“Ask Movie Fanfare” Archive
Irv Slifkin | Ask Movie Fanfare
Q: I recently saw a Jerry Lewis documentary on TV and saw clips from films I wasn’t familiar with. Any chance we’ll see more of Jerry’s films on DVD in the future?
A: If you are a fan of “The Total Filmmaker,” you’re in luck. Two of Mr. Lewis’s collaborations with former Warner animation wizard Frank Tashlin are on their way. It’s Only Money (1962) stars Jerry as a TV repairman with a hankering to become a detective. He gets his chance when he teams with a P.I. (Jesse White) to investigate schemers trying to get their hands on a disputed will. Joan O’Brien is the nurse Jerry falls for in this film that may best be known for a scene in which the star encounters a batch of runaway lawnmowers. Also on the way is Who’s Minding the Store? (1963), showcasing Jerry as a dog walker given a job at a department store by owner Agnes Moorehead. Her intention is to prove Jerry’s a doofus to her elevator operator daughter (Jill St. John), who happens to be his fiancée. In what has become one of Lewis’s best-known bits, he attempts to fix a vacuum cleaner in the department store with little success (but lots of plugs for Hoover). For the record, Jerry Lewis and Frank Tashlin made eight films together.
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Irv Slifkin | Ask Movie Fanfare
Q: Hi, I would like to know if you would be able to find out if the title Fast Charlie, the Moonbeam Rider with David Carradine and Brenda Vaccaro will be released soon on DVD or Blu-Ray. As a motorcycle enthusiast, I think this movie is right up there with the best. It was released in 1979, I believe, and I have seen it on VHS although to find one for sale is almost impossible. Thank you for any information you may be able to provide.
A: After a few collaborations between Carradine and producer Roger Corman for Corman’s New World Pictures, Corman and Carradine teamed for this film from Universal. Carradine is a WWI veteran who abandoned his fellow troop members, but tries to make things right by competing in a transcontinental motorcycle race and having his military friends help him. Vaccaro plays the love interest. As the film is owned by Universal, it is unlikely they will put it out. Sorry. It seems to have quite a following, based on the requests we have received for it.
Q: How about The Trap with Oliver Reed ?
A: This 1965 film is a drama with Reed as a rugged trapper in late 19th century Canada who takes a young mute woman (Rita Tushingham) as his wife. Even though she is fearful of him, she comes to his aid in his time of need. The film has never been on DVD, and its rights are under the auspices of MGM. That is a good thing as the company has been aggressive in putting out archive titles of late, so we could see the effort with gorgeous cinematography in the future.
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Irv Slifkin | Ask Movie Fanfare
Q: What are the chances that The Burglar with Jayne Mansfield and Dan Duryea will be put on DVD?
A: We’ve been an advocate of the film noir penned by David Goodis for a long time, especially since it was shot in the Philadelphia area. Good news! The film will finally be issued as part of Columbia Pictures Film Noir Collection III. For the uninitiated, the film deals with double crosses, femmes fatale, a group of crooks and a jewelry heist from a phony psychic’s mansion. It would have been Mansfield’s first featured role, but its release was held up for a few years. Also part of the set are My Name is Julia Ross (1945), a tale of shifting identities and murder with Nina Foch, Dame May Whitty and George Macready; Drive a Crooked Road (1955), with Mickey Rooney as a lonesome car mechanic sucked into a robbery scheme by duplicitous hottie Diane Foster; The Mob (1951), with Broderick Crawford going undercover as a longshoreman to expose mob corruption; and Tight Spot (1955), starring Ginger Rogers as an ex-con enlisted by D.A. Edward G. Robinson to give testimony against crime boss Lorne Greene. The set will be issued in early 2012.
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Irv Slifkin | Ask Movie Fanfare
Q: There is an old Dick Powell movie called You Never Can Tell, with Dick as a murdered dog reincarnated as a human to find his murderer. The movie was also known as One Never Knows. I would love to have this movie if it is ever available.
A: This 1951 film is among the most-requested we’re asked about—and has been for many years. In the film, the dog is a German shepherd and, in human form, is named Rex Shepherd. The nifty, unique fantasy also stars Charles Drake as the bad guy and Joyce Holden as Powell’s Palamino secretary. Unfortunately, You Never Can Tell has never been available in any format thanks to an oversight of distributor Universal Studios. Sadly, we have no word on its imminent release.
Q: Will The Flim Flam Man ever be released on DVD?
A: We think you’ll see this 1967 cult fave with a wide following on our site by year’s end. George C. Scott plays Mordecai Jones, an old-school con artist who teams with young ex-soldier folksinger Curly Treadaway (Michael Sarrazin) to teach him the tricks of his trade. Highly entertaining shenanigans ensue; Sue Lyon, Harry Albertson, Harry Morgan, Slim Pickens and Albert Salmi also star in this Fox release directed by Irvin Kershner (The Empire Strikes Back).
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Irv Slifkin | Ask Movie Fanfare
Q: Are they ever going to release Bunny O'Hare with Bette Davis? It is such a good and funny movie. Please, please, please.
A: The wacky comedy with Bette teaming up with Ernest Borgnine to portray bank robbers disguising themselves as hippies could very well be a title in MGM’s archive series. It was produced by AIP, a company that is now part of the studio’s library. While this bizarre film was not a box-office hit, it is well remembered by many.
Q: Kane and Abel. It starred Peter Strauss and I believe Sam Neill. Some time ago, I saw one VHS available on eBay, but the price was prohibitive; I suppose because no one has copies of this fine mini-series. How could I get a copy?
A: The 1985 miniseries features Neill as the son of a privileged New England family who becomes a powerful player on Wall Street, and Strauss as a Polish prison camp survivor who eventually turns into a hotel tycoon. Eventually, their paths meet. Based on Jeffrey Archer’s best-selling novel, the series also stars Ron Silver, Fred Gwynne and Alberta Watson. Unfortunately, it is not on DVD and there is no word if it will be in the near future, despite the request from you and many others. Its rights lie in the quagmire that is MGM right now, so other than a possible archival release, we are unable to foresee a DVD release.
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Irv Slifkin | Ask Movie Fanfare
Q: When will they put out a DVD of The Hatchet Man with Edward G. Robinson and Loretta Young? Truly a wonderful movie with the greatest ending of any movie I’ve ever seen. Also George Sanders in The Private Affairs of Bel Ami, one of his best movies ever. They should put out a boxed set of George Sanders movies. He is truly one of the most underrated of the great actors.
A: As with most of Mr. Robinson’s early films, The Hatchet Man (1932), in which he plays a Chinese gangster who happen to marry the sister (Ms. Young) of a man he kills, is owned by Warner and is a likely candidate for future release via their Archive program. The Private Affairs of Bel Ami (1947), in which Sanders plays a British cad who uses and abuses all sorts of wealthy, socially-connected women—except the penniless Angela Lansbury—is one of those titles stuck in DVD purgatory because it is owned by Republic Pictures. We love Sanders too, but this classic from Albert Lewin (Pandora and the Flying Dutchman, The Picture of Dorian Gray) will not be on DVD anytime in the near future as far as we can tell.
Q: I am trying to find a movie, and I can't remember the name. It was a horror flick, early 60's. It had a bleeding rose, and at the end the lady falls on a black metal pointed fence which pierces through her heart. Can anyone tell me?
A: One possibility is The Masque of the Red Death, Roger Corman’s stylish 1964 adaptation of the Edgar Allen Poe story with Vincent Price as Prospero, a sadistic 12th century prince who holds a demonic ball in his castle as the bubonic plague infects those outside. Unfortunately, the film is now out-of-print on DVD, where it once shared a release with another ace Corman/Poe adaptation, Premature Burial (1962), starring Ray Milland.
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Irv Slifkin | Ask Movie Fanfare
Q: I'm still waiting for 55 Days at Peking (1963) starring Charlton Heston to be released.
A: You and many others, sadly. The Weinstein Group owns the home video rights, and the library from that company is now being handled by Vivendi. No word on the DVD release of this Samuel Bronston production, nor Circus World, another Bronston film the Weinstein library controls. For the record, 55 Days is a classic historical saga set against the backdrop of the 1900 Boxer Rebellion in China. Heston, David Niven, Ava Gardner and Flora Robson head the cast. While Nicholas Ray is credited as director, Andrew Marton helmed large portions of the film.
Q: Can anyone tell me where I can find Beau Geste (1966) with Guy Stockwell and Telly Savalas?
A: Unfortunately, not on DVD. The third go-round for the Foreign Legion saga has never been on video in any format, thanks to an oversight on studio Universal’s part. Stockwell and Savalas are joined by Doug McClure and Beau Geste in the cast.
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Irv Slifkin | Ask Movie Fanfare
Q: I am looking for Black Tuesday with Edward G. Robinson and Peter Graves; Baby Face Nelson with Mickey Rooney and Carolyn Jones (Don Siegel directs); and Breaking Point with John Garfield. Will any of these be released on DVD?
A: What a cool batch of movies you have requested. We can’t get a handle on who controls the rights to 1954’s Black Tuesday, with Edward G. and Peter G. busting out of prison in a crackerjack crime drama. The problem is that it was independently produced and released in theaters by United Artists, so figuring out the rights holder is a toughie. The oft-requested gangster epic Baby Face Nelson (1957) seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth—at least until Warner Archives gets a hold of a suitable print of this top-notch hood bio originally released by Allied Artists. The Breaking Point (1950), based on the Ernest Hemingway novel and directed by Michael Curtiz, stars Garfield as a boat captain who unknowingly takes a group of thieves on his ship. It’s another Warner property and, based on their past history, a surefire future release from their Archives collection.
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Irv Slifkin | Ask Movie Fanfare
The Window
Question: To date, several noir sets have been released, but one title is still missing, that being The Window, RKO's tense 1949 nail-biter that helped win the late, great child actor, Bobby Driscoll, a miniature Oscar statuette as the outstanding juvenile performer of that year. Filmed on location on New York's teeming East Side, it's the story of a young boy whose reputation for telling tall tales has destroyed his credibility. As a result, after he witnesses a murder during the wee hours of a stiflingly hot summer night, he's unable to convince anyone of what he's seen... anyone, that is, except the killers, who set out to silence him permanently. The boy's terror is palpable during the film's climactic chase down dark, abandoned streets and through a condemned tenement building. "It Never Lets You Go," proclaimed the 1949 one-sheet. It still holds true today.
Answer: We are huge fans of this classic variation on the “Boy Who Cried Wolf” story. We expect it on an upcoming film noir set from Warner, but we have no clue when it would be issued. Apparently, others have fond memories of the suspenser, too, because we have received lots of requests for it.
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Irv Slifkin | Ask Movie Fanfare
Q: Could you tell me if WB is ever going to release more Spencer Tracy films, in particular, A Guy Named Joe, The Seventh Cross, Cass Timberlane, Keeper of the Flame and The Sea of Grass?
Also, with all of the classic films on DVD, it seems that Debbie Reynolds has been forgotten! Any chance that such films as I Love Melvin, Give a Girl a Break, Bundle of Joy, This Happy Feeling, Say One For Me, The Gazebo, It Started with A Kiss, The Pleasure of His Company, My Six Loves, or Goodbye Charlie will make it to DVD in the near future?
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Irv Slifkin | Ask Movie Fanfare
Question: Will the movie To Each His Own ever be released on DVD? I fell in love with it and haven't been able to find it.
Answer: Olivia De Havilland won an Oscar for her performance as Jody Norris, a woman who becomes pregnant by a soldier during World War I, then gives the baby up for adoption. She eventually encounters her grown-up son during World War II in this well-liked 1946 effort from "womans' director" Mitchell Leisen (Easy Living, Midnight) and frequent Billy Wilder writing partner Charles Brackett. The Paramount picture is now owned by Universal; if Uni has no immediate plans, there's hope for release with Turner Classic Movies issuing Paramount/Universal library titles of late through their manufacture-on-demand DVD program.
Question: Are there rights problems with the Fox film Margie from 1946? Are there are many requests for this film to be shown and/or released on DVD?
Answer: We don’t think there is a rights problem with the Roaring ‘20s-set comedy starring Jeanne Crain. We just think Fox has sadly overlooked it in their library and doesn't recognize the amount of people interested in this nostalgic delight.
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Irv Slifkin | Ask Movie Fanfare
Question: Will the 1936 Show Boat be put on DVD in the near future? The film was available on Laserdisc several years ago and I consider it the best version of the musical.
Answer: Many people share your opinion that the James Whale-directed adaptation of the Jerome Kern-Oscar Hammerstein musical is Hollywood’s best take on the tale. Certainly, that cast of Irene Dunne, Allan Jones, Paul Robeson and Butterfly McQueen is tough to beat. But there are fans of the 1951 edition with Kathryn Grayson, Howard Keel and William Warfield doing justice to “Ol’ Man River.” For your information, there is also a 1929 version, an early talkie. Word is Warner has been working on some sort of set that encompasses at least the 1936 and 1951 versions, but no word on a release date yet.
Question: In regard to your article on Jeff Bridges, Thunderbolt andLightfoot is a classic that I never get tired of watching. Bridges’ portrayal of a young wide-eyed kid out for the time of his life was a cinematic gem. He was the perfect foil for Eastwood and George Kennedy. I’m laughing now at his disguised blonde getting the make on the time keeper. Who beat him for the Oscar?
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Tags: Barbara Stanwyck, Bela Lugosi, Jerry Lewis