Buster Keaton: Three Films – Volume Two: The Navigator (1924), Seven Chances (1925), Battling Butler (1926) 3 x Blu-Ray Eureka – Masters of Cinema

As a pioneer of cinema and a king of the silent era, Buster Keaton needs no introduction. Holding his own alongside names like Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd, the 'great stone face' had a unique style of physical comedy that is as technically impressive as it is hilarious.

Though the public taste in comedy has largely moved away from straightforward slapstick, largely because of the introduction of sound, his influence stretches from Orson Welles to Johnny Knoxville, and the films he directed and starred in remain captivating nearly a century later. In this second volume of his early work released by Eureka, you can find three classics of silent comedy: The Navigator (1924), Seven Chances (1925) and Battling Butler (1926). While they're all undeniably products of the time - some are more flawed than others - each one is a piece of film history, and they all provide a fascinating insight into the evolution of the cinematic absurd.

2xBD50 + BD25 | 1080p AVC | 201 min | 89.2 Gb + 3% rec
Language: English Intertitles
Subtitles: none
Genre: Action, Comedy, Romance, Sport

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Urlaub auf Ehrenwort / Furlough on Word of Honor (1938) DVD5

Based on the autobiographical novella of the same title by Kilian Koll, the film is set late in 1918, during the final stages of the First World War. A troop of German infantry are on their way from the Eastern to the Western Front and must change trains in Berlin. After marching through the centre of the city from one station to another, they must wait several hours for their connecting train. The major in command gives strict orders that no one must go into this city full of "deserters, revolutionaries, and defeatists", even though most of the men are from Berlin, but in response to the pleading of Colonel Hartmann (Fritz Kampers), who had saved his life in the trenches, young Lieutenant Pratorius (Rolf Moebius) grants passes on the men's solemn promise to return in time. The film follows several of the men, in particular four of different ages and from different milieux.

DVD5 | PAL 4:3 | 01:22:58 | 3.97 Gb + 3% rec
Language: Deutsch
Subtitles: English
Genre: Drama, War

Director: Karl Ritter
Cast: Ingeborg Theek, Iwa Wanja, Rolf Mobius
Country: Germany
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Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens / Nosferatu, a Symphony of Horror (1922) Blu-Ray BFI, Blu-Ray Eureka – Masters of Cinema, 2xDVD Eureka – Masters of Cinema

An iconic film of the German expressionist cinema, and one of the most famous of all silent movies, F. W. Murnau's Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror continues to haunt - and, indeed, terrify - modern audiences with the unshakable power of its images. By teasing a host of occult atmospherics out of dilapidated set - pieces and innocuous real - world locations alike, Murnau captured on celluloid the deeply - rooted elements of a waking nightmare, and launched the signature " Murnau - style" that would change cinema history forever.

The story is likely familiar to anyone who has seen any of the many Stoker adaptations: young real estate agent Hutter (Gustav von Wangenheim) is sent to a distant land to aid the bizarre Count Orlock (Schreck) in acquiring British property. Failing to heed local folk tales about the scary Nosferatu, Hutter goes to Orlock's castle and is soon trapped in the Count's nocturnal world...

Murnau has created a rarefied world where nothing is as it seems and the scent of fear inches across every frame. He also employed clever and surprisingly convincing special effects to make Count Orlock a creature who is not bound by spatial relationships or time restrictions. Playing with film speeds, double exposure, and other early effects tricks, Murnau practically splits the screen in half, showing us the realm of the undead on one side and the more grounded reality on the other.

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Les felins / Joy House (1964) Blu-Ray

Marc (Delon) is a two-bit hustler and playboy who makes the mistake of seducing the wife of an American gangster. Soon he is running for his life as hired hit men pursue him along the French Riviera. Taking refuge in a homeless shelter, he attracts the attention of Barbara (Albright), a wealthy widow, and her niece Melinda (Fonda), who distribute food to the poor on a weekly basis. The two women offer Marc room and board and a position as their chauffeur and he eagerly accepts, despite their strange behavior because the assassins have traced him to the mission. Once inside Barbara's chateau, Marc begins to realize he is a pawn in some mysterious plot but what is his alternative? With nowhere to run, but also no safety in his current position, Marc tries to get to the bottom of what happened to Barbara's husband and what is going on between the two women.

BD50 | 1080p AVC | 01:37:16 | 36.8 Gb + 3% rec
Language: French, English
Subtitles: English, French

Director: Rene Clement
Cast: Alain Delon, Jane Fonda, Lola Albright
Country: France
Genre: Crime, Drama, Romance, Thriller
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Diabolik / Danger: Diabolik (1968) DVD9, Blu-Ray Shout Factory

Adapted from a popular (and still-ongoing) Italian comic-book series, Danger: Diabolik takes place in a Europe where square authority figures spend a lot of time combating a masked criminal named Diabolik, played with icy cool and a deadly stare by John Phillip Law. A kind of rogue, epicurean Batman, Law lives in an underground lair lushly appointed with the latest mod furnishings: immense his-and-hers showers, an oversized rotating bed, and of course, a curvy partner in crime (Marisa Mell) to fill both.

Diabolik is a master criminal, pulling off one spectacular robbery after another to the endless frustration of the police. Ruthless and amoral, he nonetheless deeply loves Eva, and will risk everything to protect her. As his crimes become ever more spectacular, and the government teeters on the brink of chaos, even organized crime is pressed into service in order to capture the man.

Director: Mario Bava
Actors: John Phillip Law, Marisa Mell, Michel Piccoli, Adolfo Celi, Claudio Gora, Mario Donen
Country: Italy, France
Genre: Action, Comedy, Crime
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Beat the Devil (1953) DVD9 and Blu-Ray BFI

Undoubtedly one of the most peculiar films to appear from a major director and star in the 1950s is John Huston's Beat the Devil (1953). Produced by Humphrey Bogart's Santana Productions, the film was unlike anything being released by the major studios, and even today is a fascinating gem of cinematic chutzpah.

A motley crew of swindlers led by screen legend Humphrey Bogart try to strike it rich in this sophisticated noir comedy from 1953.

Bogart stars as Billy Dannreuther, frontman for a group of sinister "businessmen" stranded in an Italian port town, scheming for a way to take ownership of uranium-rich, government-owned land in Africa. Into this nest of vipers falls a naive British couple, Mr. and Mrs. Chelm (Edward Underdown and Jennifer Jones). As the lonely Mrs. Chelm flirts with Mr. Dannreuther, she weaves an outrageous tapestry of lies about her husband's financial and political interests, not realizing the ocean of deceit into which she is submerging them. Dannreuther's wife (Gina Lollobrigida), meanwhile, begins a flirtation of her own with Mr. Chelm, so that every allegiance is tested, every loyalty questioned in this romantic and criminal merry-go-round.

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Eric Rohmer’s Six Moral Tales: La boulangere de Monceau / The Bakery Girl of Monceau (1963), La carriere de Suzanne / Suzanne’s Career (1963), Ma nuit chez Maud / My Night at Maud’s (1969), La collectionneuse / The Collector (1967), Le genou de Claire / Claire’s Knee (1970), L’amour l’apres-midi / Love in the Afternoon (1972) 6 x DVD and 3 x Blu-Ray Criterion Collection

"Why film a story when one can write it? Why write it when one is going to film it?" This is how Eric Rohmer (1920-2010) introduced his Six Moral Tales.

Welcome to the exciting, hesitant, guilt-laden and provocative world of Eric Rohmer, and his varied voyages of slightly intimidated romantic discovery. There are six Moral Tales (and some short subjects) and each finds a main character stymied by indecision: should he hew to the narrow moral path, or stop being so conflicted and let relationships happen as they may? Some are moral debates and others are just ruminations on the foolishness of males that overthink their love lives — or are these self-directed men simply trying to be considerate and fair while navigating their amorous possibilities?

For viewers who only care about plot, here's a quick summary that applies to most of the films in Eric Rohmer's "Six Moral Tales" series, now collected in a box set: Boy meets girl. Boy flirts with girl. Boy leaves girl for another girl whom he already loves. The story basically stays the same from the 1962 short "The Bakery Girl Of Monceau" through the 1972 feature Love In The Afternoon, although the second entry, Suzanne's Career, veers from it slightly.

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