New to View: April 15
By Bob Bloom
The following titles are being released on Tuesday, April 15, unless otherwise noted:
Sands of Iwo Jima (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray)
Details: 1949, Kino Lorber Studio Classics
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: John Wayne received his first best actor Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of Sgt. John Stryker in this action-packed World War II tribute to the Marines.
Stryker, a man beset by personal demons, drives his recruits to the point where they loathe him. But they finally come to realize he is making them into better men and battle-hardened soldiers.
Co-starring with Wayne are John Agar, Adele Mara, Forrest Tucker, James Brown, Wally Cassell, Arthur Franz, Richard Jaeckel and Julie Bishop.
The movie’s highlight is the assault on the Japanese stronghold on Iwo Jima and the flag-raising on Mt. Suribachi.
The movie, directed by the veteran Allan Dwan, features the great special effects that were the forte of Republic Pictures.
Technical aspects: 4K: 2160p ultra-high definition, 1.37:1 full-screen picture; English DTS-HD Master Audio; English subtitles; Blu-ray: 1080p high definition, 1.37:1 full-screen picture; English DTS-HD Master Audio; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus features include a making of featurette hosted by Leonard Maltin and a commentary track with filmmaker-historian Steve Mitchell and Steven Jay Rubin, author of “Combat Films: American Realism.”
Ugetsu: Combo Edition (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray)
Release date: April 1
Details: 1953, The Criterion Collection
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: Famed filmmaker Kenji Mizoguchi directed this historical fantasy-drama set during the Japanese civil wars of the 16th century.
Two villagers with big dreams, Genjurô, a potter, and Tõbei, who dreams of being a samurai, take Genjurô’s wares to a nearby town where he sells them and earns much money.
A respected sage advises the potter’s wife about seeking profit in times of upheaval. He also tells her of an imminent attack on their village
But her greedy husband ignores her and later, when the village is attacked, the two men and their wives must flee.
The movie is masterfully photographed and incorporates elements of period drama and ghost tales.
One of the film’s most poignant subtexts is the abandonment of wives by their husband who prefer to chase material rewards over the peace and love of family.
“Ugetsu” won the Silver Lion Award at the 1953 Venice Film Festival.
Technical aspects: 4K: 2160p ultra-high definition, 1.37:1 full-screen picture; Japanese LPCM monaural; English subtitles; Blu-ray: 1080p high definition, 1.37:1 full-screen picture; Japanese LPCM monaural; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus components include a commentary track by critic, filmmaker and festival programmer Tony Rayns; a 1975 documentary about Mizoguchi; a 2005 interview with Tokuzo Tanaka, first assistant director on the movie; a 1992 interview with cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa; and a booklet with an essay and three short stories that inspired the movie.
Heavens Above! (Blu-ray)
Details: 1963, Kino Lorber Studio Classics|
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: Peter Sellers stars in another Boulting brothers comedy, this time he plays the Rev. John Smallwood, an activist prison chaplain who is accidentally assigned to a wealthy parish that is not too happy with his progressive ideas.
The movie is a satire of cleric life in England, the abuses of charity as well as the class system and snobbishness. A touch of cynicism is emitted throughout in its examination of human behavior. The farce is not too heavy-handed nor is it preachy.
“Heavens Above!” features a strong supporting cast of British actors including Cecil Parker, Isabel Jeans, Ian Carmichael, Bernard Miles and Eric Sykes. The cast also includes Brock Peters, Miles Malleson, William Hartnell and Roy Kinnear.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.66:1 widescreen picture; English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: The main extra is a commentary track by authors and comedy historians Gemma and Robert Ross.
Blue Sunshine (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray)
Details: 1977, Synapse Films
Rated: R, violence, language
The lowdown: A cult horror film about people transforming into murderous psychopaths and the individual accused of the killings who goes on the run to try and determine the truth.
Zalman King stars as Jerry Zipkin who, blamed for the killings of several people at a party, flees, hoping to clear his name.
As Zipkin begins his investigation, he realizes that all the killers, who have lost their hair before going on their rampages, may be connected to a drug each took a decade before — an LSD-type substance called “Blue Sunshine.”
This low-budget feature, written and directed by Jeff Lieberman, has developed a following over the years. The killers all seem to be former hippies who are tripping on the bad acid they took years before.
This is one of those guilty-pleasure, time-capsule features that can simultaneously shock you and make you laugh.
The supporting cast includes Deborah Winters, Robert Walden, Mark Goddard and Alice Ghostley.
Technical aspects: 4K: 2160p ultra-high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 and 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH subtitles; Blu-ray: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 and 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Lieberman is front and center in several of the bonus offerings, including two commentary tracks; an introduction to the movie; a 2003 interview with the director; a “Lieberman on Lieberman” video interview; a Channel Z “Fantasy Film Festival” interview with Mike Garris and Lieberman; a Fantasia Film Festival 4K premiere question-and-answer session with moderator Michael Gingold and, who else, Lieberman; two anti-drug “scare films”: “LSD-25” (1967) and “LSD: Insight or Insanity?” (1968); two versions of Lieberman’s first film, “The Ringer” — the original uncut version from a projector print source and the final release version from the original camera negative with an optional commentary track by Lieberman and moderator Howard S. Berger; a liner notes from Lieberman.
“Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema XXV” (Blu-ray)
Release date: April 8
Details: 1947-54, Kino Lorber Studio Classics
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: Another trio of movies that look at the underbelly of society are featured in this newest release in Kino Lorber’s “Dark Side of Cinema” series.
Included in this three-disc set are “The Flame” (1947), “City That Never Sleeps” (1953) and “Hell’s Half Acre” (1954).
John Carroll plays a scoundrel who has squandered his family inheritance. To get more money, he convinces his girlfriend, played by Vera Ralston, to marry his rich, terminally-ill half-brother, played by Robert Paige.
But as plots go in these types of movies, Ralston actually falls in love with Paige, complicating Carroll’s dreams of getting the money.
“City That Never Sleeps” follows five characters though a tough night in a Chicago police precinct. The cast includes Gig Young, Mala Powers, William Talman, Edward Arnold and Marie Windsor.
Young plays a police officer who is considering leaving the force, but after the events of the night — and some words of wisdom from his new, mysterious partner, Sgt. Joe (Chill Wills), he decides to remain on the force.
Hawaii is the setting for “Hell’s Half Acre,” in which ex-racketeer Chet Chester (Wendell Corey) is being blackmailed by his former partners. When his girlfriend, Sally (Nancy Gates), kills one of Chester’s enemies, he takes the rap, while a visitor from Los Angeles, played by Evelyn Keyes, comes to believe that Chester is her former husband.
The cast also includes Elsa Lanchester, Marie Windsor, Jesse White, Key Luke and Philip Ahn.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.37:1 full-screen picture (“The Flame” and “City That Never Sleeps”) and 1.66:1 widescreen picture (“Hell’s Half Acre”; English DTS-HD Master Audio; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include commentary tracks on all three movies.
“Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema XXIII” (Blu-ray)
Release date: Feb. 11
Details: 1949-58, Kino Lorber Studio Classics
The lowdown: James Cagney, Burt Lancaster and Steve McQueen are among the stars featured in this set of noir thrillers.
First off is “Rope of Sand” (1949), set in post-World War II South Africa. Lancaster plays Mike Davis, a hunting guide who comes across a cache of diamonds in a mining area. Beaten by Vogel (Paul Henreid), the mining company’s security chief, he refuses to reveal the location of the diamonds.
Davis leaves South Africa but returns to retrieve the gems. In the process, he also meets and falls in love with the shady Suzanne (Corinne Calvet).
The cast also includes Claude Rains, Peter Lorre, Sam Jaffe and Mike Mazurki.
Cagney stars in “Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye” (1950) as vicious career criminal Ralph Cotter who, after escaping from a prison work camp. Cotter kills his escape partner, then woos and begins a brutal affair with the man’s sister, Holiday (Barbara Payton).
Cotter again takes up his criminal life, despite being pressured by a couple of corrupt cops. In the end, Cotter dies the way he lived — violently.
The cast also includes Helena Carter, Ward Bond, Barton MacLane, Luther Adler, Steve Brodie and John Litel.
McQueen costars in one of his early roles in “Never Love a Stranger” (1958). The movie stars John Drew Barrymore who begins a life of crime after running away from an orphanage.
McQueen is his boyhood friend who has risen to become district attorney. The bitter Barrymore, now part of a crime syndicate, develops a change of heart and throws in with his pal to help shut down the organization.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.37:1 full-screen picture (“Rope of Sand,” (Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye”) and 1.66:1 widescreen picture (“Never Love a Stranger’); English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio monaural; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include commentary tracks on all three movies — critic-screenwriter Gary Gerani on “Rope of Sand,” author-critic Alan K. Rode on “Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye” and writer-critic Julie Kirgo and writer-filmmaker Peter Hankoff on “Never Love a Stranger.”
Lead Belly: The Man Who Invented Rock & Roll (DVD)
Release date: April 11
Details: 2022, Pop Twist
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: A documentary that looks at the life and legacy of blues singer Lead Belly.
As George Harrison once claimed, “No Lead Belly, no Beatles.” And through interviews with such musical legends as B.B. King, Harry Belafonte, Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, Odetta, Arlo Guthrie and others, you are provided an insightful and unique view of Lead Belly’s life and music.
The movie uses rare video footage and live performances to demonstrate Lead Belly’s charisma and legendary musical talent.
His story is one of perseverance, resilience and brilliance; with the story also touching on cultural history and an examination of this great musician as an artist and historical figure.
Viewers will learn about Lead Belly’s enduring influence on the evolution of rock ‘n’ roll.
Technical aspects: 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English Dolby digital stereo.
Play It Again, Sam (Blu-ray)
Release date: Feb. 11
Details: 1972, Kino Lorber Studio Classics
Rated: PG
The lowdown: Woody Allen stars in this film adaptation of his Broadway play, which was his first feature with Diane Keaton.
Herbert Ross directed the romantic comedy in which Allen plays Allan, a zealous movie buff who continually hallucinates about Humphrey Bogart, played by Jerry Lacy, offering him advice on how to be successful with women.
Allan’s married friends, Dick (Allen regular Tony Roberts) and Linda (Keaton), fix him up with several eligible women, but his low self-confidence proves his downfall with each one of them.
Allan eventually discovers that the one woman with whom he can be himself is Linda.
But, as in his favorite film, “Casablanca,” Allan sacrifices his feelings so that Linda can remain with Dick.
The movie’s finale, set at a foggy airport, is a tribute to “Casablanca,” with the ghost of Bogart telling Allan that he has found himself and does not need him anymore.
Critics loved the movie, giving it a 97 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: A commentary track with screenwriter-producer Alan Spencer and author-film historian Justin Humphreys is the main extra.
The Eel (Blu-ray)
Details: 1997, Radiance Films
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: A man is released on parole from prison after serving time for killing his unfaithful wife. He takes with him his only friend, a pet eel, to whom he mostly talks.
Wishing to stay out of trouble, he takes over a rural barber shop that soon becomes a gathering place for the eccentric locals. The discovery of a woman’s failed suicide attempt, though, changes his life. He hires her to work at the shop.
Soon, she begins to develop romantic feelings for the barber, but he is reluctant to reciprocate — going so far as refusing the box lunches she brings him when he goes eel hunting.
Other complications arise with the barber having to return to prison for a parole violation for a year, and the young woman promising to wait for him.
This compassionate story, which garnered an 81 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes, is a haunting feature about two people trying to put the wounds of the past behind them.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; Japanese LPCM monaural; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus materials include interviews with critic Tony Rayns, “Eel” screenwriter Daisuke Tengan, a visual essay by Tom Mes on the year 1997 as a turning point in Japanese cinema and a booklet featuring an interview with “Eel” director Shôhei Imamura.
“Oscar Micheaux: The Complete Collection” (Blu-ray)
Release date: Feb. 11
Details: 1920-40, Kino Classics
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: Oscar Micheaux was a black moviemaker who operated outside the studio system producing, on shoestring budgets, movies that explored the Back experiences of their times.
This five-disc set features Micheaux’s surviving body of work, capturing the depth of nuances of Black culture and life and challenging the negative stereotypes commonly viewed in mainstream, Hollywood movies.
The set spotlights “Within Our Gates” (1920), “The Symbol of the Unconquered” (1920), Body and Soul” (1925), “The Darktown Review” (1931), “The Exile” (1931), “The Girl from Chicago” (1932), “Ten Minutes to Live” (1932), “Veiled Aristocrats” (1932), “Murder in Harlem” (1935), “Underworld” (1937), “Swing!” (1938), “God’s Step Children” 1938), “Birthright” (1939), “Lying Lips” (1939) and “The Notorious Elinor Lee” (1940).
These movies are a window to Black society of the eras in which these movies were seen.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.33:1 full-screen picture; English intertitles on “Within Our Gates,” “The Symbol of the Unconquered” and “Body and Soul” and English DTS-HD Master Audio on the sound features.
Don’t miss: Trailers for “Harlem After Midnight” (1934) “Temptation” (1936), “Veiled Aristocrats.” “God’s Step Children” and “Birthright” comprise the extras.
Oscar Micheaux: The Superhero of Black Filmmaking (DVD)
Release date: Feb. 11
Details: 2021, Kino Classics
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: A documentary that looks at the life and career of influential African American filmmaker Oscar Micheaux.
Working outside the Hollywood system with miniscule budgets, Micheaux financed, produced and released more than 40 movies that served as a positive counterpoint to the racism of society and the mainstream movie industry.
The documentary follows Micheaux’s journey as he followed the urban migration to Chicago, abandoned the city to become a homesteader in South Dakota and eventually became an author and movie producer.
Micheaux, who died in 1951, is discussed by such experts and fans as filmmakers John Singleton, Marvin Van Peebles, Kevin Wilmott, Haskell Wexler, Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman, director and president of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures and Turner Classic Movies host Jacqueline Stewart and rapper Chuck D.
For anyone interested in a complete history of cinema, this documentary is a wonderful resource.
Technical aspects: 1.78:1 widescreen picture; English Dolby digital; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include interviews with Wilmott and trailers from four of Micheaux’s movies.
Uncle Buck (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray)
Release date: Feb. 18
Details: 1989, Kino Lorber Studio Classics
Rated: PG
The lowdown: John Candy stars in this family comedy written and directed by John Hughes.
Candy’s Buck is an idle, good-natured bachelor who, in a family emergency, takes care of his nephew and nieces.
Unaccustomed to suburban life, fun-loving Buck soon charms his younger relatives, Miles (Macaulay Culkin) and Maizy (Gaby Hoffmann) with his cooking skills and unique way of doing the laundry.
The only one not impressed with Buck is Tia (Jean Louisa Kelly), his rebellious teenage niece and Chanice (Amy Madigan), his impatient girlfriend.
Buck would not be the first person to call to watch kids, but he actually surprises everyone with his skills, as unorthodox as they are.
Technical aspects: 4K: 2160p ultra-high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 and 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio; English subtitles; Blu-ray: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 and 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: Two commentary tracks, one by film historians Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Josh Nelson, the other by film historian Joe Ramoni and, on the Blu-ray disc, an interview with Kelly comprise the extras.
Burke & Hare (Blu-ray)
Release date: April 1
Details: 1972, Kino Lorber Studio Classics
Rated: R, violence, sexual situations, language
The lowdown: The stories of grave robbers William Burke and William Hare has been told and referred to in many films, the atmosphere surrounding the pair were often associated with Gothic horror.
But director, Vernon Sewell, working from a script by Ernie Bradford, takes a more playful — sometimes even comical spin — on the pair.
Sewell’s move is a colorful look at the taverns, brothels and surgical theaters of 1820s Scotland.
What detracts from the movie is its erratic style — sometimes deadly serious, other times funny.
The depiction of the two Irish scoundrels is rather playful. Overall, the movie is an undercooked stew of dark comedy, bawdy eroticism with a dash of the grotesque.
Plus, it offers a jarring theme song totally out character with the movie’s setting.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.66:1 widescreen picture; English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include a commentary track with film historian-screenwriter Gary Gerani, a “Grave Diggers: Corpses on Film” interview with Dr. Patricia MacCormack and an interview with costar Françoise Pascal.
The Sidewalks of Bangkok (DVD)
Details: 1984, Redemption Films
Rated: Not rated, violence, bloody images
The lowdown: A crime thriller in which Eva, who works in a Bangkok brothel, has come into possession of a deadly chemical capable of wiping out an entire city.
Most of the movie deals with various secret agents and minions of an evil syndicate vying to get control of the chemical.
Murders, double-crosses and violence are the name of the game in this movie which, supposedly set in Bangkok, was filmed in France.
The movie is just average, despite being directed by Jean Rollin, best known for his vampire stories. The filmmaker said that Boris Karloff’s 1932 “The Mask of Fu Manchu” was an inspiration for this film.
Technical aspects: 1.33:1 full-screen picture; French Dolby digital; English subtitles.
Whore (Blu-ray)
Release date: Feb. 4
Details: 1991, Kino Lorber
Rated: NC-17, sexual content, language, violence
The lowdown: Provocative, notorious filmmaker Ken Russell (“Women in Love,” “The Devils,” “Tommy”) directed this examination in the life of a prostitute, played by Theresa Russell.
Russell’s Liz is a cynical “pretty woman” who has seen and done it all. Russell, who helped adapt the film from a play by David Hines, often has Liz talk directly to the screen as she confesses her darkest secrets in a stream-of-consciousness monologue.
The movie, set in Los Angeles, captures the tawdry, brutality and complexities of a sex worker.
Co-starring is Benjamin Mouton as her heartless pimp and Antonio Fargas a friend of Liz.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.78:1 widescreen picture; English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: An interview with co-screenwriter Deborah Dalton, a video comparison of alternate versions and a commentary track by novelist-critic Tim Lucas comprise the extras.
“Two Spaghetti Western Classics” (4K Ultra HD)
Release date: Feb. 4
Details: 1967-68, Kino Lorber Studio Classics
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: After the success of Sergio Leone’s collaborations with Clint Eastwood, the market for the Spaghetti Western skyrocketed. Many of these, including the pair in this set, star American actors.
This set features a pair of them — “The Hellbenders” (1967) and “Kill Them All and Come Back Alone” (1968).
Joseph Cotten (“Citizen Kane,” “The Third Man”) stars as the patriarch of a family of ex-Confederate killers who massacre an Army convoy carrying millions in cash to finance an invasion of the North.
But before he and his cohorts can re-ignite the Civil War, they have to smuggle a coffin filled with the stolen loot across a savage frontier.
The film features a memorable score by Ennio Morricone.
“The Rifleman” himself, Chuck Connors, stars in “Kill Them All and Come Back Alone.” In 1864 mercenary Clyde MacKay (Connors) leads a tough band of hombres on a mission for the Confederate high command to infiltrate an enemy fortress and steal millions in gold from the Union Army.
Revenge and double dealings are among the challenges faced by MacKay. The set features the 99- and 100-minute cuts of the movie.
Technical aspects: 2160p ultra-high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture (“The Hellbenders”) and 2.35:1 widescreen picture (“Kill Them All and Come Back Alone”); English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio both movies and Italian 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio (“Kill Them All and Come Back Alone”); English subtitles.
Don’t miss: Commentary tracks on both movies by filmmaker Alex Cox are the main extras.
Other titles being released on Tuesday, unless otherwise indicated:
Heart Eyes (Blu-ray & DVD) (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment)
Night Call (DVD & VOD) (Magnolia Home Entertainment)
DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, STREAMING or VOD
Captain America: Brave New World (Marvel Studios-Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment)
Count Me In (Level 33 Entertainment)
Daddy (Anchor Bay Entertainment)
Darkest Miriam (Game Theory Films)
Dovey’s Promise (Gravitas Ventures)
Eephus (Music Box Films)
Final Vows (Amazon-First Run Features)
The Handmaid’s Tale: Season 6, Episode 4 (Hulu)
It’s Our Time (One Tree Entertainment)
The Masquerade (Reel 85 Productions)
Vitalik: An Ethereum Story (Gravitas Ventures)
APRIL 16
Good American Family: Episode 6 (Hulu)
Government Cheese: Episodes 1-4 (Apple TV+)
No Man’s Land: Season 2, Episodes 1-8 (Hulu)
The Studio: Episode 5 (Apple TV+)
APRIL 17
The Blues Under the Skin (Kino Film Collection)
Pervert’s Guide to Ideology (Kino Film Collection)
APRIL 18
Artie Shaw: Time Is All You Got (Film Movement Plus)
Dead Mail (Shudder)
Dope Thief: Episode 7 (Apple TV+)
Jane: Season 3 (Apple TV+)
Killer Barbys (Film Movement Plus)
Sisi & I (Film Movement Plus)
Your Friends & Neighbors: Episode 3 (Apple TV+)
I am a founding member of the Indiana Film Journalists Association. I review movies, 4K UHD, Blu-rays and DVDs for ReelBob (ReelBob.com), The Film Yap and other print and online publications. I can be reached by email at bobbloomjc@gmail.com. You also can follow me on X @ReelBobBloom and on Facebook at ReelBob or the Indiana Film Journalists Association. My movie reviews also can be found at Rotten Tomatoes: www.rottentomatoes.com.