First, the stuff I find of especial interest.
There’s no excuse for this, but I didn’t see the Korean Dragon Wars when it was (briefly) out in theaters. Here’s my chance to make up for that. The DVD is a tad pricey, being available for for $18 at Amazon (MSRP is $29!), although that’s because our scale has shifted since the VHS days, when nearly everything was $20. Still, I can see that some would consider this a marginal purchase. Sadly, though, giant monster movies are pretty rare these days.
Meanwhile, Turner Classic Movies next week will be premiering a feature-length documentary about horror icon Val Lewton, The Man in the Shadows, as hosted by Martin Scorsese. In honor of this, they are re-releasing the superlative Val Lewton Collection at an even cheaper price, although the ‘new’ set including the Scorsese documentary (in place of the previously featured documentary, Shadows in the Dark).
Still, for about $40 you gets the documentary and nine (!) Lewton horror classics, including Cat People, Curse Of The Cat People, I Walked With A Zombie, The Body Snatcher (with Bela and Boris), The Leopard Man, The Ghost Ship, Isle Of The Dead (Karloff), Bedlam (also Karloff), and The Seventh Victim. And the discs are stuffed with extras, to boot, including a batch of informative commentaries by various film historians. I can say without hesitation that this is one of the truly essential box sets of the last five years, and if you somehow didn’t get the older one, grab one up now, or at the very least put these on your rental list.
The new documentary will also be available separately, but rather than pay $15 for that alone, unless you are a real Lewton geek, you may just want to rent it or watch it on TCM next week.
I’m *very* happy that we are occasionally seeing releases of TV material from the Golden Days of Camp. I can’t imagine the participants wouldn’t block it, but this makes me hope for an official Battle of the Network Stars release someday.
In the meantime, viewers of a certain age will no doubt be fascinated by The All-Star Family Feud set. Back when Richard Dawson was the host and the Feud was a *huge* daytime show, they did a series of one hour primetime specials that pitted the casts of TV shows, old and (for then) current. Dig this:
Shows include: Adventure Heroines vs. Adventure Heroes Brady Bunch, Your Hit Parade, Petticoat Junction, Leave It to Beaver Love Boat vs. WKRP & Soap vs. Real People Hollywood Walk of Fame Special Love Boat vs. Eight is Enough & Family vs. What’s Happening Heroes vs. Villians Dallas vs. Eight is Enough & One Day at A Time vs. Benson Soap, All My Children, Eight is Enough, General Hospital Dallas, It’s A Living, The Jeffersons, Dukes of Hazzard The Ropers, Angie, Dukes of Hazzard, The Waltons Love Boat vs. Eight is Enough & Soap vs. Three’s Company Barney Miller vs. Eight is Enough & Welcome Back Kotter vs. Soap Eight is Enough vs Family & Welcome Back Kotter vs. Love Boat Gilligan’s Island vs. Hawaiian Eye Battle of the Perfect 10s
Man, that’s just gold. Amaze and appall your friends. You get 12 hours (!) of material on 4 discs. If nothing else, it would make a nice gift for your parents or grandparents, as the case may be.
Other TV shows available this week include The All New Super Friends Hour: Season #1: Volume 1; (the Wonder Twins year; lame, though, doing a two disc half season rather than one full one); Gunsmoke S2, Vol 1; The Kingdom (the Danish horror show) Series 1 & 2; Lovejoy S2; The Riches S1; Two and a Half Men S2 and The Waltons S6.
As for other movies:
American Commandos is prime ’80s action inanity with Christopher Mitchum and John Phillip Law. In other words, it probably sucks.
Broadway Melody of 1929 Film buffs may wish to check out this early sound pic, the first musical to win the Best Picture award. Considered the grandfather of the MGM musicals.
Mammoth Sci-Fi Channel schlock. Let’s go to the Foy!
Maneater More of the same, but with a tiger. Foy? (Short version: Foy does *not* recommend.)
Thanks, as always, to anyone who uses a link here to buy something (anything) from Amazon. It’s not necessary, but I really appreciate it.
