In part 2, we’ll be checking out classics and live-action films.
To start the live-action section, we’re going to take a look at two of my favorite films together on Blu-ray: Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo and Sanjuro. Starring Toshiro Mifune, these films were the basis for The Man With No Name Trilogy (starring Clint Eastwood), Last Man Standing (starring Bruce Willis), and others. They tell the tale of a clever drifter who moves from place to place looking to make a quick buck. He’s the ultimate bad-ass. Yojimbo starts with him arriving in a town and playing both sides of mobsters against the center. The films are more gritty and brutal than you would normally expect for Black and White fare, but that simply adds to their charm. Honestly, there are few better images than that dog trotting up the street with a severed human hand in his mouth.
The most remarkable thing about this Criterion release, though, is that these films look brand new. I’ve watched my old DVD Criterion versions of these films dozens of times and they look well-worn. There’s a lot of haziness in places, dirt, scratches, etc. Virtually all of that is gone on these hi-def blow-ups. The picture is crystal clear and, like I said, even though I’ve seen these films countless times, they both looked brand new.
For any fan of Kurosawa, this is another case of “must-upgrade.”
And watching Yojimbo again, I thought of another analogy for Obama in the health care reform debate. Republicans and Democrats are the mobsters and Obama is Mifune, playing both sides against the center until the evil men are dead and the people win. Sadly, Obama wasn’t that much of a bad-ass, but I thought it was a humorous thought.
Next on the list is the first-time ever available in a digital format of any kind edition of The African Queen. I’ve never seen this picture before. It has been completely unavailable to me for all of my adult life and somehow managed to miss it as a kid. I love Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn, so having never seen it was a badge of shame. The movie was everything I hoped it would be and is being added to my heavy rotation list, but I want to talk about how incredible three strip technicolor looks in high-definition. For those of you who don’t know (and lets face it, probably don’t care) color film in the 30s and 40s was a ridiculously difficult process. The three strip technicolor process (you can see a picture of the giant camera here) had to record three negatives, one with a green filter, one blue, and one red. The composite of those provided a rich, ethereal sort of color that you see in early color films and early color films alone. (Though Martin Scorsese did a good job of recreating it in some scenes of The Aviator). It creates a beautiful and unique color palette and the remastering of The African Queen looks as though it spared no expense.
The process is so interesting, they even included technicolor frames of each color and the composite of The African Queen in the special edition of the film (along with Katherine Hepburns memoir of making the film.)
For any of you classic film lovers, this is a film you shouldn’t miss. And at the very least, you should watch it because it’s been so difficult to see for so long.
The last movie on my list today is The Men Who Stare At Goats. This was a delightful film, hilarious all the way through and seemed totally maligned by critics.
I don’t know why. It deserves your money. George Clooney is hilarious in it, so is Ewan McGregor. And Kevin Spacey, too.
Also out today is Mad Men season 3. I haven’t watched any of it yet, but I bought season one and am told to expect good things out of it.
