Cold War Creatures: Four Films from Sam Katzman: Creature with the Atom Brain (1955), The Werewolf (1956), Zombies of Mora Tau (1957), The Giant Claw (1957) 4 x Blu-Ray Arrow Films Limited Edition

Sam Katzman's name may frankly not be held in the same general esteem as some other famous Golden Era producers like David O. Selznick or Adolph Zukor, but for sheer number of films produced and perhaps especially in cost to profit ratio, Katzman might eclipse more ostensible luminaries than you might expect. While Zukor, as the head of Paramount Pictures, got literally hundreds of "presents" credits, his actual producing credits (according to the IMDb) number fewer than a hundred, and Selznick logs in with even fewer than that. Of course both Selznick and Zukor tended to enjoy much more fulsome budgets and more glittering marquee stars than Katzman, a hardscrabble guy who started working in the film industry when he was barely a teenager, and who then climbed the ranks to work at a number of studios, including "poverty row" centers like Monogram, but also 20th Century Fox, Metro Goldwyn Mayer and Columbia, ending up with (again according to the IMDb) 239 credits as producer. The four Katzman produced efforts Arrow Video has aggregated in this appealing collection may arguably not be from Hollywood's "real" Golden Era, with, as the title of the collection may hint at, these films all emanating a mid- fifties ambience that sought to attract younger viewers in particular away from the hypnotizing influence of that confounded television invention, often courtesy of plots that included science fiction and/or horror.
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Once Upon a Time in China: The Complete Films: Wong Fei Hung / Once Upon a Time (1991), Wong Fei Hung II: Nam yee tung chi keung / Once Upon a Time in China II (1992), Wong Fei Hung III: Si wong jaang ba / Once Upon a Time in China III (1993), Wong Fei Hung IV: Wong je ji fung / Once Upon a Time in China IV (1993), Wong Fei Hung chi neung: Lung shing chim pa / Once Upon a Time in China V (1994), Wong fei hung VI: Sai wik hung see / Once Upon a Time in China and America (1997) 6 x Blu-Ray Criterion Collection

The Once Upon a Time in China franchise is regularly cited as having kickstarted the weirdly dormant martial arts film genre in the Asian market, but it's also arguable that the series helped to foster another element of "eastern" cinema that is not necessarily relegated only to China (Korean films also come to mind in this regard): a kind of "rah rah" jingoism that seeks to exploit national identity while also perhaps hinting, none too subliminally at times, that the "natives" (Chinese or otherwise) may be just a bit smarter than some of the interlopers.

Tsui Hark's fingerprints are all over the five entries in the Once Upon a Time in China series. Tsui produced and co-wrote all the films in the series, and directed four of them. Though each can be enjoyed according to its own merits, taken together the series traces out a very specific arc both in terms of historical era and character development. Turn-of-20th-century period pieces, replete with absurdly over-the-top kung fu (not to mention wire fu) set pieces, and characterized by a broad streak of antic comedy, these films are both crowd-pleasers and sly reinterpretations of episodes in Chinese history.

The films, which were released between 1991 and 1994, focus on martial arts master and traditional Chinese medicine practitioner Wong Fei-hung, played by Jet Li in the first three installments and Vincent Zhao in the last two. Wong is a figure drawn from real life, who had been depicted previously in dozens of films and television programs as a venerable old man, so Li's younger, more dynamic portrayal is part and parcel of Tsui's tendency toward unconventional recontextualizations. The series's frequent inclusion of historical figures does double duty as both a comment on a particular moment in Chinese history as well as sociopolitical aspects of contemporary Hong Kong in the leadup to its 1997 handover to China.

The series plays out the often contentious, tendentious relationship between China and the West. On one level, this is embodied at the interpersonal level through the burgeoning romance between Wong and his so-called 13th Aunt (Rosamund Kwan), who returns to town dressed in Victorian garb, fluent in English, and with a newfangled box camera in tow. In the third film, she receives an early movie camera and, in a nifty bit of self-reflexivity, some footage that she shoots is integral to exposing a murderous conspiracy. In this formulation, Wong represents a dogged traditionalism, while 13th Aunt stands for measured assimilation.

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This Sporting Life (1963) 2 x DVD9 Criterion Collection, Blu-Ray Network

Often regarded as the capstone of the British New Wave of the late 1950s and early '60s, Lindsay Anderson's This Sporting Life (1963) is a stark depiction of life in an industrial town, focusing on the personal and professional struggles of a brutish rugby player.

The film, adapted from the novel by David Storey, tells the tale of Frank Machin, a miner in Yorkshire whose talent for sport sees him give up the day job and become a local hero at the rugby league club. His new-found fame and wealth (it's all relative – he signs for the club for a thousand pounds) doesn't make him happy because of the dark, damaging relationship he embarks upon with his austere landlady Margaret Hammond (Rachel Roberts). The vulnerable widow is cold and cruel to Machin; describing him as "a great ape on a football field", but he lacks the education and finesse to express his love for her in ways that don't involve buying elaborate gifts that make her uncomfortable. The story revolves around their stifling and often tumultuous relationship.

Director: Lindsay Anderson
Cast: Richard Harris, Rachel Roberts, Alan Badel, William Hartnell, Colin Blakely
Country: UK
Genre: Drama, Sport
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Bibi chelchele (1986) DVD9

Majid lives with his mother in his bad-tempered stepfather's house. He gets on Javad's lorry secretly but the trucker scolds and beats him. Hating Javad, Majid promises to kill him. He goes to a trainer  to get ready and confides in a tree. Javad realises Majid's emotional needs and they form a deep friendship after a while.
Based on the novel "My Sweet Orange Tree" by Jose Mauro de Vasconcelos.

DVD9 | PAL 4:3 | 01:24:26 | 6.18 Gb + 3% rec
Language: Persian
Subtitles: English, Persian, Arabic
Genre: Drama

Director: Kiumars Poorahmad
Cast: Davoud Rashidi, Ali Reza Shoja-Nuri, Arash Mir Ahmadi
Country: Iran
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Slacker (1990), It’s Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books (1988) 2 x DVD9 and Blu-Ray Criterion Collection

In 1991, a young filmmaker named Richard Linklater took his low-budget feature film "Slacker" to the Sundance Film Festival. It wasn't technically his first film (that distinction belongs to 1988's "It's Impossible to Learn to Plow By Reading Books"), but it was the first of his films that anybody had seen, and it became a sleeper hit at the festival. As more and more people saw the film, it began to gather a cult following, due to its unorthodox structure and cast of bizarre, yet somehow relatable, characters. Over the next two decades, "Slacker" would influence countless independent filmmakers (most notably Kevin Smith, who has credited the film as a direct inspiration for 1994's "Clerks"), help define a generation that was in need of a voice, and launch the career of one of the most unique and innovative auteurs in modern American cinema.

Depicting an ordinary day in the life of several seemingly random citizens of Austin, Texas, "Slacker" lacks any sort of coherent plot or narrative structure. Instead, the film takes a "fly on the wall" approach: Linklater pulls away from people in the middle of one conversation and drops in on people in the middle of another. Nobody really seems to be doing much of anything, or at least not anything productive; two crimes are committed, guys are working on their cars, a girl is looking through the volumes in a used book shop, a woman tries to sell a Madonna pap smear. But mostly people are just talking: about politics, personal growth, menstrual cycles, art. Linklater himself offers an intriguing monologue on the nature of dreams, and the mind-boggling possibilities of alternate realities. A JFK assassination enthusiast and UFO conspiracy theorist wax poetic on their chosen obsessions. An anarchist bemoans the fact that he never blew up the Texas State Capitol building. Themes of oppression and restlessness dominate their otherwise unrelated conversations, and yet none of the varied cast of characters seems interested in actually taking action to accomplish anything, thus giving "Slacker" its appropriate title.

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The Paramount Comedy Shorts 1928-1942: Cavalcade of Comedy DVD9

Hollywood Boulevard intersects Broadway in this lively collection of classic shorts from the Paramount Studios. In the late 1920s and early '30s - when the movie industry was just learning to talk - Paramount wisely turned to the New York stage for a new crop of entertainers who had already mastered the nuances of verbal comedy. This anthology serves as a laugh-filled time capsule of the brightest lights of vaudeville, showcasing the early works of such American legends as Jack Benny, Bing Crosby, Burns & Allen, Eddie Cantor, and George Jessel (who originated the lead role of The Jazz Singer on stage). It also provides a fascinating historical record of some of the stage legends who have begun to fade from memory, including Lulu McConnell, Tom Howard and Smith and Dale (the inspiration for Neil Simon's The Sunshine Boys). Also included are Lighthouse Love and Cleaning Up, a pair of Mack Sennett comedies that disprove the myth that sound technology destroyed the slapstick tradition. This DVD reveals three incarnations of a popular subgenre of slapstick, the home-builder's nightmare: The Plasterers, Plastered and A Put Up Job. Watching the three films together (made in 1929, 1930 and 1931), one can follow the evolution of vaudeville slapstick to its own truly cinematic form.

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Les visiteurs du soir / The Devil’s Envoys (1942) DVD9 and Blu-Ray Criterion Collection

In the year 1485, the Devil sends two of his envoys to drive people to despair. Disguised as minstrels, they enter the castle of Baron Hughes (Fernand Ledoux), who is getting ready to marry his beautiful daughter Anne (Marie Dea).

During a lavish banquet, Baron Hughes invites Dominique (the legendary Arletty) and Gilles (Alain Cuny) to sing for Anne and her fiancee Renaud (Marcel Herrand). Gilles chooses a beautiful love song that quickly melts Anne's heart.

Later that night, the Devil's envoys use their magic and separate Anne and Renaud. Gilles forces Anne to fall in love with him, while Dominique puts a spell on Renaud and he accepts a ring from her that will always remind him of her. But in the days that follow something unusual happens - mesmerized by her purity and beauty, Gilles falls madly in love with Anne. The Devil (Jules Berry), who has been observing quietly his envoys from afar, immediately leaves his lair and heads to Earth.

Director: Marcel Carne
Cast: Arletty, Marie Dea, Fernand Ledoux, Alain Cuny
Country: France
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Romance

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