"Come Summer, come, the sweet seasoun and sun." - James I, King of Scots
07.2024
1 from Criterion
Le samouraï (France, 1967)
In his moody 1967 noir Le samouraï, French director Jean-Pierre Melville cast Alain Delon as Jef Costello, a fedora-wearing, Japanese-inspired hitman who, after wiping out a Paris nightclub owner, tries to stay one step ahead of both his murderous employer (Jean-Pierre Posier) and his police nemesis (François Perier). Criterion's new edition of this classic thriller has two Blu-ray discs: one 4K UHD with the film only, and one regular Blu-ray with the film and a host of extras, only one of which is new to viewers outside France: a 23-minute documentary by Olivier Bohler called "Melville-Delon: D'honneur et de nuit," from 2011. The others include a series of French-language interviews (optional English subtitles provided, as per the film itself) with author Rui Nogueira from 2005, with Melville from 1970 and 1967, with Delon from 1967, with his sister and co-star Nathalie Delon from 1968, and with co-stars Perier from 1982 and Cathy Rosier from 1970. There's also an English-language interview with author Ginette Vincendeau from 2005 and a restored theatrical trailer. The accompanying booklet includes an essay by film scholar David Thomson, an appreciation by filmmaker John Woo, and excerpts from the book Melville on Melville. Do note that the visuals on the 4K UHD are considerably darker than the regular BD.
2 from Powerhouse
Single White Female (U.S., 1992)
Initially dissed by the critics but ultimately grossing five times its $16 million budget, Swiss-born Hollywood director Barbet Schroeder's Single White Female is an erotic psycho-thriller that hits all its trashy marks and manages to look great at the same time. After a breakup, up-and-coming New York City fashion-software designer Alison "Allie" Jones (Bridget Fonda, daughter of Peter) advertises for a female roommate to share her spacious Upper West Side apartment. A shy, plain-Jane named Hedra "Hedy" Carlson (Jennifer Jason Leigh, director Noel Baumbach's ex) answers her ad, they hit it off, and Hedy moves in. That's when things go south: sometimes a bad roomie can also take over your life, literally. For its new region-B Blu-ray, issued on its Indicator label, British distributor Powerhouse Films ports over all the extras from Shout! Factory's 2018 U.S. BD and adds a new half hour interview with London-based horror film critic Anna Bogutskaya. The other extras, all six years old, include: an audio commentary with Schroeder, editor Lee Percy and associate producer Susan Hoffman; a half-hour interview with Schroeder; another half hour with screenwriter Don Roos; a 20-minute sit-down with actor Steven Weber (who played Allie's fiancé), seven minutes with co-star Peter Friedman (who played her gay upstairs neighbour); a theatrical trailer and a 48-image gallery. The accompanying booklet has a new essay by Australian film producer Georgia Humphreys, archival essays, and a contemporary article on the making of SWF.
Sombra verde (Untouched) (Mexico, 1954)
Remember Ricardo Montalbán? Of course you do: he was the suave, enigmatic, white-jacketed Mr. Roarke of the 1970s'-80s hit TV series Fantasy Island. Well, get ready to see the Mexican actor as a young man, all ripped muscles bared under the jungle sun in Sombra verde (Green Shadow, retitled Untouched for the anglo market), a Spanish-language adventure melodrama from 1954. He plays a scientist waylaid by injury in Veracruz who falls for a reclusive farmer's wild young daughter (model-turned-actress Ariadne Welter). Shot by Canadian cinematographer Alex Phillips, the black-and-white picture is racy in parts (with the teen heroine's nipples visible under her wet shirt, and all that), and that may be why, for its world debut on Blu-ray, British distributor Powerhouse is releasing the film in North America only; British censors didn't clear it. Restored in 4K from the original negative, with new optional English subtitles and alternative English dub, the disc has a number of newly recorded extras: an audio commentary with film historian and Mexican cinema specialist David Wilt; interviews with archivist Viviana García Besné (great-niece of producers Guillermo and Pedro Calderón), historian Rafael Aviña (discussing director Roberto Gavaldón), and writer Roberto Fiesco (discussing the life and career of Montalbán; a restored trailer and an image gallery. The accompanying booklet has a new essay by Edinburgh-based feminist film programmer Camilla Baier, archival essays, a making-of article, and full film credits.