Review Category: DVD/Blu Ray

Catherine Durrell (a slightly wooden Tusse Silberg) discovers she’s been left a small business and family home in the will of a mysterious entrepreneur, and travels to Norway to try and uncover the reason for the puzzling bequest. Warmly welcomed by the man’s two daughters, there is at first little clue as to why Jordahl might have bequeathed her the two houses – separated by a stretch of water – in which his beloved younger wife had lived before dying in an accident some years earlier. Durrell temporarily moves into one of the houses ahead of selling the business, and the arrival of journalist Anders Bjornson (an equally quite stilted Beames) confirms that there’s more to this family than meets the eye.

The word maelstrom, derived from the Dutch, was originally used by Edgar Allan Poe to describe a powerful whirlpool off the Norwegian coast; no doubt the word was too persuasive not to use as the series’ title, but although the Jordahls’ family affairs are rather convoluted and water is a constant presence throughout the six episodes, the story untangles so slowly that the name is something of a misdirection – the resolution takes place on land during the Midsummer’s Night bonfires rather than mirroring the title sequence in any significant way.

In spite of likeable but somewhat stiff leads (their relationship never convinces), the rest of the mostly UK-based cast hold the attention, even during some especially lengthy longueurs. Trevor Baxter as the family doctor is a particularly welcome and benign presence, while Ann Todd plays the elderly and secluded aunt Astrid with great relish. The two sisters are an interesting mismatch, Czech-born Edita Brychta the indecipherable one, with Susan Gilmore (very much the Face of the 1980s) the ostensibly more forthcoming.

Maelstrom (featuring some distinctive music by Johnny Pearson, and including a cameo by Paul Darrow in its opening scene) wasn’t a great success on broadcast, hence the eight years between its Norwegian and British DVD issue, and much of the blame lies in the way the mystery fails to really catch the attention; come the end it’s hard not to scratch your head and wonder why Astrid didn’t just speak up sooner, and modern TV producers would struggle to keep their audience from guessing how the resolution will unfold. But it’s absorbing enough never to be boring, and the locations (there is a substantial amount of outdoor filming) are certainly pleasant enough to look at.

Special Features: Gallery

 
 

Luke Goss, playing through gritted teeth throughout, is Jack Wosick, a captain who is made the scapegoat after a disastrous operation kills his entire squad (including the sergeant whose dog-tags Wosick carries for the duration). Called upon by the unconventional Major Redding (Mickey Rourke, whose facial peculiarities are given an in-story explanation) to whip the somewhat untested “War Pigs” unit into shape before leading them on a potentially suicidal assignment, what follows is divided roughly half-and-half into drill film and mission movie.

The opening twenty minutes are rather talky and dull, but the training segment that follows manages to pack in a fair bit without overstaying its welcome, and helps to offset the fact that there clearly isn’t enough money to allow the operation itself to be as expansive as the filmmakers would doubtless have liked. There is very little humour and the ironies of Full Metal Jacket are but a distant memory, and the script itself is a writing-by-numbers collection of as many war movie clichés as the writers could afford. But Dolph Lundgren is everything you’d expect as the grizzled French Legionnaire who is tasked with keeping the eponymous “War Pigs” together, while Goss can happily leave memories of his pop career behind him, and even though the parts are rather overly defined but indistinctly drawn, the young supporting cast are a likeable and more than capable bunch who give their characters just about enough personality to make you care about their fates. Meanwhile, the music has an incongruously dated feel that belies the crisp, modern visuals, although taken in conjunction the effect is not unpleasant.

There are no war-is-hell messages here, in spite of a couple of (rather ineffectual) references to Saving Private Ryan, nor is the story idiosyncratic or charismatic enough to compete with anything better-funded or more lucidly-written. But if your expectations are suitably lowered and you like your war films as straightforward as they come, there is plenty to enjoy and although the ending is startlingly abrupt, it is also a satisfying conclusion given what has preceded it.

Special Features: TBC

 
 

Originally produced in 1925, Charlie Chaplin “remastered” The Gold Rush in 1942 for re-release. One of the most successful silent films of all time, and a personal favourite of Chaplin himself, The Gold Rush in either form is the film that best showcases Chaplin’s amazing talents.

As The Lone Prospector, the film follows Chaplin through several intertwined adventures based around the Klondike Gold Rush in the frozen North of Alaska. Seeking his share of the gold, the hapless tramp stumbles from one awkward situation to the next before finding both his fortune and love.

As an example of Chaplin’s art, and as a starting point for anyone approaching the little master’s work for the first time, the 1925 version of The Gold Rush is very nearly the perfect film. In revisiting it for a 1942 release, Chaplin amazingly managed to improve it, adding the musical score which received an Academy Award nomination and also an entertaining and complimentary narration. Chaplin also shortened the film by several minutes, tightening up the editing and changing one or two scenes, most notably the ending, removing a kissing scene and replacing it with more platonic hand holding.

Several moments in the film have now passed into cinematic lore. A scene where Chaplin acts out a dance with two forks stuck in bread rolls is one of the actor’s most famous and has been referenced in several other films, including The Three Stooges Pardon My Scotch. The familiar “slapstick” chases and interactions are here, but rarely were they choreographed with such beautiful simplicity as in the scenes in the shack with Big Jim (Mack Swain) and Black Larsen (Tom Murray).

Interestingly, the production of The Gold Rush is almost as renowned as the film itself. Lita Grey first met Chaplin on the set of The Kid when she was only 12 years old. Three years later she was among a host of actresses testing for the part lead part in The Gold Rush, and was originally cast before falling pregnant by the then-35-year-old Chaplin and being replaced by Georgia Hale. During production, which lasted a year and a half, their rushed marriage (hastily arranged to avoid Chaplin being charged with having sexual relations with a minor) fell apart amidst reports of his affairs with other women.

Aside from any off screen notoriety though, The Gold Rush remains a seminal work, and consistently appears on any assembled list of the greatest movies of all time. Chaplin’s effortless style, evident in his balletic performance, is arguably equalled in his other films, most notably City Lights and The Great Dictator, but is never better than it is in The Gold Rush. This 1942 release is also significant for being the last of Chaplin’s great films. With a career in decline, and his popularity fading, it provides a fitting footnote to perhaps the most influential artist of the 20th century.

If you have even a passing interest in cinema then viewing The Gold Rush is not just essential, it’s compulsory.

THE GOLD RUSH / CERT: PG / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: CHARLIE CHAPLIN / STARRING: CHARLIE CHAPLIN, MACK SWAIN, TOM MURRAY, HENRY BERGMAN, GEORGIA HALE / RELEASE DATE: SEPTEMBER 14TH

 

Academy City is a technological concoction of schools and colleges, covering a size almost as big as Tokyo. It’s a blend of futurism, theology and the arcane, interspersed with whirling turbines and populated with super powered individuals known as espers.

Student Tōma Kamijō has perpetual bad luck. His was a misspent youth tripping over, treading on things and stumbling into embarrassing situations. To put it another way, he’s the living embodiment of the adage wrong place at the wrong time.

Underneath his good nature, Tōma has a sardonic edge and a slacker attitude. He’s not very bright, even failing remedial school, or very gifted being a level 0 esper. Despite his shortcomings in the powers department, he’s got some hidden talent. Dubbed the Imagine Breaker, his right hand has the ability to negate any attack or ability.

Following a run in with hot-headed level 5 esper Misaka Mikoto, Tōma wakes in his student apartment to find a nun balanced on the bannister of his balcony. She tells him her name is Index and she’s fleeing the Necessarius organisation, which she herself is a member of. The reason is because of her eidetic memory or, more specifically, the 103,000 grimoire volumes she’s got stowed away in her mind.

The series is from studio J.C.Staff, behind this year’s Food Wars, and it shows as Sōma Yukihira is basically Tōma with red hair. In many ways that’s telling of the rest of the series, which plays with viewer expectation.

The most unexpected aspect is the strange plotting. It’s circumstantial and reminiscence of the randomness of real life. In TV terms, though, it plays out like a series of mini arcs made to fit the 24 episode formula. Problems can surface and be solved within two episodes of each other, and what appears to be the overarching plot is quickly resolved. There’s just too much going on and too quickly, and if the show has one major flaw, it’s this.

It’s not that all the ideas aren’t great – most of them are – it’s just the speed at which they arrive and disappear. There’s enough content for three series worth of story arcs, if only writer Masanao Akahoshi gave plotting and pace more attention. Kazuma Kamachi’s source material runs at 24 volumes of light novels, which gives a glimpse into the show’s structural issues.

Despite Index being in the title, she’s often only a secondary character with whole episodes passing without even an appearance. Sure she’s cute and funny, but dipping out of the narrative allows for more interesting characters to take centre stage, like the clones (who speak in third person) and the deranged Accelerator.

A Certain Magical Index adopts a dreamy pace, encompassing long conversational scenes which sometimes take almost entire episodes to play out. On one had it’s a romantic comedy in the vein of Familiar of Zero, and on the other it’s a dark, hard edged sci-fi more akin to Serial Experiments Lain. It might start off as one thing, but quickly morphs into something altogether different. At 24 episodes, it takes the scenic route to its conclusion, but it’s a complex, engaging and ungodly mess of a journey.

Special Features: Textless opening and closing / Episode commentaries / Trailer

A CERTAIN MAGICAL INDEX COMPLETE SEASON 1 / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: HIROSHI NISHIKIORI / SCREENPLAY: MASANAO AKAHOSHI / STARRING: ATSUSHI ABE, YUKA IGUCHI, AKENO WATANABE, ANRI KATSU, KANA ASUMI / RELEASE DATE: SEPTEMBER 14TH

 

John Boorman’s contribution to cinematic weirdness, Zardoz, is a movie that isn’t so much watched as experienced. The 1974 science fiction classic is a tribute to hubris, tight budgets and some of the more melancholy aspects of the genre. It’s a movie you should see, if only to join in on the conversation about it – one that has been going on for over forty years.

Set in the distant future, Zardoz opens with a man in a silly blue hat and a drawn-on beard explaining to us that all is not what it seems. The opening credits feature a giant, stone floating head that then proceeds to be worshipped as a god by a horde of scantily clad savages. The head tells its followers that violence is good and sex is bad. The camera then focuses on a gun-wielding Sean Connery, who is clad in what appears to be a bright read mankini. The movie gets much stranger after that…

Ostensibly, Zardoz is an examination of the consequences of lying to the masses, as well as a speculative dive into what happens to a society when the elite simply cannot die and refuse to share their wealth. In practice it’s mostly an excuse to see Connery and his co-star, Charlotte Rampling, run about in very skimpy clothing. The only honest answer to the question “What is Zardoz about?” is to say that it’s about 105 minutes long. Anything else is up for speculation.

The Blu-ray version has been lovingly restored and the print is crisp and clear. This version keeps Geoffrey Unsworth’s original cinematography, and yet adds clarity and definition; we still get the hazy, dreamlike quality that makes the movie work, but we can also see every nook and cranny of the floating giant head of Zardoz.

Arrow are the established masters of cult movie releases and they have packed the Blu-ray with a pile of new features. We get interviews with John Boorman and Sara Kestelman. There’s also conversations with the crew, and the whole thing works very well as decades have passed since the movie was made, so we get well polished anecdotes about one of cinema’s strangest experiences. The audio commentary is definitely worth your time as well, as the director is on top form as he talks about the movie.

If this isn’t in your movie collection, it should be. If nothing else, it’s one of the few features that start with Z, but really you should own it merely to broaden your horizons as far as it goes. If you’re already a fan, then this new Blu-ray is a real treat and worth your time.

Special Features: Audio commentary with John Boorman / New interviews with cast and crew / Radio spots / Trailer / Collector’s booklet

ZARDOZ / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: JOHN BOORMAN / STARRING: SEAN CONNERY, CHARLOTTE RAMPLING, SARA KESTELMAN, NIALL BUGGY / RELEASE DATE: SEPTEMBER 14TH
 

Bored, drunk and stoned during the festive period, three young women break into an empty mansion for a little booze and pot themed fun. Things inevitably turn south when the groundskeeper interrupts the girls’ little party, inadvertently turning the whole affair into a Christmas nightmare. Suddenly, there’s a body to be disposed of and things just keep on getting worse…

A dark thriller in the Shallow Grave vein, Body keeps a tight rein on its small cast and simple story, letting its strong performers and sharp writing do most of the hard work. It opens disarmingly funny, with a game of Scrabble and an embarrassing dad wearing sunglasses indoors. It doesn’t stay that way though; like the underrated Stuart Gordon feature Stuck, the film reaches some surprisingly dark places at times, particularly as the film and its characters first begin to make their modus operandi known.

To say much more would be to spoil the surprises of a well-crafted, intelligent little psychological thriller with more than a few tricks up its sleeve. Helen Rogers, Alexandra Turshen and Lauren Molina carry their roles well, being sympathetic and likeable for the most part… until it’s time for one of them to not be. Caught in the middle of all this, Larry Fessenden does well with not a lot, letting the women tackle most of the heavy lifting and brutal in-fighting.

The story goes dark and tends to stay there, but there’s always a sense that it could go further and be more unpredictable, if it really wanted to. That sense of restraint holds Body back from greatness, its moments of true darkness making its relative predictability elsewhere feel all the more disappointing. As oh-shit-there’s-a-dead-body movies go, it’s fine – it could just do with a bit more meat on its bones, is all.

BODY / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: DAN BERK, ROBERT OLSEN / STARRING: HELEN ROGERS, ALEXANDRA TURSHEN, LAUREN MOLINA, LARRY FASSENDEN / RELEASE DATE: AUGUST 31ST

 

In City Lights, Charlie Chapin’s little tramp tries to win the heart of a blind flower seller. Along the way he’s taken in by a memory-challenged drunken billionaire and spends a little time in jail. It is a film containing some of his most famous adventures, and as such occupies a position in the upper reaches of any list concerning the greatest films of all time.

City Lights is also notable for the changing landscape in which it was produced. 1931 was an interesting time for both cinema and America as a nation. The Great Depression was dawning and while City Lights has a little fun surrounding the subject of money, as do most of Chaplin’s films, it is a humour that develops from a more innocent source. Of course, the little tramp is poor, as skint as ever, but at times he is lavished with fineries by his inebriated benefactor, only to be thrown back on the street the next morning. It was also a time when the “talkies” were beginning to get made in Hollywood, albeit rather poorly initially. Resisting their call (for now), Chaplin uses sound sparingly throughout his film, preferring to focus on the visual performance he has become famous for.

It is in that performance that some of the best scenes in City Lights emerge. The prize fighting sequence demonstrates extraordinary footwork from Chaplin, being both incredibly dexterous and beautifully balletic. A more simple scene is one in which he is a manure sweeper, following behind horses while keeping a wary eye on a passing elephant. Simple as always, but both are at the same time poignant and hilarious.

City Lights is also possibly Charlie Chaplin’s most sentimental film. There is usually a love interest, but here it is a more simple attraction. Virginia Cherrill’s Blind Girl is as innocent as the tramp, falling in love without the ability to see her paramour and yet still retaining that affection when she miraculously regains sight later.

It would be more difficult to find a Chaplin film that wasn’t deserving of high praise than one which is. These are films that hark back to a bygone era of Hollywood, when the antics of a tramp could sustain a film and retain an audience’s attention for a full feature’s running time. If judgement is necessary, The Gold Rush remains Chaplin’s seminal work, but as a collection of some of cinema’s most famous scenes City Lights is necessary viewing.

One Chaplin film will never be enough.

CITY LIGHTS / CERT: U / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: CHARLIE CHAPLIN / STARRING: CHARLIE CHAPLIN, VIRGINIA CHERRILL, FLORENCE LEE, HARRY MYERS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

 

Enamoured with the advent of television and recognising its power as a medium, Welles’ developed a style of travel journal that is still an integral part of travel shows today. Part documentary, part home movie (he sometimes used a single camera) and part cinematic essay, Welles explores not the world as the title says, but his beloved Europe. The European continent had enamoured Welles since he travelled there when he was younger, and the continent bolstered his love of cinema.

The episodes are not perfect; some are incomplete, while others are deeply flawed. However, they remain compelling, only just for Welles’ perception of Europe but as well as the footage of a post-war Europe. His fascinating insight into the Basque Country is also particularly brilliant to watch. You will find that his narration and the style of the documentaries are slow, but don’t forget these were filmed for television in its infancy, and here Welles’ already has a firm grasp on the medium.

The most interesting portion of this release, however, is the extras. Though Revisiting Vienna is amazing to watch with Welles visiting key locations from The Third Man, the extras include a documentary and reconstruction of The Tragedy of Lurs, which was the unfinished seventh episode of the series which concerned the controversial Dominici murder case in France. It’s an incredible insight in to what could have been. There was not stuff like this being aired on television in 1955 and Welles investigation could be viewed as a template for many documentary series which followed many decades later. Also featured is an interview with Welles in which he discusses his career.

The Blu-ray is a must for any fan of cinema and any fan of Welles. It is a curious rarity, not perfect and incomplete, which shows Welles influence as a documentary maker of television, recognising the power of the box from its very inception.

AROUND THE WORLD WITH ORSON WELLES / CERT: E / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: ORSON WELLES / STARRING: ORSON WELLES, ELAINE DUNDY, KENNETH TYNAN, ART BUCHWALD / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

 

Set during Napoleon’s invasion of Spain, when a French Officer discovers a book filled with curious illustrations and text he cannot read, he becomes so engrossed in the book that when the Spanish Resistance arrive and take him prisoner he barely notices. Together, the captured Officer and the Resistance leader decipher the Saragossa Manuscript and unearth the amazing tale of Alfonso van Worden (Zbigniew Cybulski) who, having been separated from his regiment, encounters a litany of remarkable characters and finds himself drawn into a seemingly endless web of stories within stories about demons and succubi, mistaken identities and duels of honour, beautiful princesses and the dead returning to warn the living about the purgatory that awaits them. It is impossible to tell where the lies end and the truth begins, and as van Worden’s companions draw him deeper and deeper into the maze of their imaginations he is unaware that how he ultimately reacts to the stories he is told may ultimately and irrevocably determine his fate.

The Saragossa Manuscript is, like the titular manuscript itself, a wonderful enigma: part fantasy, part action adventure, part gothic romance, part farce, all of it extraordinary. It is, in our opinion, one of the greatest films ever made and we’re not alone in that belief – Jerry Garcia of The Grateful Dead, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Luis Bunuel and David Lynch are all ranked among its admirers. The Saragossa Manuscript is that rare thing: a masterpiece truly worthy of that description.

For that reason it is exciting to see a Blu-ray edition finally reach UK shores. The film has been available on bare-bones DVD for some time so we had high hopes that the Blu-ray might be something special.

The film itself looks gorgeous; the picture is superb – shot in black and white, every detail crisp and clear; the audio is perfect and serves the film’s tremendous score, by Krzysztof Penderecki, particularly well. But now for the downsides. The placement of the subtitles, which are pretty crucial if you don’t understand Polish (an English dub is thankfully not provided), makes them quite difficult to read. But more disappointing than that are the supplements; there are none, not even liner notes, which is an opportunity sadly missed. There is a fascinating analysis to be made of Saragossa which would have made a terrific commentary (Neil Gaiman’s another fan of the film… why not bring him on board?), not to mention that the life of the novel’s author was pretty spectacular as well – after years of adventuring and indulging in various scandalous relationships (there were rumours of incest concerning his second marriage), Jan Potocki committed suicide with a silver bullet he allegedly forged himself from a sugar bowl handle and had blessed by a chaplain. This December will be the 200th anniversary of his death. Surely that alone deserves a fully-loaded special edition of Wojcek Has’ masterwork?

But until that special edition comes along (we’re not holding our breath), don’t miss this new release. And read the book upon which the film is based. You won’t be disappointed in that either.

THE SARAGOSSA MANUSCRIPT / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: WOJCIECH HAS / SCREENPLAY: TADEUSZ KWIATKOWSKI / STARRING: ZBIGNIEW CYBULSKI, IGA CEMBRZYNSKA, ELZBIETA CZYZEWSKA, GUSTAW HOLOUBEK / RELEASE DATE: SEPTEMBER 7TH

 

The Circus is Charlie Chaplin at his delightful best – a simple and endearing story wrapped around an ingenious cavalcade of sight gags and slapstick that is thankfully far less schmaltzy and sentimental than many of the Little Tramp’s better-known outings. Artificial Eye’s presentation of the movie is equally as excellent but sadly, apart from a brief but informative introduction from Chaplin biographer David Robinson, the other extras are uninspiring: there’s a very brief outtakes reel, extracts from other films in Curzon’s Chaplin Collection and some rushes from The Circus that are continuous takes of the same scene (a scene that was ultimately deleted from the finished film) which, although briefly amusing, wears out its welcome very fast.

Still, it’s the main attraction we came to see and The Circus won’t disappoint. This is classic Chaplin at the height of his riotous brilliance. If you enjoy Chaplin you’ll love The Circus.

Special Features: Introduction from David Robinson / Outtakes reel / Extracts from the Chaplin Collection / Deleted scenes

THE CIRCUS / CERT: U / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: CHARLIE CHAPLIN / STARRING: CHARLIE CHAPLIN, MERNA KENNEDY, AL ERNEST GARCIA, HARRY CROCKER / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW