zadi must unravel a mystery that would seem to involve a considerable portion of the town’s population. Set against a time when the town’s primary source of employment, a mine, is causing the residents to be relocated, help in her quest is a little thin on the ground. Only local prosecutor Anders Harnesk (Hammarsten) appears to be on her side, and he has his own fair share of secrets and problems.

 

In truth, everyone in Kiruna has secrets. Despite the perpetual sunshine brought on by the time of year, shadows lurk around every corner of this outwardly sleepy town. Conspiracies exist to keep hidden dark, mysterious events from many years ago, Sami mystics offer both spiritual help and hindrance, and the barely hidden resentment between the two cultures threatens to derail any investigative progress.

 

Alongside the labyrinthine plot, and considerable exposition, there are gaps in the information you are provided with. Lesser stories occasionally take prominence over the central crimes, and while adding depth and intrigue to the town, can serve to further confuse an already confusing situation.

 

As you would expect the performances are impressive, if verging on arch at times. Midnight Sun works hard to keep its audience firmly in the dark, but in places the brooding and pouting of the numerous suspects threatens to overpower the central plot. Bekhti stands out as the troubled (aren’t they always?) detective, with hers being a role that could too easily have become unsympathetic due to her own, very personal set of issues.

 

Mårlind and Stein must be applauded for striving to create a series a little different from the Nordic norm, and with Midnight Sun they’ve certainly achieved their goal. Stunning to look at due to the bleak, windswept northern countryside, and flecked only briefly and intermittently with moments of lightness, this is a drama that benefits a committed and persistent viewer.

 

MIDNIGHT SUN / CERT: 15 / DIRECTORS: MÅNS MÅRLIND, BJÖRN STEIN / SCREENPLAY: MÅNS MÅRLIND / STARRING: LEÏLA BEKHTI, GUSTAF HAMMARSTEN, JAKOB HULTCRANTZ HANSSON / RELEASE DATE: UK RELEASE DATE TBA

Nazisploitation! There’s one sub-genre you won’t see getting an Eli Roth-style reimagining of any time soon. Dare to utter the ‘H’ word in 2017 and watch out for low-flying political correctivists ready to frog-march you back in line, head bowed in shame. Which makes the prominence of Nazis in 1970s entertainment – shouting and goose-stepping their way through everything from beloved BBC sitcoms to extreme grindhouse cinema – all the stranger considering how much closer we were then to the actual event. Even more so when you reflect on just how much of this material was simply scheiße. Yes, even that episode of Dad’s Army with Phillip Madoc is starting to pong these days.

 

Which brings us to this decidedly limp addition to the genre. The plot sees a dedicated young officer looking to impress the Führer with a plan to smoke out high-ranking traitors from the SS. This involves filling a specially-commissioned luxury train with scantily-clad ladies of the night then putting all of the most suspicious Nazi officers on board with them. Once on the move, secretly observe the inevitable pairings and wait for the dodgy officers to drop their guard along with their lederhosen and shoot them dead. Repeat ad infinitum! And who’s to host this rolling bordello? Enter Elsa, She-Madam of the SS (Malisa Longo), the greatest and most revered femme fatale of the Third Reich, apparently. Alas, even as she’s giving the mission her personal attention, some plucky French resistance-types are hard at work derailing this slow-moving load of totaler quatsch.

We weren’t even vaguely offended by this film. The sex is so chaste it could have been staged for regional theatre; the direction is completely flat and so are the performances. A suggestion of Salon Kitty-style kinkiness at the start is completely ignored thereafter. Of course, it desperately wants to be Ilsa: She-Wolf of the SS (1975) but lacks that film’s ballsy violence and sadomasochistic verve. Most of all it lacks Ilsa herself; Malisa Longo has none of the commanding sexual electricity Dyane Thorne delivered in spades. The only positive is the humour. Director Patrice Rhomm (who specialised in this kind of thing) is clearly having laugh with the material; no sooner has the officer with the train ruse suggested it to his superiors and he’s marched off to be shot for having knowledge of it. This Monty Python touch carries through to the subsequent assassinations but that’s scant reward for 80 minutes of tepid costume play, unsexy fumbling and extended trainspotting.

 

ELSA: FRAULEIN SS (FRAULEIN DEVIL) (1977) / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: PATRICE RHOMM / SCREENPLAY: VICTOR HADRIA, MARIUS LESOEUR, PATRICE RHOMM / STARRING: MALISA LONGO, OLIVIER MATHOT, PATRIZA GORI / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW 

What have you done to the beloved Sherlock Holmes? The genius of the stories and the superb acting propelled the series into a worldwide, legendary status, though the fourth and final season shows that its creators have run out of steam driving a car with three round wheels with one square and have turned it into a mixed bag of tricks as the series goes out with a whimper instead of a bang.

The Abominable Bride – It’s nice to see Holmes, Watson and all the other characters in the Victorian era, especially a Sidney Greenstreet-inspired, obese Mycroft Holmes. There are a lot of twists and turns in the plot to keep it interesting in it the first two acts blending past and present, but it seems to fizzle out in the third act turning it into a PC extravaganza though there is a nice Peter Cushing/Holmes/Hammer moment in the underground scene. Gatiss and Moffat could have taken a hint by making it more of a mystery by reading the book by Guy Adams Sherlock Holmes and the Breath of God, where Aleister Crowley, Carnaki and Julian Karswell (the occult character from Night of the Demon) to keep the story in a more supernatural setting, yet proved to be something else that is explained.

The Six Thatchers – A major missed opportunity and logic thrown out the window. The Mary Watson/secret agent storyline should have been laid to rest last season, but now it’s like beating a dead horse. John Watson’s somewhat ‘infidelity’ is out of place and not keeping with his character. Holmes’ solving of one case leading to another was a brilliant idea, but the revelation ruins it. This could have been one of the best, romantic endings for Mary if the writers would have been more thoughtful in detail showing lazy writing. An obscure film that would have been a better story they could have borrowed from which would have been the 1932 film Six Hours to Live. It deals with a man who is killed and brought back to life but has one six hours to live to find his murder knowing who he is until he has to be rejuvenated again for another six hours ad infinitum to keep him alive. Using this plot device, Holmes (the brilliant chemist as he is.) and Watson, the doctor, frantically must come up with a solution to keep Mary alive, yet they are not God. Moral dilemma and John’s love for Mary while finding her killer, which I would have revealed to be Colonel Sebastian Moran, (Moriarity’s right-hand man and why he was never used in the series is beyond me) would have set the story and with Mary’s passing, there wouldn’t be a dry eye in the house setting up a confrontation between Moran and Watson in the final episode.

The Lying Detective – The best of the season where philanthropist, Culverton Smith (played with gusto by Toby Jones) takes Holmes and Watson on a rollercoaster ride of playing cat and mouse games with them that he may or may not be a serial killer. Jones’ Smith character is charming, but vicious and ugly, which proves to be a formidable foe for our heroes. Watson has become depressed after the previous death of Mary blaming Sherlock and is seeing the ghost of Mary and Sherlock’s guilt causes him to spiral downward into his 7% solution drug addiction. This episode shows the emotional connection between the two characters at its high point. Though there is one flaw in the storyline. Watson’s new psychiatrist remarkably looks like Culverton Smith’s handicapped daughter. Here, a missed opportunity in the story whereas Smith could have had twins (the revelation that Holmes always says: it’s never twins.) could have been a major factor in this whereas one twin could have been chemically lobotomised for knowing too much about her father’s evil deeds and the psychiatrist twin would have sought out revenge against her father for what he did to her and others.

The Final Problem – With an impressive grabber of an opening sequence of a locked room scenario on a jetliner (a MAJOR missed opportunity if I ever saw one where this could have been a great set up by Colonel Sebastian Moran executing the dead Moriarity’s plans) the story quickly begins to leap into a black pit abyss of no return. Logic and story are completely butchered and thrown out the window with the baby and the bathwater to create a nonsensical version of Holmes’s past. What about Holmes’ parents and ‘Redbeard’s’ parents? Wouldn’t they have kept an eye on the kids playing? Wouldn’t they know that ‘Redbeard’ was missing? It’s as if the writers were too were busy taking their own version of the 7% solution and decided to come up with this mismatched fiasco homage to SAW. There is no way that Holmes’ ‘sister’ (note to writers: Holmes is not Luke Skywalker, by the way) could have mind control over people and the characters in the story do things that are completely out of balance. What’s next? An appearance by Davros and the Daleks, the Care Bears and Godzilla in a Benny Hill skit. Complete rubbish and a good way to kill the Golden Goose that so many fans were attracted to when the series began. The Batman and Robin superhero freeze frame ending is ludicrous and about as stupid as one could get. Shame on you Gatiss and Moffat for destroying this wonderful franchise everyone so enjoyed and the characters that were near and dear to them.

SHERLOCK SERIES 4 / CERT: 15 / CREATORS: MARK GATISS, STEVEN MOFFAT / STARRING: BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH, MARTIN FREEMAN, UNA STUBBS, ANDREW SCOTT, MARK GATISS, LOUISE BREALEY, AMANDA ABBINGTON, TOBY JONES, RUPERT GRAVES / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

 

Although it took a decade and a half for American and International audiences to warm to the amazing talents of Hong Kong action legend Jackie Chan, much of the foundation for his later success (from Rumble in the Bronx via the Rush Hour trilogy and the Karate Kid remake) can be glimpsed in Drunken Master, Chan’s seminal classic, which lays the groundwork and fight style that was seen in his later successes.

 

It was clear from the outset that uncertainty and a lack of clarity was always going to hinder Chan’s efforts to break into the mainstream and cross-over realm. His first American film, 1980’s The Big Brawl (aka Battlecreek Brawl) was touted by Warner Bros as a hopeful attempt to recreate the success of their earlier release, Enter The Dragon, right down to being directed by Robert Clouse. His second, James Glickenhaus’ The Protector (1985), was tainted by conflicts between Chan and the director, to the extent that the film, according to some online reports, was re-edited by Chan for Hong Kong release (and re-made of sorts) as Police Story.

 

Between the two, he co-starred alongside an all-star cast, including Burt Reynolds and Roger Moore, in 1981’s The Cannonball Run, a fast and silly tale of an illicit road race across Continental America, where Chan demonstrated his talents in a sequence where he aids his fellow Cannonballers when they are caught up in a fight with Hell’s Angels (led by Peter Fonda). Chan steals the show in this brief, effective sequence.

 

However, the real story of Chan’s path to greatness began in 1978, firstly with Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow, and then with Drunken Master. Chan is credited strangely on the film as ‘Jacky Chan’ (perhaps a error on the part of the post-production credit-house). That error of syntax aside, there is nothing to fault here.

 

Drunken Master is the tale of Wong Fei-Hung, a troublemaker who shows his initial colours, firstly by unknowingly making a pass at his visiting cousin and amusingly rebuffed by his aunt, before picking a fight with a local hooligan. Ashamed of his behaviour, his father decides to recruit the services of wine-loving Martial Arts master Beggar So (Yuen Siu-tien) to guide his son to a great plateau of spiritual awareness….

 

From the very opening of the film, the film doesn’t waste any time getting into the heart of the action and slapstick comedy, coupled with some wonderfully witty verbal exchanges. Drunken Master retains that traditional Eastern storyline of honour and vengeance with a lightness of touch that helps the audience focus on the superbly choreographed fight sequences (held together efficiently by Chinese action legend Yuen Woo-Ping, who lent his name to the likes of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and The Matrix)

 

Eureka Entertainment are releasing Drunken Master as part of a dual-format Blu-Ray and DVD Special Edition within their ‘Masters Of Cinema’ series and it provides a golden opportunity to watch the film in it’s little-seen original Cantonese with English Subtitles dub. Fans who lapped up the recent Blu-Ray release of The Bruce Lee Master Collection will certainly be chomping at the bit to watch another vintage Jackie Chan classic – and we wouldn’t be surprised if the Rush Hour crowd decide to buy a copy or two.

 

DRUNKEN MASTER (1978) / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: YUEN WOO-PING / SCREENPLAY: YUEN WOO-PING, NG SEE-YUEN, LUNG HSIAO / STARRING: JACKIE CHAN, YUEN SIU-TIEN, HWANG JANG-LEE / RELEASE DATE: 24TH APRIL

 

Thanks to the folks at Umbrella Entertainment, we have here a release that caters to the more experienced Chuck fan seeking out some of his lesser known films and at the same time provides a nifty introduction to the earlier part of his career and how it progressed towards Hollywood stardom. Now, like many of his action movie star brethren Norris never troubled any Best Actor awards lists, but what he did at his peak he certainly did well. The films included here, 1974’s Slaughter in San Francisco (aka Yellow Faced Tiger), 1981’s An Eye for an Eye and 1986’s Firewalker are not his best, but they do handily illustrate how his screen persona developed.

 

Slaughter comes from Norris’ pre-manscaping days, when the more hirsute Chuck was starting out acting by playing villains. Here he follows up Way of the Dragon with a turn as Chuck Slaughter, a big city crime boss and irredeemable scumbag. The real star of the film is Wong Tao as ex-policeman Wong (imagination in character names not being the point here) who is compelled to root out corruption in his former department after his ex-partner is murdered. It eventually leads him into a confrontation with Slaughter. To get to this you have to wade through a routine Golden Harvest kung-fu thriller that is nothing special. It’s almost worth it though for that final fight involving Norris, and his entertaining (though badly dubbed) performance as a moustache-twirling baddie that showcases his marital arts prowess well. The picture quality on Slaughter is dreadful, though this actually increases its charm.

 

Next up is An Eye for an Eye, made during the time when Norris was knocking out one police/revenge thriller after another. This one is notable for having the marvellous Christopher Lee in the cast and for coming from the period before Firewalker where Norris’ films tended to be grittier in their violence. It’s enjoyable if a little slow, with Norris in fine vengeful form. Post Firewalker we’d get this type of movie again but the films, like Chuck’s hairy back, had become smoother and less scrappy by then.

 

Firewalker itself is an entertainingly poor, though borderline reprehensible Cannon rip-off at its most thinly disguised, superficially of the Indiana Jones films but also of any number of bigger, better mid-80s action comedies. But it’s not totally unaware of just how brazen it is, and features the estimable Lou Gossett as co-star. Norris gets to play light for a change and it’s about as warm a performance from him as you’re likely to find. A basic no-frills set for Norris fans, it’s decent enough fun.

 

THE CHUCK NORRIS COLLECTION / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR: LO WEI, STEVE CARVER, J. LEE THOMPSON / SCREENPLAY: LO WEI, CHANG YUNG-HSIANG, JAMES BRUNER, WILLIAM GRAY, ROBERT GOSNELL / STARRING: CHUCK NORRIS, WONG TAO, CHRISTOPHER LEE, LOU GOSSETT / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW