I’ve been trying to write out my thoughts about Jean-Luc Godard’s Pierrot le fou (1965) for days, but even after watching the film twice and enjoying all the wonderful extras included with the fantastic new Criterion DVD, I’m finding words inadequate to describe how much I’ve fallen in love with this wonderful movie in so short a time. My love for Pierrot le fou is so fresh, so passionate, so alive and so completely unabashed that I feel a little like a silly schoolgirl with a terrible crush on the cute new boy in class.

I’ve been curious about seeing Pierrot le fou for about 15 years after I came across still shots from the film featuring Jean-Paul Belmondo with his face painted bright blue. I also saw brief clips of the party scene from Pierrot le fou a few years ago in the fascinating Samuel Fuller documentary The Typewriter, the Rifle & the Movie Camera (Adam Simon; 1996) and became even more intrigued, but for one reason or another I never got around to watching it. I had hoped to attend the theatrical revival of the film last year, but sadly I wasn’t able to. As far as I know Pierrot le fou was never shown in the San Francisco Bay Area last year and the official Janus site seems to confirm this.

Thanks to Criterion’s recent DVD release of Pierrot le fou I was finally able to experience this amazing film for the first time and now I deeply regret not seeing it sooner. Pierrot le fou manages to combine everything I love about my two favorite Godard films (Contempt, 1963 and Weekend, 1967) into one brilliant piece of work, while referencing every film the director had made before and predicting many of the more radical films he would make afterward. The basic plot of Pierrot le fou involves an unhappily married man named Ferdinand (Jean-Paul Belmondo) who meets up with an old flame named Marianne (Anna Karina) and the two abandon their old lives and begin a life of violent crime together. Unfortunately their combustible relationship begins to unravel under the stress of life on the run, but between their verbal sparing and love-making the audience is treated to a smart political and social satire with slapstick style comedy and an occasional musical number.

Pierrot le fou borrows elements from classic crime films such as Nicholas Ray’s They Live by Night (1948) and Joseph H. Lewis’ Gun Crazy (1950), but the film also takes a lot of inspiration from Jean-Luc Godard’s own Breathless (1960). It’s also worth noting that Pierrot le fou pre-dates Arthur Penn and Warren Beatty’s less interesting and more conventional Bonnie and Clyde (1967) by two years. For my money, none of the previously mentioned films come close to matching the offbeat magic conjured up in Pierrot Le fou by Godard and his two incredibly charming stars, Jean-Paul Belmondo and Anna Karina.

Pierrot le fou combines some of Jean-Luc Godard’s best writing and directing with stunning color photography by Godard’s longtime collaborator Raoul Coutard. The film manages to effortlessly mix comic-book style aesthetics with a painterly eye and the outcome is so wonderfully modern that Pierrot le fou still feels fresh and alive some 45 years after it was made.

Criterion’s magnificent two-disc restored widescreen DVD presentation of Pierrot le fou looks absolutely stunning and it’s loaded with fantastic extras, including a new video interview with actress Anna Karina who’s now 68 years old, and she offers some wonderful insights into the making of the film. The DVD also includes a new video program with audio commentary by filmmaker Jean-Pierre Gorin called A Pierrot Primer, a fascinating fifty-minute French documentary about director Jean-Luc Godard and his personal & working relationship with Anna Karina called Godard, L’Amour, La Poesie, a wonderful archival interview with the young and extremely adorable Jean-Paul Belmondo conducted while he was shooting Pierrot le fou and a brief archival piece about the Venice Film festival in 1965 that features interviews with Godard and Anna Karina. The DVD also contains the original theatrical trailer and a nice booklet with a new essay by critic Richard Brody, a 1969 review by Andrew Sarris and a 1965 interview with Godard. Pierrot le fou retails for $39.95 and it’s currently available from Amazon for $29.95. Criterion has really kicked-started 2008 by releasing some truly wonderful films on NTSC Region 1 DVD in recent weeks and I applaud them for it.

If you would like to see more screen shots from the film please see my Pierrot le fou Flickr gallery. I’ve also uploaded the wonderful song Ma ligne de chance that was sung by Anna Karina and Jean-Paul Belmondo in Pierrot le fou for anyone who would like to hear it.

- Ma ligne de chance (Anna Karina & Jean-Paul Belmondo)

Favorite DVD Releases of 2007: Part IV. - Top 30 DVDs #21-30

Brian Stirner in Overlord (1975)

Overlord (Criterion)
Please see my review of Stuart Cooper’s Overlord (1975) HERE.

James Fox in Performance (1970)

Performance (Warner Home Video)
I spent a lot of time writing about Performance (1970) last year and you can find links to all my posts below:
- The British Are Coming to DVD!
- Performance: VHS vs. DVD
- James Fox: Subverting Sexual Identity & Social Class in British Cinema

Marisa Mell and Elsa Martinelli in Perversion Story (1969)

Perversion Story (Severin)
Please see my review of Lucio Fulci’s Perversion Story (1969) at Cinedelica HERE.

Rika Aoki in Rica (1972)

Rica 1-3 (Exploitation Digital / Media Blasters)
I hope to write a more detailed review of the Rica (1972-73) series in the future, but in the meantime please see my overview of pinky violence cinema that makes reference to the first film HERE.

Tattooed Flower Vase (1976)

Tattooed Flower Vase (KINO)
Please see my review of Masaru Konuma’s Tattooed Flower Vase (1976) HERE.

Pamela Franklin in The Third Secret (1964)

The Third Secret (Starz / Anchor Bay)
Please see my review of Charles Critchon’s The Third Secret (1964) at Cinedelica HERE.

The Face of Another (1966)

Three Films By Hiroshi Teshigahara: Pitfall / Woman In The Dunes / The Face Of Another (Criterion)
These brilliant Hiroshi Teshigahara’s films had previously been available individually on PAL Region 2 DVD from Eureka Entertainment in Britain, but Criterion released all three films on Region 1 DVD last year for the first time along with some of Teshigahara’s shorts as part of their impressive 4-disc Three Films By Hiroshi Teshigahara collection. Hiroshi Teshigahara is truly one of Japan’s greatest filmmakers and if you only purchase one DVD collection on my list, make it this one! The director seamlessly weaves thoughtful social commentary into his stylish avant-garde films and manages to mask their origins in science fiction and horror cinema with evocative surrealist imagery. I had previously seen Woman In The Dunes and The Face of Another, but Teshigahara ’s short films and his masterful existential ghost story Pitfall were new to me. Seeing Pitfall for the first time last year was undoubtedly the highlight of my DVD viewing in 2007 and I hope to write about the film a bit more in the future. In the meantime, please see my lengthy review of Hiroshi Teshigahara’s The Face Of Another and my write-up about one of the film’s minor stars (Bibari Maeda) linked below:
- The Face of Another
- The Face of Bibari Maeda

Ken Ogata in Vengeance Is Mine (1979)

Vengeance Is Mine (Criterion)
Please see my review of Shohei Imamura’s Vengeance Is Mine (1979) at Cinedelica HERE.

Vincent Price in Witchfinder General (1968)

Witchfinder General (MGM)
Please my brief write-up about Witchfinder General (1968) and the Vincent Price MGM Scream Legends Collection HERE. You’ll also find links to many different reviews there.

Who Can Kill a Child? (1976)

Who Can Kill a Child? (Dark Sky Films)
Over the years I’ve read a lot about Narciso Ibáñez Serrador’s Spanish thriller Who Can Kill a Child? (¿Quién puede matar un Niño?, 1976), but I finally got the opportunity to see the film when it was released on Region 1 DVD for the first time last year by Dark Sky Films. Who Can Kill a Child? did not disappoint, and I was frankly rather surprised by the film’s overt political themes, creative direction and interesting script based on a novel by the Spanish horror author Juan José Plans. Most of the film takes place on a small remote island in Spain where a British couple has decided to vacation. When they arrive at the scenic seaside village they discover that the adults have vanished and all that remains are some children whose erratic behavior hides a deeper and more sinister motive. Narciso Ibáñez Serrador’s direction is really impressive at times and I liked the way he weaved political and social commentary into his script. The film opens with a disturbing montage featuring news footage gathered from all over the world of dead, starving and wounded children that is still startling some 30 years after the film was first made. The director also does a terrific job of capturing the beauty of the the Spanish coastal towns in the film, which stands out in stark contrast to the horrific themes found in Who Can Kill a Child? This unusual horror film is definitely not for everyone and I’m sure some viewers will be immediately put off by some of the violent acts in the film that feature children portraying victims as well as villains. The Dark Sky Films DVD contains a great looking uncut widescreen print of the film with two optional audio tracks (English and Spanish with subtitles) and extras include a still gallery as well as in two interesting interviews with cinematographer José Luis Alcaine and director Narciso Ibáñez Serrador.

Links to the first, second and third part of my Favorite DVD Releases of 2007 list can be found below:

- Favorite DVD Releases of 2007: Part I. - The DVD Year in Review - An Introduction
- Favorite DVD Releases of 2007: Part II. - Top 30 DVDs #1-10
- Favorite DVD Releases of 2007: Part III. - Top 30 DVDs #11-20

And that’s it folks! I hope I’ve encouraged a few people to seek out some of these terrific films. Most of them were released on DVD for the first time last year and many of them were never theatriclly released in the U.S. These important DVD releases often give western audiences the first opportunity to see these neglected films and I’m really grateful for that myself.

Naturally my list is limited by the films I’ve had the opportunity to see and some of the DVD titles that might have made my list if I had seen them include The Blood Rose (Mondo Macabro), La Jetee / Sans Soleil (Criterion), When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (Criterion), Cria Cuervos (Criterion), Sweet Movie (Criterion), Killer of Sheep: The Charles Burnett Collection (New Yorker Video), etc.

It’s also worth noting that my list only contains films, but there were also some terrific TV shows released on DVD in 2007 including Land of the Giants (20th Century Fox), Jason King (Image Entertainment), The Mod Squad (Paramount) and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (Time Life).

Last but not least, there were also many noteworthy films re-released on DVD last year often in deluxe editions or as part of a collection such as The Mario Bava Collection Volume 1 and 2 (Starz/Anchor Bay), Stanley Kubrick - Directors Series (Warner Home Video), A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin (Media Blasters/Shriek Show), Help! (Apple Corps Ltd.), Chinatown (Paramount) and Taxi Driver (Sony). I’ve haven’t had the chance to pick up any of these myself or view them, but they are well worth a look if you don’t own any of these films yet or just want to replace your previous DVDs with these superior new releases.

Favorite DVD Releases of 2007: Part II. - Top 30 DVDs #1-10.

Black Test Car (1962)

Black Test Car (Fantoma)
Yasuzo Masumura is one of my favorite Japanese directors, but unfortunately many of his films are unavailable on DVD and have never been seen outside of Japan. Thankfully Fantoma has been making an effort to release many of Masumura’s films and in 2007 they released his brilliant and extremely dark satire Black Test Car (Kuro no tesuto kaa, 1962). The film takes a rather unflattering look at the corruption and greed behind the burgeoning car industry in Japan and anyone who’s familiar with the director’s earlier film Giants and Toys (Kyojin to gangu, 1958) will immediately spot similarities between the two movies. Masumura was a director who was clearly interested in critiquing Japan’s economic boom and exploring the ways in which American capitalism was affecting Japanese society after WW2. As much as I enjoyed the director’s colorful satire Giants and Toys (1958), I personally think Black Test Car is a more effective film dealing with similar themes and I’m grateful that Fantoma has made it available on DVD. Black Test Car features some stunning black and white photography, and Masumura’s direction is top-notch here. All the actors involved with the production deliver some great performances, but I found Jiro Tamiya and Junko Kano especially effective as a young couple whose relationship becomes deeply strained throughout the course of the film. The Fantoma DVD contains an excellent widescreen transfer of the film along with the original theatrical trailer, a biography on the director and still galleries.

Peter O’Toole in Becket (1964)

Becket (MPI Home Video)
I enjoy well-done British historical dramas and many great ones were released on DVD for the first time last year including the wonderful Anne of the Thousand Days (1968), which I also considered including on my list. But my favorite film of the bunch was Becket (1964), which is based on the Tony Award-winning play written by Jean Anouilh. The film plays somewhat free and loose with historical facts, but still manages to be an engaging and thoughtful take on the important events surrounding the relationship between King Henry II and Thomas Becket (the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162 to 1170). Becket was directed by the gay filmmaker Peter Glenville and he injects the film with a wonderfully subversive edge that hints at a deeper relationship between Becket and King Henry II, who are played brilliantly by Richard Burton and Peter O’Toole. The film can be viewed simply as a great historical drama and I first saw it presented as an education tool when I was in high-school, but I also think Becket is one of the most sentimental and moving films ever shot about unrequited love shared between two men. Watching Peter O’Toole and Richard Burton struggle with their feelings for one another is what really keeps the film interesting and adds weight to the political power plays in the film and its dramatic conclusion. The DVD features an audio commentary from Peter O’Toole, the original trailer, an impressive still gallery and archival interviews with Richard Burton as well as composer Laurence Rosenthal and editor Anne V. Coates.

Doris Day in Caprice (1967)

Caprice (20th Century Fox)
Like movies such as Last of the Secret Agents? (1966) and Skidoo (1968), Caprice (1967) is a film often talked about disparagingly by people who’ve never actually seen it and it’s nowhere near as awful as you’ve been led to believe. Yes, the film has its problems and its stars (Doris Day and Richard Harrison, who’s rarely looked so good) don’t seem to have much chemistry on screen, but this entertaining spy satire also contains some really funny bits, well-done action scenes, fantastic Ray Aghayan costumes and a wonderfully polished pop-art look thanks to director Frank Tashlin and Oscar winning cinematographer Leon Shamroy. I never expected Caprice to get a DVD release, much less one as wonderful as this, but 20th Century Fox really went all out last year. Besides a spectacular restored widescreen transfer of the film, the DVD also includes commentary tracks by film historian John Cork and Pierre Patrick, a fascinating interview with costume designer Ray Aghayan, radio interviews with Doris Day and Richard Harrison, a nice photo gallery and two interesting shorts called Double-O Doris and Doris and Marty that explores the strained relationship between the Doris Day and her husband & manager, Martin Melcher. Hopefully I’ll get around to writing a longer review of Caprice in the future, but in the meantime, I highly recommend the film if you happen to enjoy Dean Martin’s Matt Helm movies as much as I do.

Chosen Survivors (1974)

Chosen Survivors / The Earth Dies Screaming (Midnite Movies / 20th Century Fox)
Last year 20th Century Fox released some terrific films as part as their wonderful Midnite Movies series, including The House on Skull Mountain / The Mephisto Waltz double feature, which I also wanted to include on my list. I haven’t seen all of last year’s Midnite Movie double features, but Chosen Survivors / The Earth Dies Screaming was one of my favorites. Before the DVD was released I hadn’t seen either of these unusual science fiction films before, but I really enjoyed them. Chosen Survivors (1974) tells an apocalyptic tale about a group of strangers thrown together in a sort of underground holding tank by the U.S. military after a thermonuclear war has destroyed earth’s surface. Things get worse when bloodthirsty bats show up and start killing people. There’s something strangely compelling about the film, and it’s definitely helped by the wonderful space age set designs and cast, which includes Jackie Cooper in what has to be his creepiest role ever. The film was directed by Sutton Roley who made lots of films for television and Chosen Survivors often has a “small set” feel, but it’s also really entertaining. The Earth Dies Screaming (1964) has a somewhat similar theme involving space aliens who use poison gas to wipe out the earth’s population leaving only a handful of survivors to deal with the aftermath. It was directed by the talented British director and Hammer legend Terence Fisher, who brings a lot of stylish touches to this low-budget movie. Overall I enjoyed Chosen Survivors a bit more, but The Earth Dies Screaming contains some rather creepy moments reminiscent of George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead (1968). This nice looking two-disc DVD set from 20th Century Fox makes for a worthwhile night of viewing.

The Holy Mountain (1973)

The Films of Alejandro Jodorowsky: Fando y Lis / El Topo / The Holy Mountain (Starz / Anchor Bay)
This impressive DVD collection features three of Alejandro Jodorowsky’s earliest films and besides one major complaint I have (when will we get a good NTSC Region 1 DVD release of the director’s best film, Santa Sangre?), this really is a spectacular collection of avant-garde cinema that should be savored. Jodorowsky’s surreal efforts play with genre expectations and are loaded with iconographic imagery and strange landscapes that I never get tired of exploring. El Topo (1970) is probably my favorite film in the collection, but The Holy Mountain (1974) gets more interesting with each viewing. Alejandro Jodorowsky is a fascinating artist and this important collection sheds some much needed light on his body of work. This new DVD set features beautiful restored and re-mastered transfers of his films, plus many impressive extras including soundtracks for El Topo and The Holy Mountain, exclusive in-depth interviews and a feature-length documentary about the director, photo galleries and Jodorowsky’s directorial debut short called La Cravate, which was long thought lost.

Anais Nin in Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (1954)

The Films of Kenneth Anger” Vol. 1 and Vol. 2(Fantoma)
Fantoma should be applauded for bringing this terrific two-volume collection of Kenneth Anger’s esoteric short films (1947-1981) to DVD. Previously I had only seen a few of Anger’s films (Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome, 1954 and Invocation of My Demon Brother, 1969) on poor-quality videos, but Fantoma really did a spectacular job of restoring these experimental movies and they look better than ever. I’ve only managed to watch the first volume of this new DVD collection myself, but I wanted to include both volumes on my list because I think Anger’s work is smart, challenging, thought provoking and well worth seeking out. Many interesting counterculture figures and artists such as Anais Nin, Anton LaVey, Mick Jagger and filmmaker Curtis Harrington appear in Anger’s films and collaborated with him, which makes these films important historical documents as well as fascinating viewing. Extras include a deluxe 48-page book with an introduction by Martin Scorsese, audio commentary from Kenneth Anger, rare outtakes and more.

The Singing Street (1952)

Free Cinema (Facets)
This amazing three-disc DVD collection from Facets collects many influential short films from Britain’s Free Cinema movement, which helped reinvent documentary in the early 1950s and gave birth to the British New Wave. Working on shoestring budgets with hand-held 16mm cameras, directors like Karel Reisz, Tony Richardson and Lindsay Anderson were able to create startling films that brilliantly brought Britain and its working-class citizens to life, while exploring the underlying social tensions that seemed to be lingering right under the countries surface after WW2. This is the first time these important films (shot between 1952-1963) have been made available on Region 1 DVD and they really highlight the imagination and intelligence of these young British filmmakers, who would go on to create some of the greatest films made in the sixties and seventies. This three-disc DVD collection includes an extensive booklet from the BFI (British Film Institute) and an interesting documentary about the Free Cinema Movement. I hope to write much more about the films in this wonderful collection soon.

Peter Cushing in From Beyond the Grave (1973)

From Beyond the Grave (Warner Home Video)
Please see my previous review of this terrific Amicus anthology film HERE.

Horrors of Malformed Men (1969)

Horrors of Malformed Men (Synapse Films)
For years I’ve been hoping someone would unearth this rare experimental Japanese horror film that was often assumed lost after it was banned in Japan shortly after its initial release, so you can imagine how happy and surprised I was to discover that Synapse was releasing it on DVD last year. Thankfully the film did not disappoint and Horrors of Malformed Men (1969) turned out to be one of the most fascinating Japanese horror films I’ve ever seen. Horrors of Malformed Men is based on an original novel by the popular Japanese author Edogawa Rampo that borrows a lot from H. G. Wells’ classic The Island of Dr. Moreau. Director Teruo Ishii takes what could have been a somewhat familiar premise and turns it into a fascinating fever dream that combines Butoh dance, stunning color photography and a haunting soundtrack by famed composer Masao Yagi. You might laugh, you might cry and you might even have your mind blown by this unapologetically strange and surreal film. Be sure to watch the great interviews included on the DVD with directors Shinya Tsukamoto and Minoru Kawasaki, which only add to the film’s enjoyment and offer an interesting look at the influence this unusual movie had on a new generation of Japanese filmmakers. Other great extras include audio commentary by author Mark Schilling, the original Japanese trailer, a poster gallery and detailed biographies of director Teruo Ishii and author Edogawa Rampo.

Malcolm McDowell in If…. (1968)

If…. (Criterion Collection)
When I first saw Lindsay Anderson’s If…. (1968) it deeply affected me and helped spark my lifelong interest in British cinema. Over the years my admiration for Anderson’s smart film about British youth “revolting against the status quo and daring to imagine what it might be like to put something else in its place” (David Ehrenstein - from his Criterion Essay written for DVD release of If….) has only grown. In the film Malcolm McDowell gives an iconic performance as a troubled student named Mick Travis who rebels against the system with his imagination and wits. I love the way Anderson creatively mixes color with black and white photography within If…. in order to give Mick Travis an inner life that’s so incredibly rich that he seems to literally live and breath right on the screen. If…. has often been compared to Jean Vigo’s 1932 classic Zero for Conduct and Anderson was undoubtedly inspired to some degree by that film, but If…. is clearly a product of the turbulant times that it was made in and frankly it’s a superior and more complex effort that ranks as one of the greatest and most important British films of the sixties. Criterion really did a remarkable job on their two-disc DVD presentation of If…., which includes a newly restored high-definition digital transfer of the film approved by cinematographer Miroslav Ondricek, an insightful audio commentary with actor Malcolm McDowell and film historian David Robinson, interviews with McDowell, Ondricek, Anderson’s assistant Stephen Frears, producer Michael Medwin and screenwriter David Sherwin, Anderson’s Academy Award–winning documentary about a school for deaf children called Thursday’s Children (1954) narrated by Richard Burton and a very nice booklet featuring articles about the film by David Ehrenstein, as well as screenwriter David Sherwin and director Lindsay Anderson.

Links to the first, third and fourth part of my Favorite DVD Releases of 2007 list can be found here:
- Favorite DVD Releases of 2007: Part I. - The DVD Year in Review - An Introduction
- Favorite DVDs of 2007 Part III. (#11-20)
- Favorite DVDs of 2007 Part IV. (#21-30)

Part III. of my Favorite DVD Releases of 2007 - #11-20 will be posted soon so stay tuned!

The DVD Year in Review - An Introduction

Apologies to anyone awaiting my DVD Pick of the Week, but I’m afraid I’ve been too busy compiling my list of Favorite DVDs of 2007 to keep up with current releases. Next week I’ll try to get back on track, but in the meantime I wanted to share some of my thoughts on last year’s DVD releases, which I’m still enjoying.

Even with some of my favorite DVD companies such as NoShame Films missing in action in 2007 and Blue Underground seemingly stuck in redistributing Anchor Bay’s old catalog, the year still turned out to be a terrific one for fans of ’60s and ’70s cinema. Lots of great movies from my favorite film eras found their way onto DVD for the first time. Many other previously released films also got deluxe DVD treatments such as Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver (1976), Richard Lester’s Help! (1965) and Roman Polanski’s Chinatown (1974). As usual, Criterion offered buyers a wide array of remarkable movies from many different countries and many other smaller companies and boutique labels such as Fantoma, Media Blasters, Kino, Severin, Synapse Films and Dark Sky Films left an impressive mark on the DVD market.

The Stanley Kubrick - Warner Home Video Directors Series DVD Collection
was one of the years many highlights.

I was especially happy to see British and Japanese cinema so well represented on DVD last year. You’ll find a lot of rare and previously hard to see films from both of those countries on my list of Favorite DVDs from 2007. Many of the Japanese films on my list were never theatrically released in the U.S. and have never been easily accessible in any form. I was frankly rather surprised and disappointed after looking over countless lists of “Best DVDs of 2007″ at the end of the year published in newspapers, magazines and online to find that so many critics continued to overlook and underestimate the quality of the great Japanese cinema being released on DVD lately. Even though western audiences now have access to lots of noteworthy films, Japanese cinema from the sixties and seventies continues to suffer from very little critical response. This is really a shame since some companies who release Japanese films on DVD have already announced that they will be cutting back on the number of films they release in 2008. Considering that my brief look at the pinky violence genre last year generated the most blog hits I received all year and was linked to, copied and quoted from numerous times, I suspect that things will change in the future. As I pointed out in that piece, many critics and potential viewers are just discovering that there is life in Japanese cinema outside of the work of Kurosawa, Ozu and Mizoguchi.

I was also thrilled to see lots of great spy films from the sixties find their way onto DVD thanks to a renewed interest in James Bond after the success of Martin Campbell’s Casino Royale (2006). Even though I only included Caprice (1967) on my list, I seriously considered adding Dark Sky’s wonderful Drive-in Movie Double Feature of Assassination in Rome (1965) and Espionage in Tangiers (1965) as well. I also really wanted to like Image Entertainment’s Kommissar X (1966) DVD Collection more, but the poor quality of the film transfers made some of the movies almost unwatchable and they weren’t helped by the horrible packaging and lack of extras. I really wish Image had made an effort to restore the Kommissar X films since they are terrific entertainment and worthy of a much better presentation. Because of the problems with this set it was probably my biggest DVD disappointment of last year, but I’m happy that I finally got to see these great movies. Besides the release of so many terrific spy films and satires, fans of the genre were also gifted with some great television shows made available on DVD for the first time including Jason King (1971-72), The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964-68) and more episodes of The Wild Wild West (1965-69). I expect this trend to continue well into 2008 and beyond since anticipation for the upcoming James Bond film Quantum of Solace (2008) is high.

There were a surprising number of DVD re-releases last year, which I often found rather frustrating since I personally don’t have the extra funds to buy multiple copies of the movies I enjoy, but I’m also glad that so many previous releases were improved upon. Unfortunately many of these noteworthy re-releases were left off my list because I haven’t seen them yet. Few American films managed to make my list and I was really disappointed by the lack of giallo films that were made available on DVD in 2007. My Favorite 2006 DVD list was dominated by great Italian thrillers and many American classics, but both are relatively absent from my 2007 list. Naturally I wasn’t able to see every film I was interested in seeing and I’ve found that my local DVD rental options are becoming narrower every month. After Borders, Blockbuster and Best Buy moved into town and the much missed Tower Records sadly went out of business, small local shops and rental options started disappearing as well. Even the large local retail outlets like Borders have stopped carrying many DVDs released by small boutique labels and new Criterion releases are not available for rent anywhere. This is a sad state of affairs considering that I live in the Bay Area right outside of a major metropolitan area like San Francisco. It’s frustrating to have so many great films now available and so few options to rent or purchase DVDs. I’m an occasional impulse buyer and sometimes I enjoy being able to jump in my Mini Coop, visit a local shop and pick up a DVD I suddenly have an urge to see, but that hasn’t happened in months.

Complaints aside, I do want to stress that 2007 was a truly great year for DVD releases. Many of my favorite films were released for the first time and I was introduced to some amazing movies that I had never seen before. Although we’re only six weeks into 2008, it’s already shaping up to be another fabulous year for DVD releases and I expect it will only get better!

The 3 Rules I followed when compiling my list of Top 30 Favorite DVD Releases of 2007:
1. All DVD were released in the U.S. in 2007 (NTSC Region 1)
2. All the DVDs feature films that were originally released in the ’60s or ’70s.
3. Selections are listed Alphabetically and without numerical preference.

Part II. of my Favorite DVD Releases of 2007 will be posted soon so stay tuned!

UPDATE:
- Favorite DVDs of 2007 Part II. (#1-10)
- Favorite DVDs of 2007 Part III. (#11-20)
- Favorite DVDs of 2007 Part IV. (#21-30)

I was hoping I’d get the chance to watch the new Criterion release of Lindsay Anderson’s This Sporting Life (1963) this week, but unfortunately I haven’t had the opportunity to. Since I’ve seen the film before and I have great respect for it, I really have no problem recommending the new Criterion disc. It promises to be one of the best DVD releases of the year.

I plan to delve deeper into the film in the future after I have a chance to view it again and you can expect to see a lot of posts from me discussing the British New Wave and British cinema in general in 2008.

In the meantime, if you haven’t had the pleasure of seeing Anderson’s gritty bleak drama yet, I highly recommend This Sporting Life. The film was produced by the talented filmmaker Karel Reisz (Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment, etc.) and his influence on the production seems somewhat apparent when you watch the film. This Sporting Life is really a pivotal film in Lindsay Anderson’s directorial career and undoubtedly one of the most important films to come out of the British New Wave. It also features one of Richard Harris‘ finest performances.

The new Criterion DVD boasts a lot of great extras including multiple short films by Lindsay Anderson, audio commentary by Paul Ryan and David Storey, a documentary and interviews with people who knew and worked with the director. Criterion’s two disc DVD presentation of This Sporting Life is currently available from Amazon for $34.99 and the film is also available for rent from online sources like Greencine and Netflix.

This week I’m kick-starting my 2008 DVD Picks of the Week with one of my longtime favorites, Cornel Wilde’s brilliantly executed and often neglected masterpiece, The Naked Prey (1966), which was released on DVD by Criterion this week. Coincidently, back in July of 2007 the inquisitive Dennis Cozzalio asked his blog readers the following question:

What movie, either currently available on DVD or not, has never received the splashy collector’s edition treatment you think it deserves? What would such an edition include?

My head swam when I was considering my response because frankly there are hundreds of films that are not available on DVD that I would love to see get released as “splashy collector’s editions.” Of late I’ve often wondered why some of the most important American films from the ’60s and ’70s featuring poignant social commentary or anti-war sentiments aren’t available on DVD so in my response to Dennis I mentioned that I’d love to see splashy collector editions of Dalton Trumbo’s Johnny Got His Gun (1971) and Cornel Wilde’s The Naked Prey (1966) among other films. At the time that I mentioned The Naked Prey I had no idea that Criterion was planning on releasing the film on DVD so you can imagine how surprised and happy I was when I discovered that Criterion would be releasing it many months later. The Naked Prey wasn’t exactly given a “splashy collector’s treatment” by Criterion, but considering that this is the first time this magnificent movie has been made available on DVD, I couldn’t be much happier with the results.

The Criterion disc includes a beautifully restored digital widescreen transfer of the film, audio commentary by film scholar Stephen Prince, the original soundtrack cues created by director Cornel Wilde and ethnomusicologist Andrew Tracey, along with a written statement about the score by Tracey, the original theatrical trailer for the film and a written record of the events of 1913 involving a trapper’s flight from Blackfoot Indians—which was the inspiration for The Naked Prey—read by actor Paul Giamatti, plus a booklet featuring a new essay by film critic Michael Atkinson and a 1970 interview with Wilde that I wish had been captured on film.

While watching The Naked Prey again I was truly stunned by the incredible look of this classic film, which is made all the more evident thanks to the fine restoration work done by Criterion. Cornel Wilde was a popular and handsome Hollywood star who appeared in some great historical dramas, crime pictures and adventure films during the ’40s and ’50s, but he only started directing his own movies later in life. It’s a shame that he didn’t spend more time behind the camera because Wilde clearly shows he’s got some extremely impressive directing abilities with The Naked Prey.

The film tells the rather simplistic tale of a group of white hunters in colonial Africa led by Cornel Wilde. When one of the men offends a tribesman they encounter, the hunters are all attacked, captured and killed, except for Wilde. Since Wilde is the only man in his hunting group who showed the natives any respect, they offer him a running start before they begin to hunt him like an animal. Thankfully luck is on his side and he manages to survive much longer than anyone expects. The Naked Prey features very little dialogue and no subtitles, even though various native dialects are heard throughout the film. Instead, Wilde uses the natural jungle sounds and the film’s effective score to tell his memorable tale.

Some potential viewers will probably assume that The Naked Prey is a typical adventure film set in Africa where the good and wise white hunters must fight off the primitive jungle savages, but frankly nothing could be further from the truth. The film does use typical conventions found in countless adventure films made before the sixties, but Wilde injects his movie with insightful social commentary about racism and oppression in South Africa, where the film takes place. Using fantastic footage he shot of the natural wildlife, Wilde was also able to smartly examine complex ideas about man’s primitive animal instincts and basic survival urges that could all be considered rather timely topics in 1966 as well as today.

The film is also just plain entertaining and stunning to look at. The African countryside and its people had rarely appeared more beautiful in a Hollywood film before. Wilde shoots their actions and rituals with an artists’ eye and the audience is asked to sympathize with the land and the human beings that populate it instead of merely fearing them. The film might appear slightly outdated now, but its final humanist message of understanding and unity is as pertinent as ever and when viewed in context of the time that it was made, The Naked Prey is truly a remarkable achievement.

Cornel Wilde was 54 years old when he directed and starred in The Naked Prey, but the actor has rarely looked better. He performs all his own stunts in the film and it’s obvious that he took good care of himself. His performance in the movie is very understated and purely physical, but that’s what makes it so impressive. With very little dialogue and character background, Wilde was able to infuse his role with a lot of life.

The Naked Prey is Cornel Wilde’s most well-known directorial effort and it was a worldwide success on its initial release. In recent years the film has often been overlooked or forgotten, but I’m glad that Criterion has finally made the movie available on DVD so more people can discover it. I’ve watched it twice in the last couple of days and I really enjoyed the in-depth audio commentary provided by Stephen Prince. Prince clearly has a lot of love for the film and he offers listeners plenty of information about the production that was new to me. The Naked Prey DVD retails for $39.95 and it’s currently available at Amazon for $29.99. You should also be able to find the film for rent online at Netflix and Greencine.

The face is the door to the mind.
Without it, the mind is shut off. There is no communication.
- Mr. Okuyama (Tatsuya Nakadai) in The Face of Another

One of my favorite Japanese films is Hiroshi Teshigahara’s The Face of Another (a.k.a. Tanin no kao, 1966) and it’s getting the Criterion treatment in a fabulous Box Set of Hiroshi Teshigahara films which comes out tomorrow. This new Criterion set promises to be one of the best DVD collections of the year and I’m really looking forward to it! Criterion has been releasing some truly great films this year and I can already confirm that many of them will be finding their way onto my “Best DVDs of 2007″ list which I’ll be compiling at the end of the year when I follow-up last year’s list.

Besides The Face of Another, this new DVD set from Criterion will also include Teshigahara’s critically acclaimed Woman in the Dunes (a.k.a. Suna no onna, 1964) and a ghost story called Pitfall (a.k.a. Otoshiana, 1962) that I haven’t had the opportunity to see yet. All three films are based on the work of the Japanese author Kobo Abe who has often been compared to Kafka. Kobo Abe also wrote the screenplays and even appears briefly in one of the bar scenes in The Face of Another.

Director Hiroshi Teshigahara was a pivotal figure of the Japanese new wave and his avant-garde films helped shape the direction of modern Japanese cinema. He was born in Tokyo in 1924 and managed to survive WW2 before graduating from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music in 1950. He came from an artistically inclined family and his father was the founder and grand master of the Sogetsu School of Ikebana (Japanese flower arranging). During the fifties Teshigahara was active in various artistic circles in Japan and focused his energies on painting and sculpture, as well as flower arranging before turning to cinema. These artistic pursuits served him well because the director clearly has an incredible eye and his early films are filled with creative imagery that greatly adds to the dark drama found in his films.

Few critics use the word “horror” when they’re discussing Teshigahara’s work and I think that’s a shame. Contrary to popular belief among some, “horror” and “science fiction” are not dirty words and it deeply bothers me that both genres are still maligned by many otherwise thoughtful film critics. There’s just no getting around the fact that Teshigahara’s The Face of Another is clearly a horror film, albeit a smart, thoughtful and incredibly beautiful horror film. Those familiar with great horror and sci-fi classics like Georges Franju’s brilliant Eyes Without a Face (a.k.a. Les Yeux Sans Visage, 1960), Jess Franco’s wonderful The Awful Dr. Orloff (a.k.a. Gritos en la noche, 1962) and even Don Siegel’s classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) might be able see a few similar themes running through Teshigahara’s The Face of Another.

The film begins with a man (Tatsuya Nakadai) seeking help from a psychiatrist (Mikijiro Hira) to deal with the mental anguish he’s suffering after having his face horribly disfigured in an accident. He’s unable to cope with his current appearance and in turn his marriage and job are both suffering. The psychiatrist decides to design a highly realistic mask made of experimental materials for the man to wear in order to conceal his face. Instead of helping the man deal with his identify crisis, the new mask only seems to plunge him further into despair and dire consequences follow. A parallel story plays out along with the main narrative, which tells the story of a lovely young woman who is trying to cope with her own facial disfigurement caused by the bombing of Nagasaki during WW2.

The Face of Another is a disturbing meditation on the meaning of identity in a country devastated by war and still dealing with the aftermath of the American occupation. Director Hiroshi Teshigahara uses elements of fantasy to tell his tale, but the real terrors he conjures up are often hidden in haunting metaphors about the horrors of war and its consequences, which creep into every aspect of this mesmerizing production. The film even manages to take on new meaning in our current culture where people are willing to give up their individuality by having plastic surgery in order to obtain what they consider “perfect” looks or to hide the unstoppable signs of age.

The Face of Another has an incredibly surreal quality and it’s undoubtedly one of the most amazing looking films that I’ve ever seen. Director Teshigahara and his cinematographer Hiroshi Segawa carefully construct every frame of The Face of Another and make full use of Masao Yamazaki’s stunning set designs. Last but not least, the impressive soundtrack by experimental composer Tôru Takemitsu adds another layer of depth to this complex film. The movie also features the Japanese pop idol and musical performer Bibari Maeda who gets to a sing a song in the movie.

The new Three Films By Hiroshi Teshigahara DVD Box Set also includes some fantastic extras such as four short films by Hiroshi Teshigahara: Hokusai (1953), Ikebana (1956), Tokyo 1958 (1958), and Ako/White Morning (1963), a new documentary about the working relationship between Teshigahara and Kobo Abe, video essays on all three films by critic James Quandt, interviews with Japanese-film scholars Donald Richie and Tadao Sato, a booklet featuring essays by James Quandt, Howard Hampton, Audie Bock, and Peter Grilli, plus Max Tessier’s 1964 interview with Teshigahara.

If you’d like to see more screen shots from The Face of Another please visit my Flickr gallery for the film.

Important Note: My DVD captures were taken from the Eureka Masters of Cinema PAL DVD that was released in 2005 and I can only assume that the new Criterion release will look just as good, or better.

Edited to add: I also came across the original Japanese trailer for The Face of Another on YouTube which is well worth a look.

There’s not a lot of serious war films that I like. So many of them are badly put together propaganda filled with ridiculous ideas about heroism and patriotism that have very little basis in the reality of war and rarely convey the true horrors of it.

Oddly enough I’m also fascinated with WW1 and WW2. I tend to devour history programs about the topics and have plenty of books about both wars in my personal library, so i