10 Questions with Shane Briant

by Kimberly Lindbergs | May 4, 2009

Categories | Books, Actors, British Cinema, Hammer Horror, Interviews, Featured, Gay Interest, 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 and he has recently completed a psychological thriller called Worst Nightmares that will be released in the US on 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 via an email exchange about his early movies and current writing projects.

Cinebeats: Your first starring role was in the 1972 Hammer horror film Demons of the Mind directed by Peter Sykes where you played the disturbed brother of Gillian Hills. Thanks to the impressive cast, which also included Manfred Mann vocalist Paul Jones, Demons of the Mind seemed to be an early attempt by Hammer to try and attract a younger and possibly more “happening” audience. I personally think the film is very effective and rather daring for its time due to its subject matter. How did you get the part?

Shane Briant: I’d just finished playing the role of a ‘damaged’ youth in Children of the Wolf at the Apollo Theatre in London’s West End with Yvonne Mitchell and Sheelagh Cullen. It was a three-gander. I was nominated for the London Theatre Critics Award for Best Newcomer that year. So in some respects I was ‘hot’. That’s when Michael Carreras signed me to a two-year contract with Hammer films. Demons of the Mind was the first film.

Cinebeats: After making Demons of the Mind you starred in the unusual Hammer thriller Straight On Till Morning, which also featured the accomplished British actress Rita Tushingham and was directed by the talented filmmaker Peter Collinson. Your performance in the film as a deeply disturbed young man is very impressive. I suspect that it was a demanding role. Did you do any research in order to flesh out your character?

Shane Briant: There wasn’t any research I could do. If I’d been a dentist I would have researched how dentists work but being a psychopath, there’s not much specific info. So I just tried to be normal and yet appear weird. Maybe that’s me?

Cinebeats: In 1973 you played Dorian Gray in a made-for-TV version of Oscar Wilde’s classic story The Picture of Dorian Gray. It’s one of my favorite adaptations and you did a terrific job of capturing the decadent elegance found in Wilde’s character. You seemed to really enjoy yourself in that role. Was it a challenge to play such a notable and notorious character like Dorian Gray?

Shane Briant: Not really since there had only been one version before me – that of Hurd Hatfield. He actually came to visit us on set. He was pretty cool. Not overly friendly. What I thought might be interesting is to get away from Hurd’s performance. It had very obvious gay overtones. Though I kept a bit of the bisexual qualities of the character in, I think mine was very different from his. The script was very loosely based on Wilde’s book anyway so I stuck to the script as much as possible. Glenn Jordan is a master director. He’s won at least 7 Emmy’s – that says it all. Nigel Davenport was the most fun actor I have ever worked with. Hugely funny and a great technician.

Cinebeats: After making The Picture of Dorian Gray you took a break from horror and appeared in John Huston’s 1973 spy thriller The Makintosh Man alongside James Mason, Ian Bannen, Dominique Sanda and the recently deceased Paul Newman. Your role is rather small and I wish you had been given a bit more to do in the film, but you’re very memorable as James Mason’s evil henchman Cox. Can you tell me a little bit about your experiences working with the Oscar winning director as well as the impressive cast on that film?

Shane Briant: I had a much larger part initially. But when I arrived on set in Malta I was told they were now re-writing the script day by day and I’d get the ‘pages’ at midnight every night. This was a huge disappointment to me. The fact of the matter was that Huston had just made a film that was very special to him (Fat City) and The Mackintosh Man was, as far as every one of the stars (as well as Huston) was concerned, simply a money-spinner to be finished before Christmas so everyone could go on holiday. That’s why it was perhaps one of Paul Newman’s least spectacular films. Newman was a delightful man. Very friendly, very real and modest. He always ate with the crew and when we arrived he got up from his lunch and walked to the three of us English actors, held out his hand and said “Hi. I’m Paul Newman. Welcome to the set." Playing scenes with him was wonderful. Oh, and….his eyes were spectacular. When he looked you in the eyes, you become a rabbit looking at a mongoose. I was intensely sad to hear he died. His charity work was wonderful. I got to know James Mason a bit, but not Sanda.

Cinebeats: You returned to Hammer studios again a year later and made two more movies with them. The terrific Terrence Fisher film Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell with Peter Cushing and the excellent vampire thriller Captain Kronos - Vampire Hunter. You were very good in both films and I’ve read interviews where you’ve mentioned that playing Simon Helder in Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell was your favorite Hammer role. It seems like you were destined to become the next big Hammer star following in the footsteps of Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. I suspect that you would have if the studio hadn’t decided to slow it’s output down to a crawl after 1974 and finally stopped producing films altogether in 1979. Did you have any desire to continue making films with Hammer?

Shane Briant: I did Captain Kronos because there was nothing else for me to do at Hammer and they’d paid for a two-year contract. It wasn’t, I think, a very good film, and I had very little to do in it. It was around then that Hammer started to wind down as a force in the industry so I went and did other things. I wouldn’t have wanted to do just horror films anyway. Mind you, I wouldn’t mind doing another one now – that’d be fun!

Cinebeats: At the end of the ‘70s you seemed to be working non-stop and appeared in many critically acclaimed television productions including the controversial 1975 film adaptation of Quentin Crisp’s autobiography The Naked Civil Servant. Quentin Crisp is a fascinating character and one of the most well known gay icons in Britain. Britain, like most of the world, wasn’t particularly gay friendly in 1975 and even today there’s still a lot of controversy surrounding gay rights. I personally think The Naked Civil Servant is impressive for the way it celebrates individuality and uses humor to examine the effects of discrimination. What prompted you to take on the flamboyant role of Norma in The Naked Civil Servant and was it a difficult film to make?

Shane Briant: I was offered a cameo by Jack Gold. I knew all my scenes would be with John Hurt. Of course I did it. It was fun to really go over the top. Gold actually insisted we did, but the other two ‘girls’ didn’t go as far as Jack wanted. I just let go and had fun. John was great to work with – inspirational. What an actor!

Cinebeats: You’ve continued to act and have appeared in a lot of worthwhile movies including Lady Chatterley’s Lover (1981), Hawk the Slayer (1980), The Lighthorsemen (1987) Grievous Bodily Harm (1988) and Till There Was You (1990) as well as many popular television productions. Are there any performances that you’re particularly proud of?

Shane Briant: The Picture of Dorian Gray and Lady Chatterley’s Lover I think. And quite a lot of the TV stuff over the years. Oh and Farscape Episode: Eat Me (2001).

Cinebeats: You currently seem to be focusing a lot of your attention on writing. Besides fiction you recently wrote the script for the award winning short film A Message from Fallujah (2005), which you also appeared in. When did you start writing and do you find it more rewarding than acting?

Shane Briant: I started writing as an exercise in 1994 when I was contracted to go to Europe on a children’s TV series called Mission Top Secret. I’d been changing my scripts for thirty years so I thought why not see if you can write a novel. So I wrote one day by day as we made our way around Europe. The story started in Spain, moved to Switzerland, then went to Germany, France and finally Poland. I made up a story that fitted. Simple. When I got back I showed it to an agent who showed it to Harper Collins who just happened to be looking for some home grown spy novels. I was lucky. I’ve never stopped. Worst Nightmares is my debut in America. It’s my best work and very dark and thrilling. Not many people who have read it haven’t been taken aback by it’s style. It’s VERY different to other books. Think ‘Dorian Gray’ meets ‘Hannibal Lector’.

Cinebeats: I haven’t had the opportunity to read Worst Nightmares, but the premise sounds intriguing. According to the book’s official site worstnightmares.net it involves a "disturbed killer known as the Dream Healer who seduces his victims into revealing their deepest fears, and then kills them with this knowledge." How did you come up with the idea for the book and was it tough to write?

Shane Briant: I had often wondered how it’s possible that ordinary people will share their most intimate secrets with total strangers on the Internet. They will go to dating sites and reveal all their most secret fears and aspirations. I always thought this very dangerous. After all, what were the people the other end of the cyber beam actually like? So I invented the Dream Healer. People with terrifying nightmares go to his frightening website in the belief that he will cure them of their phobias. Instead he tracks down these unfortunate people and abducts them. Then he realizes their worst nightmares in real time. Amped up a hundred fold. Scary!

Cinebeats: Do you have any writing or acting plans for the future that you’d like to share? Any upcoming projects that you’re particularly excited about?

Shane Briant: I’ve just finished writing the sequel. It’s called Worst Nightmares 2 – The Game. It continues from the last page of Worst Nightmares. I can’t reveal much because your readers won’t yet have read Worst Nightmares but it’s even darker and more….unusual, I think.

Shane Briant will be signing copies of Worst Nightmares later this month in New York at the Book Expo America (BEA). He also blogs and can be found on Twitter.

For more information about Shane Briant’s latest book please visit worstnightmares.net. I also recommend reading Holger Haase’s review of Worst Nightmares at the Hammer and Beyond blog. And you can find more information about Shane Briant at this informative tribute site: Shane Briant.

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Some Thoughts on Jack Cardiff 1914-2009

by Kimberly Lindbergs | April 22, 2009

Categories | News, Directors, British Cinema, Alain Delon, Bikers, Marianne Faithfull, Girl On a Motorcycle, Jack Cardiff, Featured

Jack Cardiff with Marianne Faithfull on the set of 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.

My favorite Cardiff film is The Girl on a Motorcycle (on my list of Favorite Films from 1968), which starred Marianne Faithfull and Alain Delon as two motorcycle obsessed lovers named Rebecca and Daniel. Jack Cardiff directed, photographed and edited the film, and it holds a special place in my heart for numerous reasons. First and foremost is the ingenious casting. Marianne Faithfull and Alain Delon were two of the most beautiful, transgressive and fascinating pop culture icons of the ’60s and teaming them up in The Girl on a Motorcycle was a brilliant idea. They’re incredibly sexy together in the film and Cardiff did a remarkable job of capturing their youthful beauty as well as the erotic heat generated by his two stars.

Jack Cardiff said of filming Marianne Faithfull, “Never since I first saw Marilyn Monroe through the camera lens have I seen such irresistible beauty. To focus on her is to focus the camera on your innermost heart.”

This touching observation is made crystal clear when you watch the film. Cardiff’s camera was clearly infatuated with Marianne Faithfull and there’s an intimacy between the director and the actress on display in The Girl on a Motorcycle that is impossible to overlook.

Cardiff’s penetrating exploration into the mind, heart and body of Marianne Faithfull’s Rebecca is loaded with impressive visual cues and mesmerizing camera effects. The psychedelic edginess of Girl on a Motorcycle may seem somewhat dated now and many people will probably find the movie unworthy of all my praise, but Cardiff’s film is still effective if you’re willing and able to give in to its many pleasures. The sensual nature of the film’s plot combined with Cardiff’s mesmerizing photography and experimental editing make The Girl on a Motorcycle a truly unforgettable film and one of the most fascinating and genuinely sexy movies to come out of Britain in the late ’60s.

In a 1968 interview with Philip Bradford, Jack Cardiff called The Girl on a Motorcycle the only film that was, “truly, entirely my own.” He added that, “On other films in the past I have often been prevented from shooting a picture entirely as I may have wished. But this time I worked on the script, have directed and edited, and have been responsible for the choice of music. I am delighted to have had this total freedom.”

It’s a shame that Jack Cardiff didn’t get that kind of opportunity more often because his directorial efforts showcase the work of an extremely talented man with a painter’s eye and literary ambitions who was willing to take risks and buck convention. We need more film makers like Jack Cardiff.

In a strange coincidence I was planning to devote an entire week to The Girl on a Motorcycle next month because the film is being re-released on DVD by Redemption Films. Instead of waiting until May, I’ve decided to go ahead and start posting some of The Girl on a Motorcycle material I was planning on sharing. Keep your eye on Cinebeats in the coming days for more posts about Jack Cardiff’s film.

The trailer for Girl on a Motorcycle (1968)

Recommended Links:
- BFI: A Tribute to Jack Cardiff OBE
- Gallery Chiaroscuro, the official website for the Jack Cardiff Collection
- Internet Encyclopedia of Cinematographers: Jack Cardiff
- Jack Cardiff at IMDB.com
- David Hudson’s collection of Jack Cardiff Obits at IFC.com

My tribute to the film continues here.

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We Are Controlling Transmission

by Kimberly Lindbergs | April 7, 2009

Categories | News, Rants & Raves, Television, Featured

“There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission. If we wish to make it louder, we will bring up the volume. If we wish to make it softer, we will tune it to a whisper. We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical. We can roll the image, make it flutter. We can change the focus to a soft blur or sharpen it to crystal clarity. For the next hour, sit quietly and we will control all that you see and hear. We repeat, there is nothing wrong with your television set. You are about to participate in a great adventure.”
- Opening narration from The Outer Limits (1963-1965)

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.

The fabulous Kuba Komet TV manufactured in Germany from 1959-1962

As much as I enjoy my new television with its giant screen and crisp digital picture, there’s no getting around the fact that the thing looks incredibly generic and lifeless. Much like modern car and home designs, modern televisions have become standardized to such an extent that they all seem to resemble one another. This can be frustrating to someone like myself who enjoys good design and wants their television to compliment the room it’s placed in.

Buying, restoring and modifying vintage televisions can be a pricey and time consuming endeavor, but thankfully there are other options if you want to own a stylish TV set with a retro look. Some modern manufacturers are creating sleek new televisions based on vintage designs that also feature modern technology. If you’re thinking about buying a new television this year, Cinebeats recommends giving the following options some consideration if you can afford them.

Predicta Televisions

Predicta Televisions from Telstar Electronics
The Philco company originally began producing these stylish televisions sets in the late ’50s. Unfortunately they weren’t very reliable and Philco found themselves bankrupt and out of business in 1960. Their TVs disappeared from stores in 1962. 40 years later Telstar Electronics revived the atomic look of Predicta televisions, but enhanced them with modern technology. The current color Predicta Televisions look as good as the original models, but they offer potential buyers a sharper color picture and they’re HD compatible. To see all of the current Predicta designs available visit the official Telstar site: Official Predicta Television Site

HANNspree Televsions

HANNspree Televsions
HANNspree is a new US company that launched in 2003 and they’re interested in making modern television designs that reflect their buyer’s individual style and personality. They currently offer a wide range of television designs and many of them have a retro look. The images above are just a small sampling of the televisions that HANNspree is selling, but you can see more designs at their website: HANNspree.

Keracolor Televisions

Keracolor Televisions
In 1968 a British designer by the name of Arthur Bracegirdle created the first perfectly spherical TV known as a Keracolor television. This space age design was well received and briefly distributed in the UK by Decca. Now some innovative Manchester residents have brought the design back to life and are manufacturing a new version of the Keracolor televsion featuring modern technology. According to their home grown website the TVs are being sold to US and UK residents. The site appears to be a little outdated, but it’s well worth a look if you’re in the market for a new TV: The Keracolor Sphere

Brionvega Televisions

Brionvega Televisions
Brionvega has been manufacturing TV sets in Italy since 1945. They’ve recently modernized some of their classic designs and created new televisions with a vintage look. Unfortunately they’re only selling their televisions in Europe at the moment, but hopefully US residents will be able to purchase them soon. You can contact Brionvega and request more information about their products at their official website: Brionvega - Design TV

Sony Bravia M Televisions

Sony Bravia M Televisions
Most of the televisions that Sony produces look the same and are impossible to tell apart, but last year Sony released their colorful Bravia M series. These new modern looking 19″ LCD HDTVs are a nice option for anyone who wants a modern television with a little style, but hopefully in the future they’ll produce larger models of the TV with the same colorful look. You can find more information about Sony’s Bravia M series at their official site: Sony Style.

This has just been a small sampling of the current TV options available to anyone who’s seriously interested in retro design. I recommend doing some more hunting online and make sure you compare prices and read consumer reviews before deciding to purchase a new TV.

For more information about the changes coming to television on June 12th please visit the official government sponsored site where you can get a coupon to help purchase a converter box for your current television if needed: TV Converter Box Coupon Program.

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Resurrecting Yusaku Matsuda

by Kimberly Lindbergs | March 27, 2009

Categories | Movie Reviews, Actors, Japanese Cinema, Crime, Featured

The many faces of Yusaku Matsuda (1950-1989)

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 (aka Yuusaku Matsuda).

In the film Matsuda plays a ruthless super criminal named Tetsuya Asakura in the grand tradition of Fantomas, Diabolik and Kriminal. During the day he pretends to be a mild-mannered accountant wearing Clark Kent style glasses and a bad wig, but once the sun goes down he leaves his suit and tie act behind and heads to a secret lair to plot his diabolical schemes. When the film opens Tetsuya has just committed his greatest heist yet, which nets him a cool 100 milllion yen. But he soon finds out that the bills are all marked and in turn, utterly useless. He decides to invest the bad bills into heroin in an effort to turn a profit, but this leads Tetsuya into the dark underbelly of the Japanese criminal underworld and things soon become more complicated than he had imagined. Sex, drugs, blackmail and murder are just a few of the film’s key ingredients, but unfortunately the movie never really comes together like it should have.

Some of the action scenes are impressive and creatively shot, but just when you think the film’s picking up steam it seems to stumble and lose its focus. This made watching Resurrection of the Golden Wolf an incredibly frustrating experience at times. I found myself wanting to yell at the screen more than once and I wondered out loud why the director had made certain choices that didn’t pay off like they could have if someone like Seijun Suzuki was behind the camera. The film also has a misogynistic streak that’s a little nasty and hard to stomach. There’s absolutely no interesting female characters in the entire film and the ones that do appear are terribly underwritten and lifeless. But in the final analysis my complaints about the movie stand in the long shadow of Yusaku Matsuda’s unforgettable performance as tough-guy Tetsuya Asakura and he’s the real reason to watch Resurrection of the Golden Wolf.

Yusaku Matsuda in Resurrection of the Golden Wolf (1979)

Yusaku Matsuda is a remarkably physical actor and his tall, lean, confident frame owns every scene he appears in. He doesn’t just say his lines, he growls and barks them at his costars. Even fellow actors like the great Sonny Chiba seem intimidated by Matsuda’s powerful presence. Much like his predecessor Joe Shishido, Matsuda is a lone wolf who doesn’t run with the rest of the pack. He inhabits the nasty character of Tetsuya Asakura so completely that you’ll find yourself wondering about the actor’s history. Is he just another talented thespian or does Matsuda have the kind of past that would make real criminals blush? In truth, he’s a bit of an enigma in real-life and on film. Much of Matsuda’s background is a mystery, but it’s believed that he was born in a Japanese brothel and grew up on the island of Honshu before finding himself on the streets of San Francisco. His youthful memories consisted of drunken fights and botched suicide attempts according to Mark Schilling who wrote a detailed biography about the actor for the Encyclopedia of Japanese Pop Culture (1997). Matsuda overcame his reckless adolescence and painful past when he returned to Japan and became involved in acting. While working in theater he learned to channel his inner rage and personal turmoil into his performances, which gave him an authenticity that is rarely seen in modern actors

Like many American filmgoers, I first encountered Yusaku Matsuda in Ridley Scott’s action-packed police drama Black Rain back in 1989. In the film Matsuda plays a ruthless Yakuza gangster by the name of Sato who struts through the film sporting dark sunglasses and a long black trench coat. Once you’ve seen the film you’ll never forget his wicked grin and maniacal laugh. He’s arguably the best thing in Ridley Scott’s film. Unfortunately for film audiences, Sato would be Yusaku Matsuda’s last role. The actor was diagnosed with cancer before shooting Black Rain began, but his desire to make a Hollywood film and star opposite popular American actor’s like Michael Douglas made him postpone possible treatment. Could doctors have kept Yusaku Matsuda alive for a few more years? We’ll never know. The disease killed the 40-year-old actor just a few months after Black Rain was released.

Even though Yusaku Matsuda’s career ended prematurely, he did leave us with a rich and fascinating legacy. His talented son Ryuhei Matsuda (Taboo, Cutie Honey, Izo, Rampo Noir, Big Bang Love Juvenile A, Nightmare Detective, Tokyo Serendipity, etc.) is one of the best actors working in Japan today. Like his father before him, Ryuhei Matsuda is also a very physical performer, but his personal approach to acting is completely different. His father is symbolically tied to the image of a lone wolf, but Ryuhei seems to have much more in common with an unwieldy reptile. Instead of a tough-as-nails facade, Ryuhei possess an almost feminine grace as well as incredible beauty that is both charming and disarming.

In Japan Yusaku Matsuda has become an iconic figure and the subject of countless books, film festivals, comics, music tributes and art exhibits, but this legendary actor remains virtually unknown in the US. This is mainly due to the fact that so few of the films and television shows he appeared in are available here and most have never been shown outside of Japan. Information about him at IMDB.com and Wikipedia is woefully sparse and inaccurate, but that might change in the future since the films that Yusaku Matsuda’s starred in are slowly finding their way onto DVD. Hopefully we can look forward to a time when Yusaku Matsuda’s work becomes accessible to a whole new generation of American film fans, historians and critics.

Resurrection of the Golden Wolf was released on DVD by Adness in 2005, but since then the DVD has unfortunately gone out of print. You can currently find new and used copies of the film selling for as low as $2 at Amazon.

Yusaku Matsuda Films Currently Available on DVD in the US:
- Resurrection of the Golden Wolf (Toru Murakawa; 1979)
- Kagero-za (Seijun Suzuki; 1981)
- The Family Game (Yoshimitsu Morita; 1983)
- Black Rain (Ridley Scott; 1989)

Recommended Links:
- Offical Site for Yusaku Matsuda
- Yusaku Matsuda Forever (Fan site)
- Offical Site for Ryuhei Matsuda (Yusaku Matsuda’s son)

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20 Favorite DVD Releases of 2008: Part I.

by Kimberly Lindbergs | March 11, 2009

Categories | Movie Reviews, Horror, Japanese Cinema, French Cinema, American Cinema, Crime, Hammer Horror, Spanish Cinema, Alain Delon, Criterion, Serge Gainsbourg, Helmut Berger, Thrillers, William Klein, Favorite 2008 DVDs, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Featured, Yasuharu Hasebe, Nikkatsu, Delphine Seyrig, Paul Naschy, Sean Connery, Carol Lynley, Seth Holt

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. Many companies such as Blue Underground and Criterion are choosing to re-release films that have already been available on DVD, while big studios like Warner Brothers and Paramount seem to be focusing a lot of their energy on re-releasing titles on Blu-ray instead of releasing old films from their vaults.

Even with this disappointing turn of events, fans of ’60s and ’70s cinema were still offered some great DVD box sets from companies like Lions Gate as well as Criterion. Sony Pictures has also released an interesting batch of DVDs under their new “Martini Movies” label. And with curiosity about Japanese pink films on the rise, companies like Mondo Macabro and Media Blasters took full advantage of this and released some unexpected gems last year. 2008 was also a great year for British horror fans. Besides multiple Hammer DVD releases including the Icons of Horror: Hammer Films Collection and the Icons of Adventure Film Collection, there were also some great Amicus films released such as Freddie Francis’ The Skull and The Deadly Bees.

In previous years I’ve shared a list of my Top 30 Favorite DVD releases, but this year I’m narrowing my list down to my favorite Top 20 releases. This is mainly due to my disappointment with last year’s DVD offerings and I wanted to focus on a limited selection of new releases that I really enjoyed. As always, my list only features films that were originally released between 1960 and 1979 on Region 1 DVD. I tried not to include any DVD re-releases on my list or TV shows, but there were plenty to choose from. My selections are listed in alphabetical order and I’ll be posting them in two parts in the coming week. Below are selections #1-10.

Alain Delon and Romy Schneider in La Piscine (1969)

1. Alain Delon - Five Film Collection (Lions Gate)
Anytime an Alain Delon film finds it’s way onto DVD for the first time there’s a celebration in my home! The Lions Gate Alain Delon DVD boxset was a real treat and offered viewers the opportunity to see five films starring my favorite French actor. I thought the best films in the collection were easily La Piscine aka The Swimming Pool (1969) and Diaboliquement vôtre aka Diabolically Yours (1967), which I reviewed back in 2007. But The Widow Couderc and Notre Histoire also make for some worthwhile viewing. Le Gitan aka The Gypsy (1975) is a bit like sitting through Zorro II, but it’s missing the catchy theme song. I actually enjoy Delon’s original Zorro (1975) film, but Le Gitan left me a little cold. For more information about this DVD release please see my previous comments about it here.

Christopher Walken, Stan Gottlieb and Sean Connery in The Anderson Tapes (1971)

2. The Anderson Tapes (Sony Pictures)
The Anderson Tapes (1971) is one of the hidden gems that can be found in the recent batch of “Martini Movies” released by Sony Pictures. This ’70s caper film was directed by Sidney Lumet when he was at the top of his game and it’s based on a novel written by Lawrence Sanders. The movie features a great cast that includes Sean Connery, Dyan Cannon, Martin Balsam, Alan King and a very young and incredibly cute Christopher Walken in his first major film role. The premise of the film involves a group of con men that Anderson (Sean Connery) brings together in order to pull off a major heist at an upper-class apartment building in New York. Unfortunately for Anderson everyone he contacts is under surveillance for different reasons, so every move he makes is being carefully monitored. Sidney Lumet does an impressive job of filming the events as they unfold through the use of surveillance cameras and sound. And I really liked the adult way that Connery’s relationship with Dyan Cannon was handled. The film was released a year before the Watergate scandal made headlines and three years before Francis Ford Coppala’s seminal film The Conversation, which tackled similar themes. I was surprised by how much The Anderson Tapes had obviously influenced Coppola’s later films and I’m not just referring to The Conversation. Clearly writer Lawrence Sanders and director Sidney Lumet were well aware of the way surveillance was starting to play a role in modern society and the film does a terrific job of exploring the way it invades the life of one unsuspecting man. Quincy Jones created the film’s soundtrack and I think is one of the composers most experimental and unusual efforts. Jones used electronic sounds and noise to convey various emotions and ideas in the film and it works really well with the way Lumet handles the material. The film is presented in widescreen and the print looks terrific. Unfortunately there aren’t a lot of extras on the DVD besides the original trailer and the Martini Movie features which come with every one of their releases.

Assault! Jack the Ripper (1976)

3. Assault! Jack the Ripper (Mondo Macabro)
This is not an easy film to recommend and many will undoubtedly be shocked by the film’s subject matter. Some hardened horror fans will even shy away from the graphic nature of the film, but Assault! Jack the Ripper (1976) is easily one of the most transgressive and fascinating violent pink movies I’ve seen and in turn, one of my favorite DVD releases of last year. Assault! Jack the Ripper was directed by Yasuharu Hasebe who has made some of my favorite Japanese films including Black Tight Killers (1966), Bloody Territories (1969), Female Prisoner Scorpion: #701’s Grudge Song (1973) and the Stray Cat Rock films. The movie centers around the violent and erotic adventures of young working couple who accidentally discover that they get sexual satisfaction from torturing and murdering other women. The film used true crimes such as the notorious Chicago nurse murders committed by Richard Speck for inspiration. It’s propelled by an incredible Euro-flavored soundtrack and some breathtaking cinematography. Assault! Jack the Ripper is not light viewing and audiences should be prepared to watch the DVD extras that come with the film in order to get a deeper understanding of the movie’s subversive themes, but it’s well worth the effort for adventurous viewers. The DVD extras include an insightful interview with author Jasper Sharp who wrote Behind the Pink Curtain: The Complete History of Japanese Sex Cinema, extensive notes about the film and a great documentary called The Erotic Empire which discusses Nikkatsu Studios “Romantic Pornographic” aka Roman Porno films.

Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll (1973)

4. Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll (Special Edition) (BCI / Eclipse)
A lot of Paul Naschy films found their way onto DVD last year, but Carlos Aured’s Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll (1973) was my favorite of the bunch. In this Spanish giallo Paul Naschy plays a deeply troubled ex-con who gets hired as a caretaker for a lavish estate owned by three beautiful sisters who seem to all vie for Naschy’s affections. After Naschy takes the job, a serial killer begins terrorizing the countryside and removing the eyes of his blue-eyed victims. Is Naschy the cold-blooded killer or is someone else to blame for the horrible murders? You’ll have to watch the film to find out! No one in Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll is particularly likable, but I found that aspect of the film strangely compelling. Carlos Aured does a good job with the dream sequences in the film and Paul Naschy ’s script features plenty of unusual twists and turns to keep viewers entertained. Fans of European thrillers should find the film enjoyable. The DVD comes with some great extras including audio commentary with Paul Naschy and director Carlos Aured.

Reiko Oshida in Delinquent Girl Boss: Blossoming Night Dreams (1970)

5. Delinquent Girl Boss: Blossoming Night Dreams (Media Blasters)
For more information about this release please see my lengthy review of the film here.

Serge Gainsbourg, Delphine Seyrig and John Abbey in Mr. Freedom (1969)

6. The Delirious Fictions of William Klein - Eclipse Series 9 (Eclipse / Criterion)
This Eclipse/Criterion DVD collection was one of the best things the company released last year and for my money, possibly the best DVD film collection of 2008. Previously William Klein’s films were incredibly hard to come by and the prints that were floating around from various sources were often very poor. Criterion’s choice to release three of William Klein’s films was a real surprise and a treat for anyone like myself who enjoys avant-garde cinema from the ’60s. Director William Klein was a fashion photographer and an American expat living in Paris when he made these films, which satirize the fashion industry, pervading cultural values and American political policies. Although some may see the films as mere products of the times that they were made in, I think they’re still extremely relevant today. Who Are You, Polly Maggoo? aka Qui êtes-vous, Polly Maggoo? (1966) and Mr. Freedom (1969) are the standout features in this three film set and I’d be hard pressed to pick a favorite from the two. Both films feature some incredible visuals and lots of dark humor. The Model Couple (1977) is also well worth a look even if it’s lacking the style and intellectual punch of the other two films in the collection. This terrific set of films deserves a lot more attention than I can give it now but I briefly mentioned how excited I was about this DVD release last year and you can find that post along with a clip from Who Are You, Polly Maggoo? here. Unfortunately like all the Eclipse/Criterion DVD releases this DVD collection is very bare bones, but still well worth owning.

The Gorgon (1964)

7. Icons of Horror: Hammer Films (Sony Pictures)
I’m always happy to see any Hammer horror films finding their way onto DVD and the 2-disc Icons of Horror collection contained one of my long-time favorite Hammer productions, Terence Fisher’s The Gorgon (1964) as well as Seth Holt’s exceptional thriller Scream of Fear (1961). This four film collection also featured Michael Carreras’s The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb (1964) and The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll (1960). I hadn’t had the opportunity to see Terence Fisher’s The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll before this DVD release and I was really surprised by how well done the film was. I personally think it’s one of the better films based on Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic story thanks to Paul Massie’s excellent duel performance as Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde. The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb is definitely the weakest film in the collection, which still means it’s better than most of the horror films you’ll find playing at your local multiplex right now. All the films look terrific and are presented in widescreen. Terence Fisher and Seth Holt were two of the finest directors that worked with Hammer studios so it’s nice to see them both represented in this great new DVD set. Unfortunately it suffers from a lack of extras which plagues many Hammer DVD releases, but it’s hard to complain when you can currently purchase all four films for a mere $16.99 at Amazon (see link above).

Oliver Reed and Carol Lynley in The Shuttered Room (1967)

8. It!/The Shuttered Room (Warner Home Video)
I have so much I want to say about these two joint British/American productions that I hate trying to sum up my feelings in one paragraph so I may revisit them later, but in an effort to get this list finished up I’ll try and formulate a few quick thoughts. It! (1966) is a highly entertaining horror movie directed by Herbert J. Leder and it stars the talented Roddy McDowall. McDowall plays a mentally disturbed museum curator (playing homage to Anthony Perkins) who finds himself in all kinds of trouble after he displays a strange statue at the museum where he’s employed. The highly improbable plot gets more and more ridiculous as the film unfolds, but I won’t spoil it for potential viewers. It! is a really fun movie that has to be seen to be believed and Roddy McDowall is terrific in it. The second film in this two movie set is David Greene’s The Shuttered Room (1967) and it’s the real reason you should purchase this DVD. The movie features a great cast and two exceptional performances from the film’s star Carol Lynley and her co-star, the late great Oliver Reed. The script is based on a story written by August Derleth, who was H. P. Lovecraft’s posthumous collaborator and Derleth used many of Lovecraft’s own notes and ideas to compile his tale. The finale result may seem a little uneven to some, but I think The Shuttered Room is one of the few films that successfully captures the unsettling mood found in some of Lovecraft’s best fiction. David Greene’s direction is impressive at times, but the film is really elevated by the experimental avant-garde score composed by controversial British jazz musician Basil Kirchin. Kirchin composed music for other British horror films such as The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971) and The Mutations (1974), but his score for The Shuttered Room just might be his most effective. Unfortunately this is another bare bones DVD release with no worthwhile extras, but it’s great to see these deserving horror films finally being made available. I’d previously only seen washed out and cut-up prints of The Shuttered Room on television so I was thrilled by the print quality of this new DVD from Warner.

Jean-Paul Belmondo in Le Doulos (1963)

9. Le Doulos (Criterion)
Le Doulos (1963) is one of Jean-Pierre Melville’s earliest crime films (aka “policier”) and while it’s missing some of the polish of the director’s later efforts, it’s still an exceptional film featuring a truly memorable performance from the great Jean-Paul Belmondo. Belmondo charms his way through the film playing a surprisingly ruthless gangster named Silien, who may or may not be a police informant referred to as a “Le doulos” in French slang terms. The film borrows from many classic noir films, but Melville brings his own trademark style and edginess to the proceedings, which gives Le Doulos lots of modern appeal. Criterion did an exceptional job on their release of Le Doulos and one can only hope that they’ll continue to release more of Melville’s films on DVD in the future. Besides a beautifully restored print of the film, the new DVD comes with some great extras including archival interviews with Melville and actors Jean-Paul Belmondo and Serge Reggiani, audio commentary by film scholar Ginette Vincendeau, the original theatrical trailer and a thoughtful new essay by film critic Glenn Kenny.

Helmut Berger in Ludwig (1972)

10. Ludwig (KOCH Lorber Films)
Few directors know how to create epic historical dramas like Luchino Visconti and Ludwig (1972) is one of the director’s most ambitious efforts. This four hour film is not without its flaws, but if you take the time to watch this dramatic retelling of the life of the “mad” Kind Ludwig II of Bavaria you’ll be rewarded with some lush cinematography, grandiose set designs, fabulous period costumes and great performances from the film’s impressive cast. Like many of Visconti’s previous efforts, the film offers viewers an intelligent critique of the powerful and wealthy, while celebrating their extravagances and mourning the passage of time. One of my favorite actors is the Austrian born Helmut Berger who stars as King Ludwig here and this film offered him one of his most expansive and fascinating roles. Visconti and Berger were long-time lovers and they work extremely well together. Visconti indulged Berger during the making of Ludwig and gave the actor plenty of freedom to bring the mad King to life, but he also knew when to rein him in. The film also features Trevor Howard as composer Richard Wagner, Silvano Mangano as Wagner’s mistress Cosima Von Buelow and Romy Schneider was smartly cast as the Empress Elisabeth of Austria. The lovely and talented Romy Schneider had previously become a star due to her sympathetic portrayal of the young Empress Elisabeth in the popular Austrian Sisi films and she brings a lot of experience and skill to her role. This impressive two disc DVD set from KOCH Lorber Films features a digitally restored and re-mastered widescreen print of the film and it’s loaded with extras including a documentary about director Luchino Visconti, a profile of actress Silvano Mangano and an interview with costume designer Piero Tosi. I wish one or two of the extras included with the DVD focused a bit more on the film’s star Helmut Berger, but that’s a minor complaint. This release is a real treat for Luchino Visconti fans like myself.

The second half of my Favorite DVDs of 2008 list can be found here.

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