A busy week for Savant, with lots of exciting discs coming up. Here's the next installment in the Summer of Horror DVD parade:

Anchor Bay's Demons of the Mind and Straight on Till Morning can be kindly described as two 'lesser efforts', but not this pair of picture-perfect discs, armed with excellent commentary tracks. A gothic potboiler, Demons is discussed by its director, screenwriter and an actress, while Straight has a rare full-length interview from Rita Tushingham.

Criterion's Le trou is a gripping, unique prison break movie released last year and being reviewed now because it will be shown this coming Sunday night, August 3 at 9PM on the Sundance cable channel. On Saturday the 3rd, the Criterion Sundance Classics presentation will be Akira Kurosawa's unparallelled Rashomon.

Also to be noted in the television viewing schedule, this Thursday (Aug.1), TCM will premiere the 90 minute documentary on Joan Crawford: The Ultimate Movie Star, a show that Savant edited last year for producer-director Peter Fitzgerald. The whole wild and weird life of this notorious actress is covered, with some very intimate interviews with Christina Crawford, the daughter who wrote Mommie Dearest, many of the actors, and even a director Crawford worked with. It's a big undertaking and has already won a lot of press attention, and TCM is giving it a big sendoff. So wish us luck!

Thanks for reading! More Horror, toot sweet. Glenn Erickson

July is fast getting away from us, but the discs aren't. Savant has more horror coming up, but takes a break for these two classic foreign films.

Image's Ossessione is a neorealist drama that closely resembles American film noir about murdering wives and lovers. It should, as it's Luchino Visconti's unauthorized screen telling of James M. Cain's The Postman Always Rings Twice.

Criterion has put a lot of movie into one little disc, in their deluxe edition of Kon Ichikwawa's Tokyo Olympiad, a riveting and emotional translation of the Olympic experience into visual terms. Includes a lengthy interview with the director, and full coverage on the film's heated reception by the Japanese Olympic Committee, who hadn't expected such an artistically oriented picture.

Up before Tuesday, two new Anchor Bay Hammer entries. Thanks for Reading, Glenn Erickson

Savant thinks he's found his favorite disc so far this year. 2001 had a miracle every month, but 2002 seems to be saving its DVD revelations for the last half. It's a big article (no efficient, fast reads here, by golly) but has the full dope on a Horror classic that's not all that well known.

It's Columbia TriStar's Curse of the Demon / Night of the Demon double bill, and it's an eye-opening great disc, containing both the original English and cut-down American versions of what Savant thinks is the best supernatural movie of all. He also has some backstories to its 'restorations' in 1987 and 2000.

Columbia also scores with a square masterpiece, George Sidney's The Eddy Duchin Story. The music (Duchin popularized the song 'Brazil') and the nostalgic vistas of New York are enchanting, and Kim Novak and Tyrone Power aren't hard on the eyes either. Includes a typical Savant dig into the Musical Biography sub-genre.

Savant is editing again, but should be able to keep new reviews up at his usual stumbling pace. Don't forget Criterion's Classic movie nights, Saturday and Sunday at 9 on the Sundance cable channel. This week's films are the Czech comedy Loves of a Blonde (July 27) and the Russian romance The Cranes are Flying (July 28). Thank you! Glenn Erickson

Well, Savant promised some hot titles, and this is the first of the riches of the Horror film coming in the next couple of months.

Columbia TriStar's The Revenge of Frankenstein is one of those genre treasures we've been waiting for - the second in Hammer's series with the Baron, played with elegant precision by Peter Cushing. Here he gets the closest ever to being an upstanding citizen - until the experiment goes wrong, of course.

Retromedia's DVD of The Bride and the Beast is a barely-okay copy of a WEIRD show from 1958 - written by Edward D. Wood, Jr.. You can't miss the mark of the auteur, with all the Angora sweaters on display, and the heroine's talk about getting the soft and furry stuff next to her body. Only she's not talking about her wardrobe, but Gorillas. She practically swoons when she's near one, and her dreams are filled with memories of having been a Gorilla in a previous life! There's only one logical end for this story, and The Bride and the Beast has the guts to follow through.

Thanks again ... Savant had a lot of fun writing these two! Glenn Erickson

Two quick reviews this Saturday night ... it's sad that summer's going so quickly, but there's a terrific Fall coming for genre titles.

Paramount's Goin' South is a comedy starring and directed by Jack Nicholson. It has one of the funniest opening scenes ever, and introduces both Mary Steenburgen and John Belushi to the big screen.

Goldhil's Korean War in Color is disappointingly amateurish as a docu, but terrific as a resource for authentic combat footage. Lots of interesting extras too.

There'll be some fun reviews in the coming days - the Columbia horror films from August are already here, and I'll be spinning them up shortly. I'm also excited by the films expected in the next months from Criterion. Finally, I've gotten some peeks at MGM's Fall product, and have liked the bits I've seen of the Poe double features. See you in a couple of days! Glenn Erickson

Greetings from Los Angeles, where Savant is once again inundated with upcoming product to review, some of it weeks ahead of street date!

Coming out very soon is HVe and Voyager's two wonderful Ron Mann documentaries, Twist! and Comic Book Confidential. The first covers the evolution of pop dancing with wall-to-wall music and clips. The comic book movie is a re-issue of the popular Criterion laserdisc, that retains all the extras and looks even better - at 1/5 the cost, too. Two separate discs. Mann also made the earlier release Grass.

Retromedia's 'Drive-In Theater' release of King Dinosaur is a passable presentation of Bert I. Gordon's first monster opus, a minimalist Z-movie with enough meaningless dialogue and cookie-cutter special effects to thrill anyone looking for Bad Science Fiction.

Savant is editing again, but should have reviews up at the usual stumbling pace. Don't forget Criterion's Classic movie nights, Saturday and Sunday at 9 on the Sundance cable channel. This week's films are Cries and Whispers (July 20) and The Passion of Joan of Arc (July 21). Glenn Erickson

One more top title before it's time to send out the Savant Newsletter - which, by the way, I want to thank you for subscribing to: apparently in this phase of Web politics, it's the measure of success for a website.

Criterion and HVe have been putting out a string of high quality product, and Akira Kurosawa's Red Beard is about as good as it gets. Beautifully remastered in HD and digitally scrubbed, this tale of duty and human empathy in a Shogunate medical clinic is one of the most uplifting - but unsentimental - pictures ever made. Stars Toshiro Mifune, in his last of many roles for director Kurosawa.

Today's the 16th of July, which just happens to be the street date for Red Beard. I'm usually early or late with reviews, whereas other sites schedule them right with the releases ... if you look at the list below, you'll find reviews for at least four other pictures that hit the street today! Thanks again, Glenn Erickson

Welcome back to SavantLand, the website where you can always find the subject you seek - silly comedy, sex, political intrigue, or cinema classics. We'll just take a sip on our expresso here, and continue to tonights four eclectip, eclak ...ecleck, ... very different reviews.

Paramount's The Big Bus is a precursor comedy to Airplane! that many people prefer. Combining droll wit, with great lines like, "Eat one foot and you're marked for life!", this crazy spoof of disaster movies is the first and only film about an atomic powered non-stop express Bus. Stars Stockard Channing and Joseph Bologna.

HBO's The Vagina Monologues is a TV version of the one-woman stage show that still has companies running all over the country, 6 years after it began. Eve Ensler performs her own work, and it's a quality effort that demystifies and de-shames the female sex organ, and sex in general. Very educational, and very different.

"Z" is the bombshell political thriller from Costa-Gavras, about the 1967 murder of a Greek government minister that was revealed to have been a conspiracy. Shot in French and starring Yves Montand and Jean-Louis Trintignant, this is one of the best movies of its kind.

Finally, there's Criterion's The Passion of Joan of Arc, which has been out for two years but is the subject of a review because it's being shown next weekend on the Sundance channel. This is the third weekend of Criterion's Classic Cinema series; Ingmar Bergman's Cries and Whispers plays next Saturday the 20th at 9PM, and this Carl Th. Dreyer masterpiece on Sunday the 21st at the same hour. Really a transcendant film, there's a restoration story here that's nothing less than miraculous.

Oops, not quite done yet. You may remember Savant's dismay to learn that KINO's theatrical release of METROPOLIS was to be at 24fps to accomodate its original score? Kino's not referring to the projection speed in any of its advertisements. But on its Kino Metropolis Website, you can see a trailer for the new restoration that shows many of the new, never-before-seen shots that the Germans have restored. I don't mind promoting the release of the film, even though I'm hoping for a more projection-speed friendly version down the line. Kino's trailer-promo is very nicely done, too. Thanks, Glenn Erickson

Two fast goodies today, two fantasy films completely different from one another.

Joe Dante's splendid Innerspace is a real romp, with Dennis Quaid in fine form, Martin Short as funny as can be (in the kind of Jerry Lewis-style role Savant usually doesn't cotton to) and Meg Ryan a surprising new star. An old-fashioned Fantastic Voyage-like sci fi tale is a point of departure for two solid hours of fun. With a terrific commentary track, for those who already know how good it is.

The animated puppet film Mad Monster Party? is a kiddie favorite that's also a nostalgic touchstone for a generation of tykes who saw it on television. Boris Karloff and Phyllis Diller lead a silly pack of creeps in a Monster Rally with writing and art direction by Mad Magazine's Harvey Kurtzman and Jack Davis.

This is supposed to be a slow week for discs, but too many good ones are coming in. Look for more reviews on Saturday. And don't forget the Sundance Channel's Criterion Classics show, this Saturday and Sunday, with Branded to Kill and Alphaville. Cheers, Glenn Erickson

It's a scorcher out there as Savant sneaks this final review out for the week.

Fox's Modesty Blaise is a tough nut to crack, a campy spy spoof that's consistently interesting, even when it's hard to nail down anything that's really working in it. One of those pictures that's impossible to follow, and a comedy without any really successful jokes .... well, if this sounds confusing, read the review. Monica Vitti, Terence Stamp and Dirk Bogarde star in this elaborate, expensive, colorful ... uh ... movie.

A fun trifle came in the door yesterday, Anchor Bay's new disc of the kiddie favorite, MAD MONSTER PARTY. Just the thing to fill out next week, and compensation for missing out on a screening of REIGN OF FIRE tonight. Why? The preview people didn't want anyone in the audience over 40 years old! Hey! How dare you discriminate against me, you, you, young whippersnappers, you college boys, I know your kind, and I'll be watching, you betcha, just you wait, where's my cane gotten to?.... See you soon, Glenn Erickson

Greetings from a cooler-than-you'd-think Los Angeles. It has to be a darn sight more pleasant than my folks in Lake Havasu City, which I'm told is topping the mercury right now at 122 Fahrenheit. Yikes. I think my car would melt if I tried to drive in that kind of heat.

I've got two older Criterions in review today, in conjunction with the Sundance Channel's Classic Cinema show that plays every weekend this summer at 9PM. These two play next Saturday and Sunday Night.

Jean-Luc Godard's Alphaville is a personal favorite and a good example of an abstract Art film that for Savant plays like gangbusters. It shows on Sunday, whereas the Saturday night spot is filled with the bizarre Japanese yakuza hitman epic Branded to Kill. Director Seijun Suzuki assembles his genre thrillfest of sex and violence with a totally original style.

Back to more normal Hollywood fare, George Cukor's The Women is a two-hour catfight where loyal wife Norma Shearer defends her turf against interloper Joan Crawford. Most of the flying fur is the verbal kind, but Paulette Goddard and Rosalind Russell get their licks in with tooth and claw. Not the best endorsement for the female sex, or more accurately, it's own self-appraisal in 1939.

Savant promises to get to MODESTY BLAISE in due course. They aren't all blockbusters, but I'm enjoying the misc of dix, or make that the mix of discs, this summer. GE

Hello! Savant survived the 4th, and I hope you did too. I have two new docus for you tonight.

Vanguard's Picture This - The Times of Peter Bogdanovich in Archer, Texas is an interesting look at the making of The Last Picture Show, filmed when the sequel, Texasville, was being shot. Director George Hickenlooper's commentary is especially good.

Home Vision's Inspirations is a very exactingly realized examination of seven modern artists, that delves into the basics of what an artist is, and works its way up from there. Director Michael Apted's subjects include Roy Lichtenstein and David Bowie, and several others even more interesting and ... inspiring.

Here's a final reminder about Criterion's Sundance Classic Film series. Tomorrow night, Saturday the 6th, The Sundance cable channel will show Federico Fellini's Juliet of the Spirits; on Sunday the 7th, Peter Weir's The Last Wave will be presented. Both shows start at 9PM, but I'm not sure what time zone. Please check local listings, as they say.

Savant just got in the new Criterion Kurosawa, Red Beard, and is very anxious to see it. It, Modesty Blaise and others should follow soon. Thanks! GE

If you're reading this on July 2 and live in the U.S., TCM's at this moment running a series on Sam Fuller, including a very good docu by Richard Shickel, with Fuller interviews. About four hours from now, they'll be showing a letteboxed SuperScope Run of the Arrow, a very hard to see, superior Sam Fuller Western.

Two reviews tonight. First up is another oddity from the folks at First Run Features, called The Legend of Paul and Paula. It 's a very different love story, set in East Berlin and fully informed by the problems of living in a Soviet bloc country. Young Paula has two kids, no husband and absolutely no scruples about taking away another woman's husband, if there's no love there. Paul doesn't know what he's doing but can't resist this force of nature. Funny, insightful, and really well-done, this was called the 'East German Love Story' when it came out.

From Warner/Turner comes the Peter O'Toole comedy My Favorite Year, a sharp look at the Golden Age of live television, where the anarchy in the Sid Caesar-like sketches spills over onto the life of a young writer. He's charged with keeping an Errol Flynn-like actor out of jail and sober enough to make the broadcast session. A great disc with a commentary by director Richard Benjamin.

Savant just finished an editorial assignment and is having fun looking at review discs. Along with the new movies, I'll be digging back into some older Criterion titles, to accompany the Sundance cable channel's classic series that will screen every weekend night this July and August. Thanks for the fun! Glenn Erickson

A Savant favorite tonight, along with its less-than-stellar sequel.

Our Man Flint is a movie Savant never tires of watching, as he saw it at age 14 and was captivated by every frame. James Coburn is a spoofy secret agent conceived as a bundle of superlatives, who singlehandedly saves the world against incredible odds. Savant's also had plenty of time to ponder the confused significance of this one, and offers up his thoughts here.

The lackluster sequel, In Like Flint, isn't good enough to transcend much of anything, but remains a favorite film for campy spy movie addicts. Like Our Man, Fox's presentation is beautiful.

Here's hoping these two SuperSpy thrillers amuse - they don't come out until July 16, so consider this a preview. I'm going to take some time to study Modesty Blaise, which debuts on the same day ... it's a harder nut to crack, or even understand.

Thanks for reading! Glenn Erickson