FEATURED POSTS

10 Questions with Shane Briant

The talented British' born actor Shane Briant made his screen debut in the Hammer horror film Demons of the Mind. Since then he's gone on to appear in over 60 films and television productions including Straight On Till Morning (1972), The Picture of Dorian Gray (1973), The Mackintosh Man (1973), Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter (1974), Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell (1974), The Naked Civil Servant (1975) and Lady Chatterley's Lover (1981). Currently Briant is focusing his attention on writing fiction and he has recently completed a psychological thriller called Worst Nightmares that will be released May 12th. I've admired his film work for many years so I was thrilled to get the opportunity to ask Shane Briant a few questions about his early movies and current writing projects. READ MORE

THIS MONTH'S FEATURED POSTS

The Girl On a Motorcycle (1968)

The talented director and cinematographer Jack Cardiff has passed away at the age of 94. As the tributes start to roll out from various news sites and film blogs its become clear to me that most people regard Jack Cardiff as a great cinematographer and have little regard or knowledge of his directing contributions, which is a shame. Cardiff was a brilliant photographer and his groundbreaking contributions to cinematography are well worth celebrating. But his impressive work as a director on films like the wonderful D.H. Lawrence adaptation Sons and Lovers (1960), the entertaining spy thriller The Liquidator (1965), the excellent erotic drama The Girl on a Motorcycle (1968) and the effective horror film The Mutations (1974) is also worthy of applause. READ MORE

THIS MONTH'S FEATURED POSTS

Favorite DVD Releases of 2008

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but overall 2008 was somewhat of a lackluster year for new Region 1 DVD releases of '60s and '70s era films when compared to the previous two years (See: 2006 and 2007). Some of my favorite DVD companies such as BCI Eclipse and most recently New Yorker Films have folded. Boutique DVD companies are releasing fewer products and what is being released is often of questionable quality. With the failing economy and the rise in popularity of Blu-ray discs, it seems like the number of new worthwhile DVD releases might continue to drop dramatically in 2009. READ MORE

THIS MONTH'S FEATURED POSTS

Resurrecting Yusaku Matsuda

Toru Murakawa's Resurrection of the Golden Wolf (aka Yomigaeru kinrô; 1979) is a wildly uneven Japanese crime film that left me wishing it had been helmed by another director. The film's script was adapted from a popular novel by Haruhiko Ooyabu and directors like Seijun Suzuki have had great success turning Ooyabu's hard-boiled fiction into films, but Toru Murakawa doesn't have Suzuki's eye for detail or his pop art sensibility. Resurrection of the Golden Wolf runs much too long and the dramatic filler weighs down the action, but even with its flaws the movie still keeps your attention thanks to the star performance of Yusaku Matsuda. READ MORE

THIS MONTH'S FEATURED POSTS

We Are Controlling Transmission

This year analog broadcasting is coming to an end. On June 12th 2009 television stations in the United States will stop broadcasting in analog and switch permanently to digital. Digital broadcasting promises to provide viewers with a sharper picture and more diverse programming options, but this unavoidable change is forcing millions of people to buy new television sets or opt for getting a converter box that will often cost them $40 or more. I feel for these people because I didn't have complete cable TV Access or a digital television myself until 2007. READ MORE

“In a scene like this you get a contact-high!”

by Kimberly Lindbergs | June 13, 2006

Categories | News, American Cinema, Musicals

Russ Meyer’s Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970) as well as a very nice Special Edition of Mark Robson’s original Valley of the Dolls (1967) both found their way on to DVD today.

In conjunction with the DVD release Retro Crush just published some great interviews with three of the Beyond the Valley of the Dolls stars (Cynthia Myers, John Lazar and Erica Gavin) which are must reads for fans of the film. Members of the cast will also be doing a promotional tour to celebrate the DVD release for the next few weeks and you can find information about the BVD Road Tour dates, locations & times, etc. on Erica Gavin’s Offical Website.

This is the first time Beyond the Valley of the Dolls has been made available on DVD in the US and 20th Century Fox really did a great job on the release! It’s nice to see one of Meyer’s best and most innovative films get the kind of DVD treatment that’s often reserved for more critically acclaimed movies. The new DVD looks and sounds terrific, plus it also comes with loads of great extras such as numerous “making of” documentaries, actor screen tests, six photo galleries and commentary by many of the actors involved with the production as well as additional commentary by screenwriter Roger Ebert.

Film critic Roger Ebert co-wrote three of Russ Meyer’s best films including Up!, Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens and Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. Beyond is probably his most well known, as well as his most entertaining attempt at scriptwriting.

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls is a sequel in name only to Valley of the Dolls, but it’s also sort of a companion film that exploits similar themes and ideas originally seen in Valley of the Dolls. Beyond tells the story of an all-girl rock band that travels to Hollywood with hopes of making it big. The focus of the movie is on the seedy behind the scenes happenings of the music business instead of the movie business, which was the focus of Valley of the Dolls.

If you enjoy campy melodrama combined with great music, snappy dialogue, stylish late sixties-early seventies fashions and colorful set designs as much as I do, you should grab yourself copies of Beyond the Valley of the Dolls and Valley of the Dolls soon!

In the meantime you can enjoy this great “Sweet Talking Candyman” musical clip from Beyond the Valley of the Dolls: