Wednesday, August 14, 2024

THE EPITAPH VOL. 85 - BRIEF REMBRANCES OF THE RECENTLY RELEASED

THE EPITAPH VOL. 85 - BRIEF REMBRANCES OF THE RECENTLY RELEASED 

HARUM SCARUM (1965) - THE STARS FELL ON HENRIETTA (1995) - MARIE: A TRUE STORY (1985) - EL REBOZO DE SOLEDAD (1952) - VALKYRIE (2008) - BOLERO (1984) -NORTHWEST PASSAGE (1940) 


HARUM SCARUM (1965) 

Label: Warner Archive 
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated 
Duration: 85 Minutes 48 Seconds
Audio: English DTS HD-MA 2.0 Dual-Mono with Optional English Subtitles 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1) 
Director: Gene Nelson
Cast: Elvis Presley, Mary Ann Mobley, Fran Jeffries

In the exotica-hokum Harum Scarum (1965) actor/rocker-crooner Johnny Tyrone (Elvis Presley, Spinout!) is on a tour of the Middle East supporting his latest film "The Sands of the Desert", and is invited to visit the a remote kingdom of Bar Esalaam by Prince Dragna (Michael Ansara, The Manitou), the brother of King Toranshah (Philip Reed, Unknown Island). Enroute he is drugged and kidnapped by the gorgeous Aishah (Fran Jeffries, Sex and the Single Girl) and taken to Sinan (Theo Marcuse, Mara of the Wilderness) who is the leader of some ort of guild of assassins, who through a misunderstanding believe that Tyrone has deadly-hands, recruiting him to kill the king! Oh brother! Tyrone has no interest in murdering anyone so he sets out to warn the King, along the way stumbling upon an attractive slave girl named, who is actually the King's daughter Princess Shalimar (Mary Ann Mobley, a former Miss America) in disguise, but when he talks about the assassination plot she is scared off, unknowing of his true intentions, but unable to shake her attraction tot he crooning-American. Widely regarded as one of Elvis' worst flicks I won't say it's not bad, but it's also not un-entertaining. Sure, there are loads of Orientalism/Exotica tropes, the stereotypes of Arab people comes fast and furious, and the story itself is brain dead on arrival, but the "Metrocolor" production is quit striking, the use of vibrant colors looks terrific restored in all their HD glory, and the recycled sets from Cecil B. DeMille's 1927 epic King of Kings are fun. Elvis is sleepwalking through this one however, he looks absolutely unhappy to be stuck in this production, and perhaps worse the numerous songs he sings here are all pretty much stinkers, and then there's the cringeworthy scene of him singing "Hey Little Girl" to a 10-year old child. It was a hoot to see Billy Barty (The Wizard of Oz) as Baba and Jay Novello (Atlantis, the Lost Continent) as the duplicitous Zacha, offering comic relief and exagerated facial expressions at every turn. If you're an Elvis-in-the-movies fan this is a terrific release, it looks stunning with warm skin tones and vibrant splashy colors throughout, plus we get nine songs sung by Elvis with uncompressed audio, extras include a pair of Tom & Jerry cartoons and a trailer.  

Special Features: 
- Tom and Jerry Cartoons: "The Cat's Me-Ouch" and "Of Feline Bondage";
- Theatrical Trailer

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Moviezyng - use code: MOVIEDEAL at checkout to get 5% off your entire order! 
Physical Media Land - use code: MOVIEDEAL at checkout to get 5% off your entire order! 


THE STARS FELL ON HENRIETTA (1995) 

Label: Warner Archive
Rating: PG 
Duration: 110 Minutes 4 Seconds 
Region Code:
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.39:1) 
Director:  James Keach
Cast: Robert Duval, Aiden Quinn, Francis Fisher

An oil-well drama set in Texas, 1935 during the Dustbowl an old oil wildcatter Mr. Cox (Robert Duvall, The Rain People), always wearing a derby hat and in the presence of his loyal cat, has never struck oil. He detects though scent, smell, doodlebug rods, gut feelings, holding an ear to the ground, and even throwing his cat around, he's a bit of dreamer, and also a bit of a con man, but he is determined to find oil, and has in indomitable spirit. With no money and little luck he ends up inthe town of Henrietta, where he ends up on the land of Don(Aidan Quinn, Dark City) and Cora Day (Frances Fisher, Unforgiven), who are about to lose their farm, like many others, to the local bank. When Mr. Cox believes that there's oil on their land, and the Day's might just be desperate enough to give it a try considering their about to lose their land, but money's tight, leading to Mr. Cox embarking on a mini crime-spree to raise the funds, after being denied a partnership with wealthy oil tycoon Big Dave (Brian Dennehy, To Catch a Killer). This is a a sweet and uplifting story about determination and the human spirit, handsomely shot with terrific period detail that brings The Great Depression/Dust Bowl to life with rich texture and color. It also gets bonus points for having Victor Wong (Big Trouble in Little China) show up for a bit, though I sort of wished he had stuck around a but longer. The Blu-ray from Warner Archive looks terrific with warm colors, excellent blacks and pleasing depth and clarity. Grain appears natural and unmolested and the uncompressed audio is free of distortion and well-balanced. The only extras is a trailer. 

Special Features: 
- Original Theatrical Trailer (2:23) 

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Moviezyng - use code: MOVIEDEAL at checkout to get 5% off your entire order! 
Physical Media Land - use code: MOVIEDEAL at checkout to get 5% off your entire order! 


MARIE: A TRUE STORY (1985) 

Label: Warner Archive 
Region Code: Region-Free 
Rating: PG-13 
Duration: 112 Minutes 
Audio: English DTS HD-MA 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.39:1) 
Director: Roger Donaldson 
Cast: Sissy Spacek, Morgan Freeman, Fred Thompson

In this based-on-true-events drama Sissy Spacek (Carrie) plays  Marie Ragghianti, a woman  who escapes an abusive marriage with her three young kids and makes a go at the single-mom life, waitressing while making her way through college, and eventually getting a job at the newly elected Governor's Office through college classmate Eddie Sisk (Jeff Daniels The Grand Tour) who is legal counsel for the governor ( Don Hood, Pretty Baby). Hired as Extradition Officer for the state she works tirelessly and makes a name for herself, and is eventually appointed  as Parole Board Chief, ruffling a few feathers at the office. It there that Marie discovers corruption, detecting a pay-for-parole scam involving the deceptively slick Sisk and the governor, causing her to fall out of favor with the Governor's Office, which turns into something quite unsavory when she goes tot he Feds, putting her life and others in immanent danger. The film does good work showing Marie balancing her work life with her home life, caring for a chronically ill-child, without ever becoming too saccharine about it. Not the sort of film that I am personally drawn to but if you enjoy stories about women from humble rising above challenges and true-crime drama this is a damn decent watch. The true-crime drama also features Morgan Freeman (The Shawshank Redemption), Keith Szarabajka (Warning Sign), and actor turned politician Fred Thompson (Cape Fear). The Blu-ray from Warner Archive is top-notch and looks spiffy with a newly minted HD scan and uncompressed audio, though the only extras is a Trailer. 

Special Features: 
- Original Theatrical Trailer (1:45)

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Moviezyng - use code: MOVIEDEAL at checkout to get 5% off your entire order! 
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EL REBOZO DE SOLEDAD (1952) aka Soledad's Shawl

Label: VCI Entertainment 
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated 
Duration: 115 Minutes 15 Seconds 
Audio: Spanish PCM 2.0 Dual- Mono with Optional English Subtitles 
Video: 1080p HD Fullscreen (1.37:1) 
Director: Roberto Gavaldón
Cast: Arturo de Córdova. Pedro Armendáriz, Estela Inda, Domingo Soler, Carlos López Moctezuma, Jaime Fernández, Gilberto González, Rogelio Fernández, José Baviera, Francisco Jambrina, José María Linares-Rivas

EL Rebozo de Soledad  (1952) aka Soledad's Shawl is a rural melodrama directed by Roberto Gavaldón (Ash Wednesday)  wherein a city physician, Dr. Alberto Robles(Arturo de Córdova), starts a practice in a troubled, rural community falls in love with a peasant woman Soledad (Estela Inda, The Aztec Mummy) who comes to him for help for her grievously injured brother. The film is told in flashback years later, as the doctor recalls conflicting attitudes about medicine, having to compete with the local witch doctor (Guillermo Calles, Kill Me Because I'm Dying!) and the Catholic Church, but also caught up in a land feud between landowners David Acosta (Carlos López Moctezuma) and Roque Suazo (Pedro Armendáriz, 3 Godfathers), who are not only cutthroat about their land holding but unsympathetic about the local people. This Mexican melodrama is swollen with tension, love, poverty, grief and tragedy, well-told and handsomely shot, and while the rural melodrama is not quite my cup of tea or area of expertise I was quite taken with it. The Blu-ray from VCI is sourced from a 35mm acetate from the Cineteca Nacional’s collection, it looks quite nice, while blacks are not always the deepest and contrast wavers from time to time it's in great shape and mostly blemish free, and the uncompressed Spanish audio sounds just fine. Extras include the 27-min El Rebozo de Soledad Ensayo en video del Dr. David Will who does good work contextualizing the film, framing it alongside the golden age of Mexican cinema, and highlighting the cast and crew. We also get a selection of trailers. 

Special Features:
- El Rebozo de Soledad Ensayo en video del Dr. David Will (26:43) 
- Trailers: El Gangster (2:10), El  Esqueta de la Senora Morales (2:18), Ensayo de un Crimen (2:56) 

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VALKYRIE (2008)

Label: MGM 
Region Code: A
Rating: PG-13 
Duration: 120 Minutes 17 Seconds 
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Bryan Singer 
Cast: Tom Cruise, Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson, Carice van Houten, Thomas Kretschmann, Terence Stamp, Eddie Izzard, Kevin R. McNally, Jamie Parker

Valkyrie (2008) directed by Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects) is based on the true story of of Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg (Tom Cruise, Edge of Tomorrow) and his attempted assassination plot targeting the Nazi leader Adolph Hitler during the waning days of WWII. A well-made and meticulous thriller with intrigue aplenty that when I first saw it in the theater, though I will admit that I was a bit put off by the amount of English actors in it that played their roles with Brit accents, among them Kenneth Branagh (Dead Again), Terence Stamp (Superman 2), Tom Wilkinson (The Exorcism of Emily Rose), Bill Nighy (Shaun of the Dead)  and Eddie Izzard (Romance & Cigarettes) - and what a cast we have here, I had forgotten many of the familiar faces that pop-up here, and they are all terrific Watching it now I was less put off by it the non-German accent thing, they start the film with Cruise's character speaking German before transitioning to English, with no attempt at even a German accent, but affecting an accent can be problematic for a myriad of reasons, so maybe that was for the best. Anyway, upon re-watch I thought this held up quite well, a very handsome and well-made WWII thriller that builds suspense above what I remembered, quite a feat considering we all know how this piece of history played out, this is after all now Tarantino's re-imaging of Hitler's demise a'la The Inglourious Basterds which came out the following year. This MGM re-issue is sadly barebones and does not contain any of the extras from previous 2009 release but does have a great looking transfer and uncompressed audio. 

Special Features:
- None

Buy it: 
Moviezyng - use code: MOVIEDEAL at checkout to get 5% off your entire order! 
Physical Media Land - use code: MOVIEDEAL at checkout to get 5% off your entire order! 

BOLERO (1984) 

Label: MGM
Region Code: A
Rating: R
Duration: 104 Minutes 49 Second 
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: John Derek 
Cast: Bo Derek, George Kennedy, Andrea Occhipinti, Ana Obregon, Olivia d'Abo, Greg Bensen, Ian Cochrane, Mirta Miller, Mickey Knox, Paul Stacey, James Stacey

In the infamously erotic-bust Bolero (1984), directed by John Derek, starring the director's wife Bo Derek (Orca), Ayre "Mac" MacGillvary, an America orphan/heiress has just graduated from an exclusive all-girl British college, she's picked up from school by her chauffeur Cotton (George Kennedy, Cool Hand Luke), who she asks to pull over right in front of the school grassy courtyard, then jumps out of the car, strips nude and prances around, announcing her desire to Cotton to lose her virginity to a proper sheik. To that end her and her best friend Catalina (Ana Obregon, Treasure of the Four Crowns) literally on the next scene find themselves in Morocco, alongside her manservant Cotton, where she meets a Sheik (Greg Bensen) who she offers the opportunity to deflower her, which he accepts Unfortunately during some honey-drizzling foreplay he falls asleep, perhaps the victim of some powerful hookah happenings. Disappointed she flies to Spain where she seeks a proper deflowering from attractive bullfighter Angel (Andrea Occhipinti, A Blade in the Dark), but his constant companion, a 14-year old gypsy girl named Paloma (Olivia d'Abo, Conan the Destroyer), grows jealous over her affections of the bullfighter, and things are further complicated when late in the film the Sheik from earlier reappears to kidnap Mac in his yellow bi-plane aircraft. With a world travelling plot that is threadbare, resembling a number of the Emmanuelle softcore films, this falters at nearly every  turn, sure it looks terrific and is artfully shot and Bo Derek is a truly stunning woman, her nude scenes are quite pleasing, but everything else about this flick is straight-up terrible; the dialogue is stilted and sounds like something an eight year old would muster, attempts at humor fall flat every single-time, the non-erotic sex scenes are totally cornball and overly long, The film was such a bust that it actually terminated the distribution deal that The Cannon Group had with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, who saw the finished film and said "no thank you". It really is almost entertaining in how un0entertaining this so-called erotic romp, there's just zero chemistry onscreen and/or between the sheets, and the sex is just overwrought and silly. Why was this made? Was Bo Derek's husband John Derek, the director, just a cuckhold who got off on seeing his wife on-camera with foreign lovers? Maybe, I don't know, but somehow this travesty was greenlit, made and bombed at the box office, but thankfully it lives on as a curio for curious cinema fans and bad-film enthusiasts to have a gander at. The disc is another barebones re-issues courtesy of MGM, having previously been issued on Blu-ray from Stout! Factory, which is not out-of-print. It looks gorgeous, the transfer showcases lush colors and detail throughout, and the audio is uncompressed with subtitles.

Special Features:
- None 

Buy it: 
Moviezyng - use code: MOVIEDEAL at checkout to get 5% off your entire order! 
Physical Media Land - use code: MOVIEDEAL at checkout to get 5% off your entire order! 

NORTHWEST PASSAGE (1940) 

Label: Warner Archive
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 128 Minutes 
Audio: English DTS HD-MA 2.0 Dual-Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Fullscreen (1.37:1)
Director: King Vidor
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Robert Young, Ruth Hussey

Set in 1759 Northwest Passage (1940) is a lavish Technicolor accounting of the French and Indian War, based on Kenneth Roberts' best seller. Spencer Tracy (The Old Man and the Sea) plays a true-life explorer Major Robert Rogers, commander of the Roberts' Rangers Indian-fighting force that sets off on a harrowing expedition with the intention of a sneak attack on a village of Abenakis Indians who it is said have reportedly raided settlements, resulting in white folks being tortured, raped, slaughtered and kidnapped. It's a less than honorable mission in my opinion, but the crossing of rugged terrain and on the long, food-starved trek is quite an epic adventure. The Technicolor marvel starts off telling the tale of Portsmouth  residents Langdon Young (Robert Young, The Shining Hour) and "Hunk" Marriner (Walter Brennan, Rio Bravo) on the run from the law after insulting the Crown, and finding themselves unwittingly recruited into The Rangers by Major Rogers after a night of drinking at a tavern. After this set-up most of the film is the trek across the wilds of Northern North America and into Canada, traversing through swamps on foot, or by whale boat on gorgeous lakes, cautiously evading the French and Native American scouts, even Fitzcarraldo-ing the whale boats over a mountain to evade French war boats. The dishonorable attack on the Abenakis tribe starts off with setting their structures on fire while the native Americans sleep and then slaughtering them in hail of musket gunfire of when they flee, it's pretty harrowing and certainly doesn't paint the Rangers with a sympathetic brush, but this sort of "heroism" against the native Americans was sadly probably common in cinema at this time. Throughout the film we are constantly fed heinous stories about the tribe torturing and setting fire white settlements, tearing them apart limb from limb, raping women and killing children, it's quite a laundry list of atrocities, but all we see is the atrocities inflicted on the tribe. It's a hard pill to swallow, but if you can get past that sort of Native American racism  that the film does offer some hard-scrabble adventure as the Rangers stealthily make their way towards their ultimate goal, finding themselves on the the verge of starvation, driven hard by Major Rogers, with the threat that if you are injured you will be left behind to die alone. At one point the men are so driven mad by hunger that one carries around a decapitated head of an Abenakis warrior in a cloth sack, with the idea that he might have to eat it! Interestingly the film was also known as  Northwest Passage (Book 1: Roger's Rangers), and was only an adaptation of half the book it is based on, and was intended to have a sequel which never materialized, so the title Northwest Passage is a bit of a misnomer as the discovery of a Northwest Passage is only brought up for a moment, apparently the second half of the book pertains to it's discovery, which we do not get here. The Blu-ray from Warner Archive is dazzling, the Technicolor photography is absolutely gorgeous and and been beautifully restored with new 2024 4K scans of Original Nitrate Technicolor negatives, and boy does it sure look good. We also get uncompressed audio and a handful of extras by way of 9-min vintage featurette and a trailer. 

Special Features: 
- Vintage Featurette: Northward, Ho! 
- Original Theatrical Trailer

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COCAINE WEREWOLF

Label: Cleopatra Entertainment
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 77 Minutes 7 Seconds 
Audio: English PCM 2.O (No Subtitles) 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1) 
Director: Mark Polonia 
Cast: Brice Kennedy, Jamie Morgan, Cody Losinger, Greta Volkova, Addison Turner, Tim Hatch, Ken Vansant, Titus Himmelberger, Noyes Lawton, Jeff Kirkendall, Alyssa Spicer, James Kelly,Michael Korotitsch, James Carolus, Marie Delorenzo, Ryan Cavalline, Yolie Canales

Oof, I will say right up front I have not seen one post Cocaine Bear knock-off/cash-in that I have found decently entertaining, and Mark Polonia's Cocaine Werewolf (2024) did nothing to change that. Set in the woods of northern Pennsylvania a bloodthirsty, coke-snorting werewolf literally ends up in the area during the making of a werewolf picture, and bad rubber-masked, glowing-eyed, werewolf carnage ensues. For all you lovers of micro-budgeted bottom-of-the-barrel horror I say have a go at it, but I will not be returning to this one, ever. That said, I will say that there were a few good laughs, I chuckled a couple of time, but the gore was weak and the rubber-mask werewolf is a sad disappointment, but you can tell there's some love behind this one, it just was not for me. Watch the trailer on YouTube, that will tell you all you need to know about whether this one is for you or not. The soundtrack does have some decent tunes though, I really dug the psychobilly theme song "Cocaine Werewolf" by The 69 Cats feat. Clem Burke and another tune by The Pink Fairies, but less enamored with he industrial-rock stuff plastered throughout. 

Special Features: 
- Director’s Audio Commentary (Blu-ray Exclusive) 
- Trailers 
- Slide Show

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