DVD Releases We Dig This Week (03.26.13)

Good heavens, there is a lot of great stuff this week, no matter what kind of cinema you're into. (Easter is around the corner, so if the Easter Bunny leaves you any money, it'll be well used at the DVD shop.) As always, Olive Films has a boatload of titles. First up, there are a handful of John Wayne films from his days at Republic: Westward Ho (1935); The Lawless Nineties (1937); A Man Betrayed (1941); Wyoming Outlaw (1939) (the latter is part of the Three Mesquiteers series, of which Olive had released several films last year).

And here are some more classics from Olive: The Duke's frequent boss John Ford is represented with the excellent underrated The Sun Shines Bright (1953); Jean Arthur and Charles Coburn in the brilliant screwball comedy The Devil and Miss Jones (1941) (My God- how has this not been released previously!?); Ruthless (1948), from everyone's favourite poverty row auteur Edgar G. Ulmer; Mickey Rooney in the underrated comedy The Atomic Kid (1954) (scripted by a young Blake Edwards!); the 1954 film noir Hell's Half Acre; and Samuel Fuller's offbeat Korean War epic, China Gate (1957) (another one long overdue). And for good measure, there is also Hector Babenco's underrated screen adaptation of Ironweed (1987).

Two new releases from Criterion for the arthouse crowd: Robert Bresson's A Man Escaped (1956) and Charlie Chaplin's black comedy Monsieur Verdoux (1947). 

There is no shortage of fun for the midnight movie - cult film enthusiast either! The always impressive Shout! Factory has released collectors' editions of the favourites, Phantasm II (1988) and From Beyond (1986). This week they also debut Futureworld (1976), the underrated sequel to Westworld, and the complete series of the great Japanese TV show, Johnny Sokko and His Giant Robot. 

 Still want more? Okay, then! Scorpion's line of Katarina's Kat Skratch Cinema releases the cult epics Alley Cat (1984), and (be still my heart) Angels Brigade (1979)!!

Whew! What a world. More next week.

Shark! (1970)

That lovable, cigar-munching mad genius Sam Fuller was so incensed that the Mexican producers butchered his cut of this movie (filmed under the title CAINE), he ordered his name removed from the credits. Eventually, the movie came out as SHARK!, possibly sank like a stone, but has been a perennial title for years on cheapo public domain video labels. In fact, when Cinematheque ran the Sam Fuller retrospective in 1998, this was the only title not programmed, perhaps out of respect for the director's disdain for this project.

Well, whatever Fuller's intentions were for this film originally, still, you know, I kinda like it. It's no masterpiece, but it isn't a bad little adventure full of the grit and sweat you would expect in anything by this madman. Burt Reynolds is actually rather good as an adventurer who is hired to get some gold buried on the gulf floor surrounded by maneating sharks. Featured in the cast are Barry Sullivan and Arthur Kennedy... but no-one has a character named Griff! Ah well... There's even a kid sidekick (perhaps an influence on confessed Fuller fan Steven Spielberg for INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM), a climax that's almost as wild as that of DEAD PIGEON ON BEETHOVEN STREET (the key word is... almost).. and lots of not-bad underwater action.

It's no great shakes, but it's a pleasant reminder of the kind of undemanding stuff we would still devour like cotton candy at 3 AM watching "The Cat's Pajamas" on Buffalo's TV 2!