The DVD Report #40

A long, but ultimately rewarding film, Andrew Dominik’s The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is informed by its gorgeous cinematography by ace Roger Deakins and the score by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis.

Hailed as a revisionist take on a time-tested story, the film really doesn’t add much to the legend filmed numerous times by such master directors as Henry King (1939’s Jesse James), Samuel Fuller (1949’s I Shot Jesse James) or Nicholas Ray (1957’s The True Story of Jesse James). However, it does add a new element in suggesting that Jesse James may not have been the mythical hero legend made him out to be nor Robert Ford the coward history has long held him to be.

The film’s slow pace isn’t helped by the lethargic performances of Brad Pitt as Jesse James, Mary-Louise Parker as his wife, and several members of the supporting cast, but it is more than made up for by the virtuoso performances of Casey Affleck as Robert Ford and Sam Rockwell as his brother Charlie. Much has been made of Affleck’s awards recognition, including his Oscar nomination, in the supporting category when he is really the co-lead of the film. Hollywood politics aside, the character can be considered either a lead or supporting one in my estimation as he is off the screen for large chunks of time. In either case it is undeniably one of 2007’s best performances.

With media attention focused on the Broadway-to-Hollywood adaptations of Hairspray and Sweeney Todd, the year’s best movie musical, Across the Universe, pretty much fell under the radar. Directed by Julie Taymor (Titus, Frida), this tribute to the anti-war movement of the 1960s played out against Beatles music was fairly dismissed by critics who ridiculed it as being the bastard son of Hair and Moulin Rouge! While its sets may evoke the latter, its sentiments are clearly with the former.

The narrative follows a young Liverpool lad named Jude (Jim Sturgess) who treks to America in search of the father who abandoned him and meets and falls in love with student radical Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood). The Beatles music perfectly suits the storyline and the sets pieces of “Let It Be”, “Hey Jude”, “All You Need Is Love” and others are exceptionally well done. The credits sequence at the end of the film is nicely played out against a psychedelic rendering of “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds”. The film is nominated for a Costume Design Oscar and was a Golden Globe nominee for Best Picture – Musical or Comedy.

An engrossing, if highly implausible vigilante melodrama, The Brave One benefits from the strong performances of Jodie Foster as a woman wronged and Terrence Howard as the cop she plays cat and mouse with. Ultimately, however, it’s just another dumb retread of Death Wish despite the Class A production under Neil Jordan’s assured direction.

The Weinstein Company has released El Cid, the first of the Samuel Bronstein epics it holds the rights to. The Fall of the Roman Empire, 55 Days at Peking and Circus World won’t be far behind.

Previously available in sub-par Region 2 and region-free versions, this is a glorious transfer of the Anthony Mann directed epic about the 11th Century Spanish hero, complete with loads of extras. You will never view the film in the same way again after you learn that Charlton Heston and Sophia Loren refused to look at one another in their scenes together. Heston despised Loren for her then-record $1,000,000 salary and for refusing to age appropriately during the span of the film. There’s no telling what Loren disliked about Heston. Perhaps it was his wooden acting.

The Limited Collectors Edition Gift Set also includes a written introduction from Martin Scorsese, reproductions ofthe original 1961 souvenir program and an El Cid comic book and six color production stills.

Universal is re-issuing the double disc set of Imitation of Life (1934 and 1959 versions) complete with commentaries missing from the previous release. Though both films have their admirers, most film historians give the edge to Douglas Sirk’s 1959 version, but the jury’s still out on whether the 1934 Claudette Colbert-Louise Beavers-Fredi Washington version or the 1959 Lana Turner-Juanita Moore-Susan Kohner version is the better acted. Moore and Kohner won Oscar nominations for their performances, but to be fair the supporting actress category wasn’t established until 1936 so Beavers and Washington had no chance of being so honored.

Universal is also releasing a double disc of two other Lana Turner films, Portrait in Black and Madame X, as well as a triple film set of the three best Tammy films: Tammy and the Bachelor, Tammy Tell Me True and Tammy and the Doctor.

A sleazy melodrama, 1960’s Portrait in Black seems better now than it did back then because of its once in a lifetime cast of Turner, Anthony Quinn, Sandra Dee, John Saxon, Lloyd Nolan, Ray Walston and Anna May Wong, as eclectic a cast as you’ll find in any Hollywood film.

The perennial soap opera Madame X was done better in both its 1929 and 1937 incarnations, the former winning Ruth Chatterton an Oscar nomination, the latter providing a rare starring opportunity for character actress Gladys George, but the Turner version is worth a look. John Forsythe, Keir Dullea and Constance Bennett, who died before the film’s release, co-star.

The first of the Tammy films, 1957’s Tammy and the Bachelor was a surprise box-office hit and still holds up thanks to the charm of its cast headed by Debbie Reynolds, Leslie Nielson, Walter Brennan, Mala Powers, Sidney Blackmer, Mildred Natwick, Fay Wray and Louise Beavers.

Sandra Dee took over for Reynolds in 1961’s Tammy Tell Me True and 1963’s Tammy and the Doctor. If Dee is a bit too sugary sweet and her leading men, John Gavin in the former and Peter Fonda in the latter, too bland, they are more than compensated for by the superlative work of Beulah Bondi as a feisty old lady paired with Cecil Kellaway in the former and Reginald Owen in the latter.

Back in a brand new Collector’s Edition, the 1960 Oscar winning The Apartment trumps the previous bare bones DVD release on all counts. A feature length commentary, two documentaries and a sparkling new transfer all for under $15 make this one well worth the double dip. The film itself ages quite well, thanks to Billy Wilder and I.A.L. diamond’s peerless dialogue, Wilder’s spot-on direction, and the performances of the entire cast starting with Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine and Fred MacMurray at their absolute best.

Sony, which purchased both Columbia and Tri-Star Pictures, as usual, has been busy releasing updated anniversary editions of some of its biggest hits. Out today are the 30th Anniversary Edition of Midnight Express, the 25th Anniversary Edition of Tootsie and the Special 15th Anniversary Edition of Groundhog Day.

Of the three, Midnight Express is the most comprehensively updated. Released ten years ago in a 20th Anniversary Edition with just a featurette, the 30th Anniversary Edition includes commentary by Billy Hayes whose early life story it portrays, among others, and three brand new featurettes. It also includes a written memoir by director Alan Parker who reveals some interesting casting tidbits.

Tootsie offers a new feaurette but no commentary. Groundhog Day adds two new featurettes to the one available on the previous release and retains director Harold Ramis’ commentary.

Among the most recent Criterion releases are three gems, Alf Sjoberg’s Miss Julie (1951), Lindsay Anderson’s This Sporting Life (1963) and Cornel Wilde’s The Naked Prey (1966).

A Grand Prix winner at the Cannes Film Festival, and ridiculously censored in its initial U.S. showings, Miss Julie is a visually haunting version of the Strindberg play sparked by Anita Bjork’s fiery performance in the title role. The extras include a 2006 TV documentary about Strindberg and the play.

Previously released in a bare bones DVD, This Sporting Life has been given deluxe treatment in the Criterion release. The classic kitchen sink drama about a poor rugby player and his landlady features a commentary by David Story, original author and screenwriter of the film and Paul Ryan, an expert on Lindsay Anderson. Extras for the film, which won well deserved Oscar nominations for Richard Harris and Rachel Roberts, include a documentary on Anderson as well as three of his films. Those films are his first, the 1948 documentary Meet the Pioneers about a mining engineering firm, the 1952 documentary Wakefield Express about the town where This Sporting Life was later filmed, and his final film, the autobiographical Is That All There Is?

Actor/director Cornel Wilde’s The Naked Prey is a terrifying tale of a man hunted like an animal in primitive Africa. Praised for its vivid widescreen camera work and unflinching depiction of savagery, the film marked a pinnacle in Wilde’s career. Extras include commentary by film scholar Stephen Prince and a reading by actor Paul Giamatti of “John Colter’s Escape” a 1913 account of the trapper’s flight from Blackfoot Indians which was the inspiration for the film. Also included is a 1970 interview with Cornel Wilde.

Happy viewing!

-Peter J. Patrick (February 5, 2008)