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Hello! Friend Dick Dinman has several new radio shows up; the show that interested me the most is on Turner Classic Movies' Fifteenth Anniversary. Dick interviews TCM master of ceremonies Robert Osborne and senior vice president of programming Charles Tabesh. Thanks for reading! Glenn Erickson

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Hello! Savant's Kansas associate Bill Shaffer sends along his notice for this year's Godzilla and Friends IV film festival, a festival like no other! It will be held on May 1 at Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas; special guests Steve Ryfle and Ed Godziszewski will be in attendance for a special presentation, along with other speakers and special events. I've posted the full info flyer for those Savant readers in the area.

Another Savant contributor (and European western expert) Lee Broughton reminds me that the new issue of Tom Betts' web magazine Westerns All'Italiana has gone on-line. Bill, Lee and Tom helped Savant with research and expertise on the Sergio Leone DVD special editions a few years back.

I've received a report of a rumor that I believe is probably true: Sony is preparing a really terrific-sounding Noir boxed set, their first. It contains five great titles: Edward Dymtryk's The Sniper with Arthur Franz, Fritz Lang's The Big Heat with Glenn Ford and Gloria Grahame, Phil Karlson's Five Against the House with Kim Novak and Brian Keith, Don Siegel's The Lineup with Eli Wallach and Irving Lerner's Murder by Contract with Vince Edwards. Only The Big Heat has seen a previous release; all of them are gems.

Friend and writer Jeremy Arnold forwards an amusing YouTube faux-trailer: Henson's Eleven. It's just what you think it is!

Thanks for reading! Glenn Erickson.

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Hello! A real rarity has surfaced over at the ever-growing Trailers from Hell website. The movie White Dog went unreleased, for all practical purposes, but a trailer was commissioned for it. Producer Jon Davison narrates a cut of the unfinished trailer that never saw the light of day.

Friend Jeremy Arnold has directed me to a huge repository of TCM promos over the years, to celebrate their fifteenth anniversary. The Promo Archive is a wonder of design and function ... just start clicking and you can see some of the best animated intros and bumpers ever made for cable television. My favorites: Darkness After Dawn (1995), Sunny Side of Life (1996) Lone Star Cinema (1997), Risque Business (1998), The Bowery Boys; Summer of Darkness (1999), and a trio of great Bill Cosby Private Eye promos from 1996, 97 & 98.

Oh, and part 2 of Jeremy's 11th Annual Noir City report is now online.

Old associate Phil Hall, who writes for Film Threat, has been keeping busy. I just read his new book The History of Independent Cinema. It sounds like too big a category at first, but Hall limits it to American films and pitches it at the level of a textbook -- with a more interesting story to tell. Beginning with Edison's attempt to monopolize motion pictures, Hall tells the stories of individual filmmakers and entire movements. We learn about the first major independents like David O. Selznick but also about "race" filmmakers and exploitation hucksters. We get a neat overview of the business careers of D.W. Griffith and Charlie Chaplin, Howard Hughes, Walt Disney and Stanley Kramer. There's also a rundown on the evolution of screen formats starting with Cinerama and 3-D. In the 1950s Hall covers the independent filmmakers' role in breaking down the Production Code.

Almost the entire second half of the book is devoted to filmmakers and trends in the last thirty or forty years, hitting on all the main exponents of independent work and the format shift from film to video, and from video to digital. There's also a thorough rundown on underground filmmaking, on which Hall has a very firm grip. The 300+ pages are a good overview of a big subject, a good read and a good reference. The book has a small section of quality stills and is punctuated with various contributor's lists of favorite or best independent films. More detail and ordering info on The History of Independent Cinema can be found at the BearManor page. Thanks for reading, Glenn Erickson

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Hello again! The American Cinematheque is in the middle of its annual Noir City film festival. Even if you can't attend, the news from the Egyptian Theater is interesting in itself, which is why I'm linking to fellow film writer Jeremy Arnold's full report over on the TCM site.

Other news -- Criterion has announced a full-on restored DVD and Blu-ray of Roman Polanski's Repulsion for July 28! The extras sound terrific -- a Polanski-Deneuve commentary, for starters -- but we're especially enthused at the prospect of finally seeing a worthwhile video representation of this fine horror film --- it's really something in a good widescreen presentation.

I've also amended my old review of The Valley of Gwangi with a letter from correspondent Brad Arrington, sharing some information he learned years back about the composer Jerome Moross (just featured in Savant's review of Rachel, rachel. As it turned out, my guess was right ... sort of.

Looks like it'll be a fun reviewing week after all. Blu-rays of South Pacific, Last Chance Harvey and Star Trek: The Original Series Season One have arrived, as well as The Hit, Swimming in Auschwitz and AnimEigo's The Loyal 47 Ronin. I'm informed that some Warners Archives screeners are on the way as well. Thanks for reading! Glenn Erickson

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"What? Me angry?"

An odd thing to report: Helpful reader Nicholas Gordon has tipped me to the fact that my Universal Pre-Code Hollywood Collection review has been completely plagiarized in an online Film Board I don't want to name (why send them additional readers?) A reader comment attached to the review congratulates the "author" on his great review! I tried to contact the poster or the person in charge of the site, but he goes by an alias. It's altogether possible that someone is using the author's name and the plagiarism is not his doing. An interesting development -- I guess this must happen all the time.

Am recovering from a big weekend and need to get back to writing ... and will catch you later in the week. Thanks for all the Easter greetings! --- Glenn Erickson

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Sli-iding into the Easter weekend, I can report reasonable calm here at the Savant homefront. The list of desirable discs that I've been sent to review is somewhat dwindling, so I might be able to work on recent deserving releases that I (mea culpa) bounced over, like Paul Newman's excellent Rachel, Rachel. My promised Warners Archives screeners haven't materialized, so I'm afraid that trail is going a bit cold. On the positive side, upcoming reviews already done include Starlift, The She-Beast and Inside Moves.

Readers looking to see what I've been reviewing elsewhere might want to check my Film.com Reviewer Page, which has the latest listings of my articles on that site (and almost sixty old ones; I started there just about one year ago exactly). The page has a diplomatically written bio (I gloss over my years as an international gigolo and Ponzi scammer) and my favorite quote from the film editor-sage Steven Nielson. My latest review at Film.com is for the Keanu-believe-it remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still.

I may soon be burning more gas to "spontaneously" cross town and drop in on reliable DVD Savant associate and advisor Gary Teetzel. The great GT just added the MGM HD station to his channel roster and is enjoying Hi-Def cablecasts of gems like Curse of the Faceless Man and Revenge of the Zombies. Gary reports that the secret antidote to John Carradine's zombie-making recipe is .... hot coffee! How can I survive without programming like that? Yes, I want a $100/mo. cable bill too!

Until I break down, buy a lottery ticket and win a fabulous fortune, the highly desirable goodies proffered on cable's TCM will have to suffice. This Saturday we have a full evening of 1940s Hitchcock movies, followed on Easter Sunday by a line-up of Biblical Epics -- the Nicholas Ray and Cecil B. DeMille versions of King of Kings are being offered back to back. Monday afternoon, they've got the 1929 version of Show Boat. It's of special interest because a) it's mostly silent, and b) about 35 minutes of it haven't been recovered yet. Warners has promised us a super Show Boat DVD or Blu-ray set with all three versions some day -- if you haven't seen James Whale's superior 1936 Universal release with Irene Dunne, you've really got something to look forward to. Thanks for reading! Glenn Erickson

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Hello again! Some helpful readers have once again forwarded interesting links.

Anthony Thorne sends us a YouTube link to the notorious English Ch 4 Docu from 2004, Hell on Earth - The Desecration & Resurrection of "The Devils". It's adult-rated right from the beginning, when the same announcer I frequently hear on the BBC America news show reads the list of bad-taste content that will be on display. I'm told that the show (presented in 6 parts) gets well into director Ken Russell's most gross excesses.

And while you're neck deep in questionable Art Filmmaking, I stumbled again on Jeffrey Allen Rydell and Ted Newsom's hilarious ribbing of the Jesus Franco cult, in this Classic Horror Film Board Post from 2007, "Tempted by Jesus (Franco)". They really hit the Spaniard on the head with this one. This fulfills my commitment to the sleazy side of film culture for the year.

I'd also like to announce that I've updated my Let the Right One In Blu-ray review with insights and background information from long-time correspondent Stefan Andersson. Many thanks, Stefan.

Finally, correspondent Rob sends this sensational link for Ennio Morricone fans ... Mike Patton and orchestra singing a terrific cover version -- in concert -- of "Deep Deep Down" from Danger: Diabolik -- Glenn Erickson

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Just to start out, frequent correspondent "Rob" sends this link to an aural tone poem, specially chosen for refined ears expecting only the finest in melodic harmonies: I guess everybody did an album at one time or another. The fact is, the particular fellow featured was a great guy, and is still much loved around these parts.

Dean Blake reports that Sony will release a Jack Lemmon Film Collection on June 9, containing Phffft! (1954, Judy Holiday, Kim Novak), Operation Mad Ball (1957, Kathryn Grant), The Notorious Landlady (1962, Novak again), Under The Yum Yum Tree (1963, Carol Lynley) and Good Neighbor Sam (1964, Romy Schneider).

According to a post on the Criterion Forum (not formally associated with the disc company but the place for knife fights over aspect ratios) Nicholas Ray's Bigger than Life (pictured right) is "a certainty" for a Criterion disc. That sounds great. I wonder if The Criterion Collection is interested in Fox's other class-act film marvels, Elia Kazan's Wild River and Jack Cardiff's Sons and Lovers. That's a veritable trinity of desirable Fox celluloid, hiding in plain sight.

Of course, Blu-rays of those are highly unlikely ... although Fox's retail site has been updated with BDs of The Graduate for June 2 and M*A*S*H* for July 14, with The Towering Inferno not given a specific date. Other Blu-rays expected the Fox/MGM fold are Big (May 5), To Live and Die In L.A. (June 2) and Predator 2 (June 9).

Readers have been thanking me for a few of my Turner Classic Movies cable screening tip-offs, so here are a couple of more hot titles in the coming week .... Sunday (5) has the early atomic thriller Seven Days to Noon and Jacques Feyder's Carnival in Flanders. Monday (6) features a string of biker pix, The Wild One, The Born Losers, The Wild Angels and Easy Rider. Tuesday (7) has Michael Powell's 49th Parallel, while Wednesday (8) has a great old Joe E. Brown comedy, You Said a Mouthful and the wonderful Morris Engel films Little Fugitive, Lovers and Lollipops and Weddings and Babies. Next Thursday is probably too far ahead for a reminder to stick, but TCM will be showing the original U.S. length The Good, The Bad & The Ugly. I'll just continue to daydream about the MGM Blu-ray coming in May. Thanks for reading, Glenn Erickson