Standing In The Shadows of Motown

Amazon.com

Standing in the Shadows of Motown is a must-see film for any fan of the Supremes, the Temptations, Marvin Gaye, or any other classic Motown stars. This swinging documentary celebrates the Funk Brothers--the team of studio musicians who powered dozens and dozens of hit Motown songs--by combining reminiscences, reenactments, and clips from a recent concert put on by the Funk Brothers, featuring singers like Chaka Khan, Ben Harper, and Joan Osborne on classic tunes like "What's Going On," "Ain't Too Proud to Beg," and "Heatwave." This crafty gang of elderly musicians will charm your pants off with a slew of entertaining anecdotes. Though it seems that there's a lot of dirt they're declining to dish, the movie deftly outlines the history of Motown, surely the most significant music label in American history--the label that turned segregated "race music" into chart-topping success. A soulful delight. --Bret Fetzer

Description

Detroit, Michigan, 1959. Berry Gordy gathers the best musicians from the city's thriving jazz and blues scene for his new record company: Motown. For the next 14 years these players are the heartbeat on "My Girl," "Baby Love," "Ooo Baby Baby," "Bernadette," "I Was Made To Love Her," "I Heard It Through The Grapevine," "Dancing In The Street," and every other hit from Motown's Detroit era. By the end of their phenomenal run, the unheralded group of musicians plays on more Number One hits than the Beach Boys, the Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley, and The Beatles combined, making them the greatest hit machine in the history of popular music. They call themselves the Funk Brothers. But no one knows their names...this is their story.

Customer Reviews:

Good Historical Information.......2007-07-14

It's about time that some of these artists finally get their recognition. It's not so much that they are such great performers, but their body of work is incredible

Funk.......2007-07-10

I'm not even a big fan of Motown records, but this film is something else. The Funk Brothers were the sessions players who played on a large percentage of the hits of the 60's and early 70's.
Sadly some of the key players died before this film was made but the remaining musicians get together and play. The contemparay film of them reformed playing motown classics is absolutely marvellous. It helps if you put the 5.1 sound on as well. The first performance brought me close to tears.

The documentary film is also interesting and the stories about the legendary bass player (who I had never heard of) James Jamerson and others are fascinating. I watched it three times in the first month of owning the DVD.

This is an essential music DVD for those interested in the history of Motown.

Do yourself a favor and get it.......2007-07-04

This might be the best 10 bucks you'll ever spend if you like Motown or heck if you like music. It leaves you wanting to know more and many of us who grew up with this music should know more. While some of their stories are heartbreaking it was a pleasure to see Pistol Allen smiling behind the drums even though he was so sick he would die shortly after the completion of the film. It was a sad moment too when two of the surviving brothers describe their last encounter with James Jamerson who would die the day after their visit. But there is fun too, fun for the Funk Brothers and fun for us as we are honored to hear these guys play and play they still can. The band is still very tight and very good. The vocalist do an admirable job of interpreting the hits. It would have been nice to have been graced with Marvin Gaye's and David Ruffin's presence but this is about the Funk Brothers and I for one am damn glad I got to see it.
Thanks to Dr. Lick's for putting this together.

Motown disappointment.......2007-06-27

I was looking forward to seeing the actual footage of the singers. I do appreciate the story of the fellows behind the artists but still, I think the video would have been more enjoyable had they included the actual singers.

FANTASTIC!.......2007-06-18

I rented this from Blockbuster,and immediately bought it. It's sooooo good and informative, I can't describe it. I loaned it to someone who stayed up until 2:00 a.m. to see the whole thing. There are absolutely great live performances from: the late Gerald Levert, (His "Shotgun" is outstanding) Me'shell Indegeocello (sp.)(who sexes up "You Really Got A Hold On Me"), Bootsy Collins, ("Cool Jerk"). Joan Osborne does a great ("What Becomes of the Broken Hearted") and Ben Harper all sing 2 songs. (The only performance I HATED was Ben Harper's "Heard it through the Grapevine"). Chaka Khan, Montell Jordan & Tom Scott also appear. The remaining "Funk Brothers" musicians who played behind the Motown groups,tell funny stories about each other, how they met, Berry Gordy and the label's performers. They even go to "Hitsville" where it all started. There are reinactments, and old photos. It's so good I've seen it at least six times. You will almost cry at the finale when they introduce everyone, even the musicians that have passed away. Their photos are on stage with the remaining members. There is a second disc of extras that I have yet to finish, but the movie itself is wonderful. I've watched it with Black and White people, young and old, and everyone loves it. Go get it. Now.

Average customer rating:

A beautiful movie!
made my mom happy
A very CHARMING movie!
Delightful in so many ways
One of the 10 Best Films I have ever seen!

Shadows in the Sun
Starring: Harvey Keitel , Joshua Jackson , Claire Forlani , Armando Pucci , and Giancarlo Giannini
Director: Brad Mirman
Manufacturer: Buena Vista Home Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $14.99 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( S ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

ASIN: B000C8STWQ
Release Date: 2006-04-25

Amazon.com

Shadows in the Sun is a feel-good movie that tells the story of two men who're struggling to overcome their fears of not being good enough. When Jeremy Taylor (a charming Joshua Jackson of Dawson's Creek) is assigned the unenviable task of tracking down and signing up reclusive author Weldon Parish (Harvey Keitel), he has his work cut out for him. The American expatriate hasn't written a book in 20 years, has no interest in dealing with junior editors such as Taylor, and sees no reason why he should change his idyllic lifestyle in Italy to worry about meeting hurried deadlines and publisher's editorial changes. In reality, Parish--who stopped writing when his wife died--is scared he won't be able to live up to his reputation as a relevant literary icon. After a few fistfights and the reclaiming of a stolen cow, the two begin to bond. A little. As Parish tells Taylor, "I dislike you less today than yesterday." Not as subtle as Diane Lane's Under the Tuscan Sun, Shadows in the Sun highlights the beauty of rural Italy--and of Claire Forlani, who plays Parish's daughter Isabella. The warm acting and lush scenery transcend the film's slow-moving pace and the predictable ending, which, in movies like this, can be nothing other than happy. --Jae-Ha Kim

Description

If you liked UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN, you'll love this wonderful romantic comedy set in the stunning Italian countryside! Ambitious agent Jeremy Taylor (Joshua Jackson -- CURSED, TV's DAWSON'S CREEK) is sent by his London publishing company on a mission to achieve what many others have failed to do: sign reclusive, wildly eccentric author Weldon Parish (Academy Award(R) nominee Harvey Keitel -- Best Supporting Actor, BUGSY, 1991; NATIONAL TREASURE). Once in enchanting Tuscany, however, Jeremy instead falls head over heals for Weldon's beautiful daughter (Claire Forlani -- THE MEDALLION, ANTITRUST) and develops a friendship with the literary master. It's a charming, fun, and passionate tale that's sure to steal your heart!

Customer Reviews:

A beautiful movie!.......2007-09-13

This is a beautiful movie, perfect for a relaxing evening enjoying the Italian countryside. A great date movie, good for lovers, artists, writers, philosophers, people who like to think, and fans of Joshua Jackson (of Dawson Creek fame).

made my mom happy.......2007-08-13

I ordered this for my mother for her birthday, and she could not be happier. She loves this movie so much. I think it is a really sweet movie, myself. The scenery is really pretty and there are some very hilarious moments.

A very CHARMING movie!.......2007-04-15

If you liked "Under The Tuscan Sun", you will enjoy this movie too. It is a romantic comedy filmed in the beautiful Italian town of Tuscany. This movie shows wonderful scenery of the countryside. It really makes me want to visit Italy one day. This movie is about an ambitious agent Jeremy Taylor (Joshua Jackson) who is sent by his London publishing company to convince a reclusive, retired author Weldon Parish (Harvey Keitel) to write again. After Jeremy spends time in Tuscany he finds himself very much in love for Weldon's daughter (Claire Forlani) and also he becomes friends with Weldon. This movie has a little bit of everything...romance, comedy, and wonderful scenes of Italy. However I would consider this a girl's movie...or better yet.."chick flick". It is a good movie for a girl's night together with a bottle of wine. Or a good entertainment on a rainy day. If you are interested in Italy or Italian movies then this is the movie for you. I also am a fan of movies filmed in Italy. I imagine it to be the most beautiful place on earth.

Delightful in so many ways.......2007-04-13

Excellent film, my son is a writer, getting his MFA (Masters of Fine Arts) in creative writing/English, to be a professor at a University, he enjoyed it as well.

One of the 10 Best Films I have ever seen!.......2007-04-05

We loved everything about this film. The acting was some of the best. And how can you go wrong with a backdrop like Tuscany to film in! We loved the tender story of two artists who brought out the best and the worst in each other. Amazing! We would like to see more films like this one. We also enjoyed the extra features on the DVD that explained more fully about the making of the film. Let's see more of this caliber of filmmaking!

Dean and Lori Mickelson

The Val Lewton Horror Collection (Cat People / The Curse of the Cat People / I Walked with a Zombie / The Body Snatcher / Isle of the Dead / Bedlam / The Leopard Man / The Ghost Ship / The Seventh Victim / Shadows in the Dark)

Average customer rating:

Val Lewton gives us a new genre: Endearing horror films
The Val Lewton Horror Collection
The Val Lewton Horror Collection
Quintessential Lewton...
Elegant horror

The Val Lewton Horror Collection (Cat People / The Curse of the Cat People / I Walked with a Zombie / The Body Snatcher / Isle of the Dead / Bedlam / The Leopard Man / The Ghost Ship / The Seventh Victim / Shadows in the Dark)
Starring: Simone Simon , Kent Smith , Tom Conway , Jane Randolph , and Jack Holt
Director: Jacques Tourneur , Robert Wise , and Gunther von Fritsch
Manufacturer: Turner Home Ent
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Classics | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Horror | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Genres | DVD | Video

Sci-Fi & Fantasy | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

Horror | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

Classics | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

( V ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

ASIN: B000A0GOEQ
Release Date: 2005-10-04

Amazon.com

Val Lewton's name is synonymous with the subtlest, most mysterious brand of horror filmmaking in Hollywood's golden age, and the nine horror classics he produced at RKO between 1942 and 1946 constitute the most remarkable cycle of creativity in B-movie history. (For the record, the Lewton/RKO legacy also includes two non-horror entries, Youth Runs Wild and Mademoiselle Fifi.)

Before becoming a film producer, the Russian-born Lewton was a prolific writer of pulp fiction, nonfiction, and a couple of pornographic novels. He also worked for years as assistant to David O. Selznick, a legendary producer with a distinctive personal signature--and a flair for grandiosity Lewton himself never emulated. It's ever so revealing that, on Selznick's Gone With the Wind, it was Lewton who came up with the idea for the famous rising shot of the Atlanta railyard filled with Southern wounded, with the Confederate flag streaming above--only he idly proposed it as a joke, never imagining that anyone would actually film such a spectacularly ambitious scene.

In 1942 Lewton left Selznick to undertake a series of horror films for RKO Radio Pictures. The studio would give him a budget around $200,000 per picture and a title RKO deemed to be grabby; Lewton would have a free hand as long as he stayed on budget, used the title, and gave the studio a salable movie of second-feature length (around 70 minutes). Over time, Lewton would increasingly have trouble with studio supervisors, but RKO was the right place for him. Although low in the pecking order among Hollywood majors, the studio made up for its lack of MGM-style glamour and Warner Bros. grit-and-gusto by working in a finely filigreed, almost miniaturist style. The art department under Van Nest Polglase and Albert S. D'Agostino was capable of exquisite artisanry, and in Nicholas Musuraca, a master of low-key cinematography and supple camerawork, Lewton found an invaluable collaborator in creating moody shadow-worlds where what you couldn't see was more disquieting than what you could.

He was also fortunate in having Jacques Tourneur to direct his first three efforts (they had teamed years earlier on the Bastille-storming sequence for Selznick's A Tale of Two Cities). They scored first time out of the gate with both a popular hit and a masterpiece: Cat People (1942). The story involves a pretty young Serbian woman in Manhattan (Simone Simon) convinced that her ancestors had practiced animal worship during the Middle Ages--and that she herself might shape-change into a lithe, ravening panther if her passions were aroused. The film is uncannily successful in keeping the viewer guessing whether this is a phobia borne of morbid obsession and sexual repression, or a genuine, horrific possibility. There are two sequences of matchless artistry and almost unbearable suspense--a lonely, echoing walk through pools of lamplight alongside Central Park, and a late-night swim in a deserted indoor pool--that build to throat-grabbing climaxes and remain milestones in the history of screen horror.

Many critics feel that the second Lewton-Tourneur endeavor, I Walked With a Zombie (1943), is both men's finest work. The title is so lurid that the heroine-narrator (Frances Dee) must shrug it off with her very first words, yet the movie is an amazingly delicate and poetic piece of spellbinding--nothing less than a reworking of Jane Eyre on a voodoo island in the Caribbean. Other horror aficionados prefer the more mainline ferocity of The Leopard Man (1943), an adaptation of a Cornell Woolrich story about a serial killer strewing corpses along the U.S.-Mexican border. Although on one level this is the Lewton film that veers closest to conventional mystery-suspense, there's no end of unsettling ambiguity (another black panther on the loose!) and hints of occultism and religious mania.

RKO promoted Tourneur to A-movies after this; Lewton would never again have so masterly a directorial partner. Yet in a weird sense (which is only appropriate), this underscores how much Lewton--with his wealth of arcane historical lore and storytelling archetypes, his quiet, patient attention to detail, and his taste for oblique narrative--was the essential auteur of all his films. Promoting first Mark Robson and then Robert Wise from the editing table, Lewton went on to make the deeply mysterious The Seventh Victim (1943) and The Ghost Ship (1943), two films in which such grotesque elements as Satan worship and murderous psychopathology are folded away inside eerily drifty, almost becalmed sleepwalks into eternal night. The Seventh Victim--a movie populated with more walking dead than Lewton's out-and-out zombie picture--is one of the cinema's supreme meditations on the ways lives brush against one another in the spaces of a great, impersonal city. And The Ghost Ship (the rarest of Lewton's films, owing to a ruinous copyright suit) is like a fever dream from which the viewer never awakens.

That's enough for a legacy, surely. Yet there remain The Curse of the Cat People (1944), a sequel that is not quite a sequel, a pretend-horror movie that's really a contemplation of the fragility of childhood; Isle of the Dead (1945), a doomed reverie about travelers who escape the Goya-esque chaos of a 19th-century war only to be beset with plague on a miasma-shrouded island; The Body Snatcher (1945), an atmospheric Robert Louis Stevenson adaptation that invokes the grisly history of graverobbers Burke and Hare, and supplies a together-again-for-the-last-time occasion for Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi; and Bedlam (1946), the Hogarth painting come to life to portray the real-life horrors of an 18th-century insane asylum. Bedlam's critical and box-office failure ended Lewton's quasi-independent status at RKO; he would live to make only three other, unsuccessful films.

James Agee, the premier American film critic of the 1940s, reckoned that Val Lewton was one of the three foremost creative figures in Hollywood--an assessment yet more impressive when we consider that the other two were Charles Chaplin and Walt Disney. His greatest films--Cat People, I Walked with a Zombie, The Seventh Victim--are towering achievements, and even his half-realized projects are haunting experiences, the products of an utterly distinctive sensibility. This is an extraordinary collection. --Richard T. Jameson

Description

Val Lewton, a famous RKO Radio Pictures producer, redefined the horror genre with low-budget, high-box office films. Now available are nine of these horror classics on DVD in the all new Val Lewton Horror Collection. Exclusive to the collection are a new documentary on the producer and 3 of the 9 films.

DVD Features:
Audio Commentary:Greg Mank with Simone Simon on Cat People and Curse of the Cat People, Kim Newman and Steve Jones on I Walked With a Zombie, Steve Haberman with Robert Wise on The Body Snatcher, Tom Weaver on Bedlam, and Steve Haberman on The Seventh Victim.
Documentaries:Shadows In The Dark: The Val Lewton Legacy
Theatrical Trailer

Customer Reviews:

Val Lewton gives us a new genre: Endearing horror films.......2007-07-19

Val Lewton was that Hollywood anomaly: A creative producer, but whose talents never exceeded the B-movie environment in which he operated. The result was a series of horror films made fast and on the cheap but which, 60 years later, still have enough interest to qualify for their own genre: The endearing horror movie. Through the happenstance of Lewton's ability to attract and work with some talented (and inexpensive) directors and writers, we now have the opportunity to watch these nine movies. Some, notably Bedlam and The Body Snatchers, are very good. Some, like The Leopard Man, are eerily satisfying. Sit back and enjoy.

CAT PEOPLE:
Says psychiatrist Dr. Louis Judd to Irena Reed, his reluctant patient. He is describing the things they have just talked about. "...and the cat women of your village...women who in jealousy or anger or out of their own corrupt passions can change into great cats, like panthers. And if one of these women were to fall in love, and her lover was to kiss her and to take her into his embrace, she would be driven by her own evil to kill him." As we can tell, Irena may have a problem. Her husband may have an even worse one.

THE CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE:
Great potential within limited means, and then the slow leak of air from the balloon. The Curse of the Cat People pulls together Simone Simon, Kent Smith and Jane Randolph from Cat People. This time, however, despite great photography and some eerie situations, the pieces simply fall apart. There is some tension and suspense, but to no great purpose. We just wind up knowing more than we want to about the needs of lonely children.

I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE:
"Everything seems beautiful because you don't understand," says Paul Holland (Tom Conway) to nurse Betsy Connell (Frances Dee), on their voyage to Haiti where she will take care of his seriously ill wife. "Those flying fish, they're jumping in terror because bigger fish want to eat them. That luminous water...it takes its gleam from millions of tiny dead bodies, the glitter of putrescence..." If that attitude isn't enough to be off-putting, Betsy discovers that Holland's "ill" wife may well be a zombie. The movie veers into melodramatic silliness; still, there's plenty of eerie atmosphere.

THE BODY SNATCHER:
For a low-budget, B movie horror quickie, The Body Snatcher holds up remarkably well. The horror is in the situation, not the actors' make-up or the staggering around of corpses. Corpses there are, but they're freshly dug up, and their purpose is not to grasp and choke, but to be dissected by a complex and morally ambiguous surgeon. We're watching a duel, as director Robert Wise says, between the two lead characters. Henry Daniell, the surgeon, and Boris Karloff, who provides bodies, pull off the trick of combining distaste, arrogance and mutual need.

ISLE OF THE DEAD:
This programmer is a good example of why B movies are B movies. The story could be interesting: A small group of people in an isolated setting are forced to deal with a threat to their lives. In the course of the movie some will live and some will die, some will prove brave and some will go mad. "The vorvolaka still lives," whispers the crone of a housekeeper, "rose-cheeked and full of blood!" Even with ripe dialogue like this, the movie becomes predictable.

BEDLAM:
Bedlam was not successful at the box office yet was probably the best constructed of Lewton's films. Along with The Body Snatchers, it stands up as a compelling story with solid dialogue and better acting than we've come to expect from Lewton's films. Boris Karloff, in a performance of skill and complexity, plays Master George Sims, the ruler of St. Mary's of Bethlehem Asylum in London...a forbidding hulk of a stone building. Bedlam, for short. The time is 1761. Bedlam is the place where the insane are sent, as well as inconvenient or embarrassing relatives. Nell Bowen (Anna Lee), is the smart, privileged and arrogant protege of a fat English lord. When she meets Sims, her dislike is instant. Before long, Mistress Bowen finds herself committed to Bedlam and must find a way to expose Sims. Bedlam is a clever and well-made film.

THE LEOPARD MAN:
Sure, The Leopard Man is a cheap B movie, but I like it a lot. It only runs 66 minutes and it packs a lot of craftsmanship into that time. What seems unusual to me is that the film, made to be filled with dread, is also filled with regret. "What sort of man would kill like a leopard and leave traces of a leopard..." says one character. When we find out, we're a little saddened. This was no raving monster with steel claws taped to his hands, just a quiet guy who was the victim of his nature and his obsessions.

THE GHOST SHIP:
This quickie is the story of a mad sea captain who has become fixated on doing away with his young third officer. Most of the action takes place on ship as the young man tries to convince the crew that the captain is mad. There is no style to the movie and the acting is just passable.

THE SEVENTH VICTIM:
This programer is noteworthy for just three things. First, an atmosphere of creepy mystery. Second, some effective characterizations by actors who never escaped from B-movie purgatory. Third, and by far the most important, an excellent performance by Kim Hunter in her first movie role. The movie has to do with a coven whose members seem to believe in death...for others.
--------
All the movies look just fine on their two-to-a-disc DVDs.

The Val Lewton Horror Collection.......2007-06-25

-------------------------------------------------------------
"Cat People"
What you can't see "will" hurt you

A man marries a strange woman with a European accent. She seems shy, but she actually carries a secret. Seems she knows she came from a line of "Cat People" and passion can bring out her claws. This is reinforced in a scene at a restaurant where another one of her kind recognizes her. She also suspects her new hubby's female friend has designs on him. So we get a spooky scene at a swimming pool at night alone in the gym.

There was not enough money or sufficient technology to show scary cat people. They tried people in cat suits, but they just looked cutesy. So they decided to just show shadows and sounds. The rest was up to your imagination. It is a psychological movie with a touch of film noir. ---------------------------------------------
"The Curse of the Cat People"
In many ways superior to the original

The Curse of the Cat People (1944) is not really sequel to Cat People (1942) as much as a stand alone physiological thriller that just happens to be an extension of the original characters. We have seen the formula before but you may not have seen such a presentation; a lonely child Amy Reed (Ann Carter) seeks a playmate that understands her. Who best but the spirit of Oliver's dead wife, Irena (Simone Simon) one of the cat people. Naturally this upsets the parents. Toss in Amy's new relation to reclusive neighbor Julia Farren (Julia Dean). Julia has problems of her own relating to her daughter. The story just gets complex from there.

The question is, is it dangerous to fantasize that much and what will become of the characters in the end.
-------------------------------------------
"I Walked with a Zombie"
A classic Val Lewton production

We are treated to exotic titles and expectations with titles such as "I walked With a Zombie." My only encounters with Zombies are those that process in an UNIX operating system that can not be killed. I also watched "Weekend at Bernie's II."

As with other Lewton productions he got a way with a psychological thriller in the guise of a monster movie. In the days of sailing ships a nurse (Frances Dee) is employed to go to San Sebastian to look after a plantation owner's wife (Christine Gordon.) She fined that her charge is more than just a victim of a disease that heft her without will. Turns out if you cut the wife she does not bleed. We all know what that means.

The true story is the relationship to man and wife, man and nurse, nurse and wife, brother and brother, brother and wife, need I say more? Could it mean that there is nothing supernatural or is love moving in mysterious natural.

Can this all be straightened out or is Jessica Holland the wife destined to be zomiated for ever and the nurse must learn to love from afar?

Yeah Lord pity them who are dead and give peace and happiness to the living.
--------------------------------------
"The Body Snatcher"
Based on a short story by Robert Louis Stevenson

"It is through error that a man tries and rises. It is through tragedy he learns. All the roads of learning begin in darkness and go out into the light." Hippocrates of Gos

This film has the psychological complexity of a Val Lewton production but is a lot more graphic than most of his productions where he just implies violence. He even takes it out on innocent dogs. I feel that some one was pushing Lewton from behind to be more vicious with this film.

A young student (Russell Wade) wants to become a doctor like the great Dr. Wolfe 'Toddy' MacFarlane (Henry Daniell.) Little does he know what it will entail?

The DVD has a voiceover commentary from the late Director Robert Wise who directed "West Side Story" and "The Sound of Music." Surprisingly he said that the original basic script was written by Philip MacDonald.
--------------------------------------
"Isle of the Dead"
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,

than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE / Hamlet Act 1. Scene V abt. 1601

`Under conquest and oppression the people of Greece allowed their legends to degenerate into superstition; the Goddess Aphrodite giving way to the `Vorvolaka.' This nightmare figure was very much alive in the mines of the peasants when Greece fought the victorious war of 1912."

Gen. Nikolas Pherides (Boris Karloff) is an experienced watcher. That is he must watch over his troops to be sure the do what they are supposed to and survive to win the day.

Finding some time take a war correspondent (Marc Cramer) to visit the grave yard island where his wife is buried. There he meats a strange collection of people and an unseen enemy that is much deadlier than any bullet. Will he be able to fight it logically and scientifically? Or will his cultural fears lead him to see the truth?

Once again we see that Boris Karloff can act and that Val Lewton can take a scary title and turn it from a cheap horror movie into a classic Psychological Thriller.
---------------------------------------------------
"Bedlam"
Story suggested by The William Hogarth painting Bedlam plate 8 "The Rake's Progress

Once again Val Lewton takes what would have been a second rate horror story and turns it into a sit on the edge of your seat psychological thriller. The basic question of the story is the same as the one in his movie "Ghost Ship"; that is, is man fundamentally good and helpful of others or is he so self centered that he will act even to his own ultimate demise? An added element is that of not quite being granted all mental faculties.

The year is 1791 Lord Mortimer (Billy House) is just one of the upper class (Wiggs) that gets his kicks from watching the loonies of Bedlam loon. His protégé (Anna Lee) is discussed at the treatment of the "guests" by the head apothecary, Master George Sims (Boris Karloff who can actually act). She attempts to correct this to the detriment of Lord Mortimer. So Lord Mortimer and Sims invite her as a guest to Bedlam.

Will she ever get out or just go crazy. While there she applies a theory supplied by a Quaker (Richard Fraser), one of the Society of Friends if this works the tables may turn on Sims. What can Sims say in his defense?
------------------------------------
"The Leopard Man"
All or our lives are like the ball bouncing at the top of the fountain

Rival entertainers meet in a club in New Mexico Kiki Walker (Jean Brooks) brings in a leopard to upstage Clo-Clo (Margo). But Clo-Clo gets the last laugh when she chases the leopard off with her castanets.

All is fun rivalry until people start dying. Naturally the local authorities think it is the leopard. But Jerry Manning (Dennis O'Keefe) who rented the leopard has a theory that this is the work of a demented person. This theory is sort of supported by Dr. Galbraith (James Bell) the local museum curator. To make matters worse the leopard's owner, Charlie How-Come (Abner Biberman) does not remember where he was at the time.

As with the cat people it is what you don't see that can harm you. And the simile turning of a card can mark you for death.

You may recognize Dynamite the leopard that was also used in the movie "Cat People".

Produced by Val Lewton (7 May 1904, Yalta, Crimea, Russian Empire (now Ukraine) ) whose story telling device is unique in that this is more of a psychological film that does not focus on any one person as they are all pawns in a much larger story. Some time it verges on the surreal.

Now that you have seen the film read the book "Black Alibi" by Cornell Woolrich.
----------------------------------
"The Ghost Ship"
A new third mate on his first long sea voyage in introduced to captain and crew. Before he steps on bard he is warned by a blond man. He runs into a mute. And before they even leave port Jensen is found dead, just a heat attack. "With his death the waters of the sea are open to us. But there will be other deaths and the agony of dieing."

Don't go looking for anything supernatural as this is a Val Lewton movie. I would pay close attention to the characters. One of them may be a bit unhinged. The big question in this story is man's nature to help or ignore their fellow man.
--------------------------------------
"Shadows in the Dark"
This is more of a Val Lewton biography with more emphasis on his producer years.

The Val Lewton Horror Collection.......2007-06-25

While the plots alone are enough to distinguish Lewton's brand of horror from other practitioners--a mysterious Serbian beauty might or might not have the ability to transform herself into a panther in "Cat People," a death-haunted New York woman is pursued by a cabal of satanists in "The Seventh Victim"--these films are also masterpieces of noir atmospherics. Karloff, an intellectual bored by ghoulish makeup, emerged from semi-retirement to make three pictures with Lewton: "Bedlam," "The Body Snatcher," and "The Isle of the Dead," with Bela Lugosi. It was a fruitful relationship. And this omnibus collection amply demonstrates Lewton's pulpy, lurid genius.

Quintessential Lewton..........2006-10-31

I've read the other reviews, and agree with most. Still, my favorite is "Curse of the Cat People". I've always been fascinated by (good) films that see life through the eyes of a child.Next to "To Kill a Mockingbird", I can't think of another film that brought me back to those simple, sweet times that adults just didn't get! (Except for Atticus, of course). I was also annoyed that the collection was in a tall box that would never fit on my shelf; I hate to separate them to fit on my shelf, alphabetically. Lewton had that wonderful idea, realized by Tourneur, with the glorious black & white photography, crisp and clear as a bell, and much appreciated by those of us who love outstanding film-making. I enjoy this collection a lot, but wish I could put it on the shelf with my other "collections", in a nice box.

Elegant horror.......2006-10-30

Steven Spielberg and Brian DePalma should be locked in a closet with a projection screen and forced to watch these films repeatedly until they swear an oath to imitate them. Made on what Tom Cruises' cleaning bill for one day's shoot would be adjusted for 1940 dollars, and infinitely superior to anything they have done. "Curse of the Cat People" and "The Seventh Victim" are largely unknown but the best and most subtle of these works. Less is more, I only wish there were more of them.

Shadow Voices: Finding Hope in Mental Illness

Average customer rating:

The "Presentable" Subgroup of a Stigmatized Population

Shadow Voices: Finding Hope in Mental Illness

Manufacturer: Vision Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Special Interests | Genres | DVD | Video

Documentary | Independently Distributed | Stores | DVD | Video

Special Interests | Independently Distributed | Stores | DVD | Video

Independently Distributed | Indie & Art House | Stores | DVD | Video

( S ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

ASIN: B000GQLA8O
Release Date: 2006-06-30

Description

Here is an inside look at what it is like to live with a mental illness and how individuals and their families find their way through medical, governmental, societal and spiritual issues -- to hope.

Ten people with mental illness tell their stories, and many experts and advocates in the field add helpful perspectives.

Bonus material includes more personal stories and historical background, help for churches in relating to mental illness, support of family members, self-care, and more. A PDF discussion guide is included.

Spanish subtitles available (main program only)

Customer Reviews:

The "Presentable" Subgroup of a Stigmatized Population.......2007-05-27

This documentary has great intentions.

It spells out the ways in which the problems of the mentally ill become everyone's problems. If some people don't receive treatment, they become absentees or increase the numbers of the unemployed. If health benefits don't cover mental illnesses, patients go to doctors for physical side effects when they really should be seen by therapists. The work does a wonderful job in showing how deinstitutionalization helped to lead to the increase in the prison population. I especially loved that the interviewees here were diverse in terms of race and gender.

The work begins by saying it was produced by an interfaith group. As a non-religious person, I was initially disturbed by the "churchiness" of the piece. But in all fairness, the work does say many individuals with problems approach their spiritual advisers before anyone else. Also, this work both praises how churches have helped this population and criticizes them when they turn their backs on these people. This was a well-rounded and fair-minded discussion.

As much as I am happy to have seen this work and happy that it was produced at all, I have two major concerns. I thought the people focused upon were "the acceptable ones." In our oppressive society, light-skinned blacks are treated better than dark-skinned ones. Latinos who are bilingual are treated better than those that only speak Spanish. Gay men and lesbians who gender-conform are treated better than those who are gender-radical. Here, this work doesn't focus on people who are severely retarded or psychotic. No one is shown talking to themselves or yelling in public "I am the Lizard Queen!" It covers depressants, bipolar people, and others. If these people take their meds, no one would know they have problems. These are not the people who society harshly mocks. In so many ways, this work focuses on the people with whom the majority of Americans would be "comfortable."

Secondly, almost all of those who spoke about their mental challenges were fat. I'm fat too and love seeing real bodies, rather than the made-for-Hollywood types. They also say the camera adds 10 pounds. Still, I think some viewers may get the impression that all people with these mental challenges also have weight issues. Some drugs may cause weight gain, but I haven't heard that they compose the majority of treatments. In fairness, all these interviewees seemed to be middle-aged and that may play a role in their weight. I am just worried that resistant viewers may use this dynamic as a reason to trivialize the issues presented.

DJ Shadow - Live! In Tune & On Time (Keepcase)

Average customer rating:

DJ Shadow Live
Awesome performance, well presented
Incredible music, fantastic value!
by far the best live album in this genre of all time
Satisfaction

DJ Shadow - Live! In Tune & On Time (Keepcase)
Starring: DJ Shadow
Manufacturer: Geffen Records
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

Turntablists | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

Trip-Hop | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

General | Music Video & Concerts | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $14.99 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( D ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

ASIN: B000294RHG
Release Date: 2004-06-15

Customer Reviews:

DJ Shadow Live.......2007-05-12

Looked for this in stores and could never find it. Awesome dvd. Comes with the same cd. Organ Donor is great. No songs with IB but what can you do.

Awesome performance, well presented.......2007-01-12

I'd heard the audio from this release, but knew that I needed the DVD to get the extra tracks. I was also eager to see DJ Shadow perform his material live and see what was involved in the production of live music from recordings while mixing, using samples, turntables, cd DJ stations, etc.

Very pleased with this DVD and the content therein.

Incredible music, fantastic value!.......2006-11-14

I'm a recent fan of DJ Shadow and like any new music that I fall in love with I get obsessed and start collecting *everything* related to the music/band/artist. Sometimes my purchases are just for nostaligia's sake other times I turn up a real gem.

THIS is a REAL GEM!

I won't go into fine detail about what makes his music special or a breakdown of each song... if you are reading this then you probably already know his music and other reviewers have covered the edgy "live" quality of the tracks. Let me just say this DVD is a MUST-HAVE for any Shadow fan. No disappointments here! But I will go a bit into the value of this particular DVD/CD combo...

Not only do you get a ton of live concert DVD with unmatched visuals but you get a 21 track CD of the concert to boot! Be sure not to miss the "special features" section either! Just the first two tracks in this section alone is worth half the price of the DVD... throw in a complete and utterly fantastic CD that would normally sell for what... $15? And you can pretty much consider the excellent DVD concert as a freebe! Best value since I picked up Korn's CD "Greatest Hits Vol.1" that included a fantastic (although short) concert DVD from the famous CBGB's in New York (worth the price of the CD alone!)

Wish I had a living room big enough to have the kind of party this DVD was made for. Superb.

by far the best live album in this genre of all time.......2006-03-30

recently ive been on a live album kick searching for my favorite artists best (or any) live releases. i first saw this cd/dvd combo at tower records and instantly got it and i can say it is the greatest dj-ing ive ever heard. the astral beats and atmospheres that is a dj shadow production sound perfect as he mashes tracks together andn scratches the hell out of his collection. the cd contains the entire show minus a few tracks but its reeeeeeeeeal long. thinking that the dvd isnt much is wrong because the visuals to each song make the entire performance surreal. its fantastic. if you have ...endtroducing (which you should have!) and or the private press buy this NOW!

Satisfaction.......2005-02-10

Well as you can see all the reviews are 4 stars or better! I've been a fan of Shadow since like 98 or 99, i'll try to give an objective review! This item is well worth the money for Shadow fans or trip-hop fans or DJ fans! I highly suggest you check out any single song by Shadow before you buy this item, his music is not very conventional to any genre...even trip-hop which doesn't really have a standard sound! If you like a song, you'll like them all and this product!

The DVD's main show is like an hour and half long live performance by Shadow! Its a cross section of every one of his albums, but songs mixed with each other in amazing combinations! With on-stage visuals (most are cued to the music) which are often editted to show on your screen clearly! You also get some other bonus performances of Shadow with Numark and Cut Chemist (I think) which is interesting!

The CD is a shortened version of the same main performance on the DVD! I like this because i'd want to listen to it without a dvd player!

This dvd/cd set is a really great reward for any of his fans in that you get to hear everything mixed in new ways while actually seeing how he does his thing! (Example: he blends What Does Your Soul Look Like 2 with Bloodstain) Then there's also the on-stage and on-screen visuals! Just in case anybody is worried about the sound quality, being that this is video of a live performance, fear not! The sound quality on the DVD and on the CD sounds as clear as studio production!

As far as mildly interested people that aren't really fans of Shadow, I suggest you get any one of Shadow's albums or DL a song or two so you know what the music sounds like! Its not really conventional to any genre!

*if my use of exclamation points makes this review seem less sincere, i apologize! please re-read and substitute periods for the exclamation points! Or for an entirely new spin on it, try using question marks at the end of each sentence! it really sounds less sincere that way!

Average customer rating:

Snake in the Eagle's Shadow
1 of The Greatest Kung Fu Movies Ever Made!!!!!!!!
Old Skool" Kung Fu!1
THE MOVIE THAT MADE A STAR OUT OF A LOT OF PEOPLE
Chan's first flick that boost him to stardom

Snake in the Eagle's Shadow
Starring: Jackie Chan , Siu Tien Yuen , Jang Lee Hwang , Dean Shek , and Roy Horan
Director: Woo-ping Yuen
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Art House & International | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Foreign & International | Stores | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $7.49 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( S ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

ASIN: B00006672Q
Release Date: 2002-06-18

Amazon.com

Along with Drunken Master, Snake in the Eagle's Shadow launched a new fusion of comedy and kung fu. And it's easy to see why Snake has been so popular--it's easily the most engaging of Jackie Chan's early films. Everyone abuses and humiliates a downtrodden orphan (Chan) until he befriends an old man, who turns out to be the last master of the "snake fist" fighting style. Jackie becomes the old man's student and finds himself in battle with the master of the "eagle's claw" style, who has vowed to destroy the snake fist clan. Though these plot elements are familiar stuff, they're all executed with outstanding verve; the performances, the fight choreography, and even the obligatory training sequence are unusually complex and well filmed. Jackie is in top form and coming into his own as a star. --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews:

Snake in the Eagle's Shadow.......2007-08-28

Jackie Chan who was in this movie very good with is Kung Fu Skills in the action seens.

1 of The Greatest Kung Fu Movies Ever Made!!!!!!!!.......2006-09-15

I caught this movie on comcast demand in the( free movies ) section for the first time in over 12 years. I always loved this movie but never could remember the title. If you truely a Jackie Chan fan and havent seen this movie I recommend that yoy check out this one I promise you'll want too see it again and again.], it's well worth at least $15 bucks max. This movie has all the ingredents that a kung fu masterpiece should have. My two favorite scences are the fight between a real Corba Snake and The House Cat, I wouldn't spoil the conclusion so you'll have to see for yourself. And the other scence OF COURSE IS THE FINAL BATTLE IT'S AT LEAST A GOOD 10 MINS AND YOU'LL ENJOY EVERY BIT OF IT ONE OF THE BEST FINAL BATTLES I'VE IN A KUNG FU MOVIE JACKIE LOSES HIS TOP FRONT TEETH...LOL!!!!!

ALSO CHECK OUT THESE GREAT TITLES

01.SNAKE IN MONKEYS SHADOW -( 4.0 STARS )
02.DRUNKEN MASTER -( 4.0 STARS )
03.THE YOUNG MASTER -( 4.0 STARS )
04.NINJA IN THE DRAGONS DEN -( 4.0 STARS )
05.LEGEND OF A FIGHTER -( 4.0 STARS )

Old Skool" Kung Fu!1.......2006-06-10

This flick is definately one of Jackie Chan's finest performance. I must have checked out this flick more than 5 times,,and can't seemed to get enough of it,,,I also though like usual Kwan Jung lee (Silvewr Fox)like always did a stellar performance,,,,,,,this is must have for the collection!!

THE MOVIE THAT MADE A STAR OUT OF A LOT OF PEOPLE.......2006-03-08

Just to name a couple
1.)Jackie Chan
2.)Simon Yuen(woo-pings dad)

I think that this movie is really better than drunken master.

Around 99% of kungfu fans no at leat of Hwang Jang Lee. The kickmaster. He has a scene where he jumps up and manages to land 6 kicks on Jackie by the time he lands. I rewound this for OVER AN HOUR. You are also getting one of the better performances of Dean Shek, and Roy Horan, and whatever the name is of the guy who replace don wong in secret rivals two. They really make this guy out to be a badass in this.

Now to actually talk about the movie. Jackie is an orphan who was taken into martial arts school. Since he is so dumb he has to be the cleaning boy instead of practicing the MA. Well he ends up helping out an old man from getting beat up. The old man realizes the kid has a good heart but can't fight so he helps him train. He trains him in the snake style. Jackie then meets a man who says he is a colleague of the old man, jackie doesn't believe him so tests him, and this is one of my favorite fights of all time. Hwang Jang Lee HONESTLY scared the shi* out of me in this movie. Just looking at him is scary enough, but with how fast he moves and the power in his kicks, he can be compared to no one. I don't want to give away the rest of this movie, but the rest of it is very good, and unforunately the final fight scene was only average. This is an experiment by Woo-ping that he perfected in drunken master.

Chan's first flick that boost him to stardom.......2006-02-10

This is a decent flick of Jackie Chan's early stuff. Jackie had a good share of unsuccessful films with Lo Wei, because he didn't use Jackie Chan to the fullest. Lo also tried to make Jackie Chan another Bruce Lee. But this is his Jackie's first collaboration with Yuen Woo Ping (the choreographer from The Matrix triology, Kill Bill Volumes 1 & 2, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, and Unleased), and he introduced Jackie to the genre of kung-fu comedy.

This DVD (the Columbian Tristar version) is the second-best version out there. This version, however, cuts out a brief fight between a cat and a snake (this fight scene is important to the plot). To get the full story, buy the Mei Ah version, or the Hong Kong version.

Average customer rating:

Beautiful film
Poetic Coincidences?
T'AS DE BEAUX YEUX, TU SAIS !
Improvisational train wreck
Shadows & Fog

Port of Shadows - Criterion Collection
Starring: Jean Gabin , Michel Simon , Michèle Morgan , Pierre Brasseur , and Édouard Delmont
Director: Marcel Carné
Manufacturer: Criterion
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Art House & International | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Crime & Criminals | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Drama | Criterion Collection | Stores | DVD | Video

Classics | Criterion Collection | Stores | DVD | Video

International | Criterion Collection | Stores | DVD | Video

All | Criterion Collection | Stores | DVD | Video

General | Foreign & International | Stores | DVD | Video

( P ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

ASIN: B00026L74U
Release Date: 2004-07-20

Amazon.com

On a foggy highway, a lonely soldier hitches a ride and ends up in a lonely bar on the outskirts of town, where lost souls gather for a melancholy repast. The soldier is Jean (Jean Gabin), a deserter on the run whose flight is interrupted when he meets sad runaway Nelly (Michele Morgan) and falls in love. He becomes entwined in the troubles of her life, notably the lascivious guardian (Michel Simon) who lusts after Nelly and attempts to blackmail Jean, and a cocky, hot-headed gangster (Pierre Brasseur) who tries to scare Jean off, only to be humiliated in front his men and the town. It's not hard to see where this spiral of threats and confrontations is leading (the title, after all, translates to "Port of Shadows," as ominous a title as any American film noir, especially in a small town where everyone's lives become tightly wound together. Director Marcel Carné and writer Jacques Prévert (who went on to collaborate on the French masterpiece Children of Paradise) infuse the film with a sense of dignity and quiet poetry. At night the port town is like a world in the clouds, cut off from the rest of the world, where all the sordid yearnings and desperate plans of the ambitious players take on a mythic resonance. It's only by light of day that everything returns to its shabby place. A classic of French poetic realism. --Sean Axmaker

Description

Down a foggy, desolate road to the port city of Le Havre travels Jean (Jean Gabin), an army deserter looking for another chance to make good on life. Fate, however, has a different plan for him, when acts of both revenge and kindness turn him into front-page news. Also starring the blue-eyed phenomenon Michèle Morgan in her first major role, and the menacing Michel Simon, Port of Shadows (Le Quai des brumes) starkly portrays an underworld of lonely souls wrestling with their own destinies. Based on the novel by Pierre Mac Orlan, the inimitable team of director Marcel Carné and writer Jacques Prévert deliver a quintessential example of poetic realism, one of the classics of the golden age of French cinema.

Customer Reviews:

Beautiful film.......2007-08-25

I first watched this film in an international film class in college. It struck me the first time I saw it, and I had to have it. It's an excellent film, way ahead of it's time. It mixes poetry and realism to the point of perfection. Anyone who appreciates film will love this one.

Poetic Coincidences?.......2007-07-23

An example of poetic realism, the French film movement (atmosphere would be more precise) between WWI and WWII, Port of Shadows is heavy on coincidence beginning, arguably, with the truck driver who transports Jean, the Jean Gabin character (and us) into the film. Jean hasn't eaten for two days and is given free food by an innkeeper; he meets a girl and the attraction is mutual; he needs new clothes and a passport so an artist commits suicide and leaves both to him, etc.

All of this would make for a predictable run-of-the-mill thing except for the fact that there is more than coincidence going on here and that the coincidences themselves are in many ways of little concern to the point of the film. Indeed, it seems that the filmmakers used coincidence as a way of dispensing with nettlesome plot necessities in order to focus more intently on what they wanted the film to convey. What it does convey, and quite nicely, is the sense of impending doom, a haunted past (Jean is a deserter who seems to harbor darker secrets in his past), the venality and corruptability of man, love gained and lost, and the futility of daily life when stacked against all of that. Hardly a sunny romp in the woods (somehow the fog seems to linger even in bright sunlight), but an entertaining film nonetheless.

Aside from the coincidences and the atmosphere, another interesting aspect is the way in which the Gabin character exits outside of society. A deserter (and one sense that he joined the army only a way to escape some former social unit), he has left behind that society in search of, not really another one, but perhaps a way to live outside any society at all, at least until he meets the girl. Ill-tempered, abrupt, pugnacious he is an anti-social individual whose wounds and attitudes seem to have been instilled by previous social encounters. He is about escape (and not just to South America on the freighter which is coincidently [there's that word again] departing soon, but only after affording him sufficient time to pursue the girl. His escapes are from the army, from France, from society, ultimaly from himself and, most likely, that past which rendered all escapes necessary in the first place.

He meets his end as a result of his entanglement with the woman (an attempt to re-enter society?) and as a result of a chivalrous act towards her. No femme fatale, she is innocent in the bringing about of his downfall, but brings it about nonetheless. Filled with a fog that could be fate, could be the haze of the past, or could be simply photogenic the film is an enjoyable example of French poetic realism, sort of like an American film noir without the suspense and without the scheming woman but with all of the sense of loss, unfulfilled (or only sporadically realized) desires and dark workings of fate characteristic of that genre. Suspend some of the expectations Hollywood films have created in most of us, spend some time here and you will be rewarded. You can call it a coincidence.

T'AS DE BEAUX YEUX, TU SAIS !.......2007-03-12

Marcel Carné's PORT OF SHADOWS (Le Quai des Brumes) belongs to the list of movies we had to see in school in the seventies. This film is part of the French cultural heritage and was regularly showed by the film clubs of our schools. Some of the greatest actors of that period appear in PORT OF SHADOWS : Jean Gabin, THE unquestionable star of French cinema from the beginning of the 30's until the beginning of the 70's, Michèle Morgan who attained a cult status with this film she shot while she was 17 years old, the Swiss actor Michel Simon (Zabel) who portrayed numerous unforgettable characters during his long career on the screen (1924-1975), Pierre Brasseur who's excellent as Lucien the hoodlum.

Great actors and also great dialogues written by Jacques Prévert, a poet-artist often associated with the Poetic Realism genre of that period. Lines as "Tu as de beaux yeux, tu sais" (You do have beautiful eyes, you know) or "Vite, on est pressé" (Hurry, we don't have much time left) said by Gabin to Morgan are sentences you don't easily forget if you happen to like PORT OF SHADOWS.

A DVD zone your library.

Improvisational train wreck.......2006-12-09

What happens when the director shoots a movie without a plot or a point or even a script and lets his famous actors improvise amok? The Port of Shadows. Yes, a few frames of the moody cinematography are worth watching, but you can see one of them for free on the box art. If you like watching high speed artistic train wrecks in super slow motion, then this is the movie for you. It's a 1 star movie plus 1 star for it's historical significance plus 1 star for Criterion's excellent transfer.

Shadows & Fog.......2006-03-27

I first became aware of director Marcel Carne when I saw "Children of Paradise". In a review I wrote on here for that movie I said to call it a masterpiece is to understate it's case. The same can be said for "Port of Shadows", easily one of the greatest films I have ever seen.

The movie stars Jean Gabin as a soldier running away from the past. What exactly did he do? I don't know, we get the hint he must be a deserter, but maybe that's just the beginning of his problems. Whatever the case may be it doesn't matter. All that matters is the fact he wants to get away. Jean (that's his character's name) finds himself in a hideout run by a man called Panama (Edouard Delmont) which is near what is known as "the port of shadows". Here is where Jean will get all the help he needs to leave the country. But things are never that easy. For instance he meets a girl, Nelly (Michele Morgan) and gets mixed up with criminals; Zabel (Michel Simon) and Lucien (Pierre Brasseur). And soon Jean fears he may be a suspect in a murder.

Jean Gabin is an absolute natural for a role like this. He practically invented the character in "Pepe le Moko". A character that American actors such as Humphrey Bogart would play in films like "Casablanca". Gabin has those rough edges around his face and a dour look on his face that leads us to believe the guy has been through a lot. This is a complete contrast to the look Michele Morgan has. She is to put bluntly a beauty!

The film was based on a novel written by Pierre Mac Orlan and was adapted by Jacques Prevert (a poet as well as songwriter. If you are familiar with the song "Autumn Leaves" he wrote the lyrics). I've never read the book so I cannot comment on how faithfully this film is adapted, but I can say Carne does a masterful job directing this movie. The film takes us down paths I wasn't expecting to travel. Carne doesn't throw too much in our face. He lets the story flow at it's own pace. And things move along quite quickly. The film is only 90 minutes. But at the same time, nothing feels rushed. We understand these characters, their situations and the fate that awaits them. Having only seen two films from this director I'm ready to call him a master. His films manage to touch me on a deep personal level. He creates characters that seems to live off the page. And just think, this was Carne's third film! He clearly had a natural gift. And luckily people took notice during his lifetime. "Port of Shadows" won the National Board of Review award for "Best Foreign Film".

As for the film's title, at first I wondered how they arrived at it. We don't find out the name of the port until the end of the film but couldn't it have a double meaning? Couldn't the "port of shadows" refer to a place where people go looking to escape the shadows of their past? Or maybe it's just that you can't see a darn thing with all that fog hanging around!

Bottom-line: Marcel Carne's film is one of the greatest I have ever see. Carne handles the story and the characters with a sure touch. The movie takes some unexpected turns and takes what could have been a simple story and transcends it into something much more.

Average customer rating:

Adventures in Odyssey: Shadow of Doubt

Manufacturer: Thomas Nelson Publi
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Action & Adventure | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Kids & Family | Genres | DVD | Video

Adventure | Kids & Family | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Special Interests | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $7.49 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( A ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Kids & Family | Independently Distributed | Stores | DVD | Video

Independently Distributed | Indie & Art House | Stores | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

ASIN: 1400304008
Release Date: 2004-06-03

Book Description

None of Dylan's adventures in the Imagination Station could prepare him for the unexpected adventure that lies before him! As Dylan and Jesse journey through an amazing, imaginary safari, a glitch in the computer program causes a premature end to the adventure. When Dylan goes back in to retrieve a forgotten backpack, all goes awry as he is thrown into a series of bizarre events that would even have the inventor, himself, scratching his head. Can Dylan outrun the relentless enemy? Will he ever find his way out of the winding labyrinth? You'll hang on the edge of your seat throughout this rousing tale of faith, courage, and mystery.

Average customer rating:

Hawkwind - 'In Concert-Out Of The Shadows' (MVD)
Hawkwind fans will want this one!

In Concert: Out of the Shadows
Starring: Hawkwind
Manufacturer: Mvd Visual
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Progressive Rock | Progressive | Rock | Styles | Music

General | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music

General | Music Video & Concerts | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $14.99 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( I ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

ASIN: B000KLNLSM
Release Date: 2007-02-20

Description

This brilliant performance was filmed and recorded on December 4, 2002 at the Newcastle Opera House in Newcastle, England. It includes 14-song set as well as an exclusive interview with Dave Brock. The legendary Hawkwind have continuously amazed audiences far and wide with their engaging live shows. Their countless tours have become renowned for being much more than just the band performing their legion of hits. Led by founding member Brock, Hawkwind does it again here with fan favorites such as Sonic Space Attack and Assassins Of Allah, plus many more.

Customer Reviews:

Hawkwind - 'In Concert-Out Of The Shadows' (MVD).......2007-05-06

Superb music DVD that is SURE to fully please any true Hawkfan. First you get an 80-minute concert that was filmed at the Opera House in Newcastle, UK on December 4, 2002. Fourteen songs total, with several must-experience 'deep album cuts'. Tunes like "Out Of The Shadows", "Master Of The Universe", "Huury On Sundown" (off their very first lp), the *ss-kicking "Assassins Of Allah" and "Earth Calling" (which carries into "You Shouldn't Do That") were all shot with a full-blown psychedelic light show. Other memorable moments include two Bob Calvert gems, "Aerospace Age Inferno" and "Song Of The Gremlins". Fellow aging long-time UK rocker - none other than Arthur Brown is guest vocalist on several songs here and serves his purpose as Hawkwind's frontman, rather well I thought. Even gets to perform two of his own songs here, "Time Captives" and "Time & Confusion". A very happening bit on this DVD is when Brown comes out all dressed in black like 'the invisible man' for "Sonic{Space}Attack". After the show, Dave Brock gives an hour long interview speaking of playing space rock, Hawkwind's expensive stage shows, musical roots, etc. Simply great picture and sound quality. A must-have.

Hawkwind fans will want this one!.......2007-04-05

This is an excellent concert with the basic lineup of Dave Brock, Allan Davey and Richard Chadwick supplemented with Huw Lloyd-Langton, Tim Blake and Arthur Brown. The best thing is the track selection which is significantly different than most Hawkwind shows and features some more obscure Hawkwind songs as wll as two Robert Calvert songs (1,6), two Arthur Brown songs (4,7), one Tim Blake song (9) and one Lemmy song (10). Here is the Track listing:

1) Aero Space Age Inferno
2) Angel of Death
3) Out of the Shadows
4) Time Captives
5) Master of the Universe
6) The Song of the Gremlins
7) Time & Confusion
8) Hurry On Sundown
9) Lighthouse
10) The Watcher
11) Assassins of Allah
12) Earth Calling
13) Sonic Space Attack
14) Silver Machine

This was recorded early in the tour and although as Dave Brock claims in the additional one hour interview that they didn't have much practice time, the band pulls off a tight and energetic performance. My only quibbles are that the camera work is pretty basic and the show is only 80 minutes long so I docked it one star. That being said this is still worth the money.

Average customer rating:

1 of the best snake styles yet
LAST REVIEWR WAS RIGHT, YOU HAVE TO SEEK OUT THE UNCUT VERSION
Almost 5 Stars
A classic...
Great Kung Fu Flick Diminished by Censoring

Snake in Monkey's Shadow (Dub)
Starring: Wilson Tong , Hong-Yip Cheng , and John Cheung
Director: Sum Cheung
Manufacturer: Xenon
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $7.49 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

All Deals | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( S ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

ASIN: B00005NBA4
Release Date: 2002-02-05

Customer Reviews:

1 of the best snake styles yet .......2006-05-02

It's really a 5* flick a lot of missing scenes, you will be hard press to find the orginal copy even the vhs copy has the same missing scenes will almost the same missing scenes buy the flick anyway the kung-fu is the best the villian uses the snake style
I love watching kung fu flicks for the langh because of the english dub, but most of all the fighting styles, snake, tiger, buddha fist, crane, monkey, eagle, drunken fist boxing... I just like clear cut choreograph moves I've seen flicks after training and when it's time for that "REVENGE" they are still bad fighters. 9 times out 10 if the actors are good in one flick you like they may be good in another so check the names, anyway I really like the snake style in most movies everybody can't use this style with precise technique.
Holla at dubose123@veriozn.net tell me your best flicks and I will share minds "Were u just using the wu tang style against me?" Forgive me I've learned so many styles...Shaolon vs Lama

LAST REVIEWR WAS RIGHT, YOU HAVE TO SEEK OUT THE UNCUT VERSION.......2006-03-22

How you are going to find it beats the heck out of me.

The version they are showing is cut by 20 FREAKING MINUTES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is actually pretty standard for the transfers for american dvd players, but you can see plenty of things being left out.

There is a great comedy scene where the master tells the student that if he wants to learn he has to learn from his master, just like he did.

So later in the movie this comes in to play where his master his dead and he has no way to learn kungfu. So just like snake in eagle's shadow he watches the bamboo and a snake comes to challenge the monkey but right before they make contact, it cuts away.

There are just too many scenes like this where it gets you closer and closer to your tv and then just cuts away.

So this dvd has some really cool kung fu and some pretty original scenes, but I still cuss everytime I see that dvd on my shelves. It always changes positions, right now it's in the box with all my old school vhs tapes.

Almost 5 Stars.......2003-09-23

the fight scene between the actual monkey and cobra deserves two stars by itself. without that original scene the movie lacks big tyme, if anyone knows where i can get the original movie(un-cut) please hit me at cjmartin7@yahoo.com.

A classic..........2003-01-13

Snake in the Monkey's Shadow is one great martial arts flick. I would have liked the addition of the monkey killing the snake, but it's a minor omission. This movie is one of the classics and should be a part of your martial arts collection.

Great Kung Fu Flick Diminished by Censoring.......2002-09-12

This is a great kung fu movie; gentle use of wires with some really talented martial artists going with genuine techniques from the styles they represent (monkey, drunken, snake). Really cool, subtle "special effects," too, such as a snake-stylist stripping bark from a tree with his fist, monkey-stylist leaping from tree trunk to tree trunk, etc.

Of note, however, is the censoring of a scene with a monkey fighting a cobra; probably removed at the behest of animal rights activists, I would be disgusted if the scene were filmed *today*, but hate to lose such a unique piece of film in a movie twenty years old. Tragically overzealous. The uncut original should be re-released.

DVD:

DVD

DVD