Jean-Paul Belmondo has been on my mind of late. I just recently purchased Criterion's Pierrot Le Fou Blu-ray, and I re-watched Breathless just the other day for the hell of it. Over a month ago, I saw a gorgeous 35mm print of Le Magnifique, a spy spoof that makes negates the need for those that came after. It was originally shown as a double-bill with Doc Savage: Man of Bronze. The Belmondo spy movie was consistently the much more popular of the two. Belmondo plays Bob St. Clair, man' man and spy's spy. He's ultra-chauvanistic and can't be killed. World governments call him in when they have a crisis as their one-man "fixer". (or Sinclair, depending on how you listen to it) Belmondo goes through copious cartons of cigarettes in Le Magnifique as he does in Breathless and Pierrot. Here though, they make a point of showing his signature habit gives him serious health problems. The man can't run to the end of a street without nearly having a heart attack. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070354/ http://www.amazon.com/Magnifique-René-Barrera/dp/B00005TNF5/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1262912113&sr=8-1 I was and am a fan of the pulp novels of Doc Savage - Kenneth Robeson's 200-novel odyssey. I was and am a fan of the films of George Pal - having been awed and amazed by The Time Machine (1960), War of the Worlds (1953) and When Worlds Collide (1950) on TV in the 1970s. So when Doc Savage - The Man of Bronze was released, produced by Pal, I had to see it! (I'm talking London, in 1975.) Astutely tuned in to the tongue-in-cheek nature of this whiter-than-white hero movie, the British distributor paired the film with this French spoof of James Bond movies. I'd seen the star, Jean-Paul Belmondo in thrillers on TV (like The Burglars) and knew that he was an actor who performed many of his own stunts, from library books on the history of stuntwork. It was because of Belmondo's range as a both a dramatic actor and a comedian, a glamorous star and a stuntman, that made him huge in France and even some of his movies were even dubbed for international release. Le Magnifique, ambitiously retitled How To Destroy the Reputation of the World's Greatest Secret Agent, is a real treat - there's nothing else like it. Besides spoofing the smugness of the Bond image (the guy's so vain he carries a comb in his swimsuit), the gadgets, the casual violence, the way he woos women... it's also one of those films that shows the fictional creation at the mercy of its author - as we cut from super-smooth Bob Saint-Clair enjoying the sun (and Jacqueline Bisset), to the struggling writer Francois in his tiny Paris apartment, trapped only by pouring rain. His alter-ego can shoot four men out of a tree with a single bullet, while he can't even get his electricity fixed. But as a hapless author, at least he can write the people he hates into his story, and then despatch them however he likes. Like Billy Liar (1963), The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947) and Tarsem Singh's The Fall (2006), we watch the fantasist and the fantasy. The characters' stories start to run a close parallel as we discover that the heroine of his latest book is also his upstairs neighbour. But will she be as impressed with a middle-aged hack in a cardigan... The story is a delight, the many scenes of Bond spoofs are spectacular, funny and astonishingly bloody, as director Philippe de Broca also targets Sam Peckinpah's exaggerated slow-motion death scenes. These were obviously heavily cut in the cinema, to suit a children's double-bill, but the DVD has everything intact, including a head shot that pre-dates Scanners... The excessively bloody take on the Odessa Steps scene from Battleship Potemkin has to be seen to be believed... The comedy sub-plot of the author vs his boss is quite broad, as is the depiction of 'pulp novels versus literature' subplot, from a time when even paperbacks were frowned upon. But it's very different from the movie spoofs which happily cashed in with their version of Bond (like the Derek Flint and Matt Helm films) rather than this very savage lampoon on spies and movie violence. There's even a gag that reappeared in Top Secret (1984), of someone crushed in a car into a metal cube, but still alive. Top Secret takes it further (a spoof spoofing a spoof?) but Le Magnifique has a car-crusher built into the back of a lorry! Impressive, if such a vehicle really existed. Lobby card image from the Cinedelica website Belmondo is superb, looking the part of a super-sexy super-spy, as well as the author struggling with his deadlines and smoker's cough. I'd love to see more of his thrillers and comedies - of course, he's still acting today. As is Jacqueline Bisset, who was soon to be mega-famous as eye candy in danger in The Deep. She'd already been in the notable Airport, Truffaut's Day For Night and Bullitt. An international cast in a French/Italian co-production ineviatbly means that there's no version of this film where one of the major characters isn't dubbed! Much like the spaghetti westerns. Belmondo talks French, Bisset English and Vittorio Caprioli (as his bullying boss) is Italian. The French DVD, from Studio Canal, has a choice of English or French audio, and though I'm not a fan of dubbing, the English dub is still very funny, Bisset's voice is her own, and the actor voicing Belmondo is a treat. Inevitably, Doc Savage couldn't really match the antics of Bob Saint-Clair, but it was certainly a top-value double-bill. I'd still like to see the film in French, but only the out-of-print American DVD from Image Entertainment, had subtitles for the French audio version. If you just want the English dub, all of the current European DVD releases appear to include it. Respect also for Claude Bolling's witty soundtrack, which was released on CD in Italy a few years ago. For a taster, the French trailer is currently on YouTube.

Is there hope that the new SherlockNRolla Holmes movie could bring this decidedly non-canon 1976 Holmes movie back into print on DVD? Status: Out Of Print (DVD released by Universal in 1998) Based on the apocryphal 1974 novel by Nicholas Meyer (later the writer-director-savior of the Star Trek franchise), The Seven-Per-Cent Solution was made just two years after the publication of the book. The film adapts the story of Dr. Watson (Robert Duvall) staging an intervention for the drug-addled and crazed Sherlock Holmes (Nicol Williamson). The Holmes canon is turned on its ear when we find out that an innocent mathematician named Dr. Moriarty (Laurence Olivier) is only his arch-nemesis in hallucinations and fever dreams. Watson dupes his friend into going to Vienna so that they can seek the assistance of Sigmund Freud (Alan Arkin), their best hope to wrest the demons from Holmes' soul. Joel Gray and Vanessa Redgrave also appear in supporting roles, though Redgrave receives second billing in the credits. A mystery and a villain do eventually emerge, but the movie is best-known for the re-imagining of the character and franchise. The movie strays a good deal more than the book from established canon in details and embellishments, but the plots are more or less the same. I should mention that the movie portrays Holmes as much more of a ladies' man than the book, which is probably the most ill-fitting part of Nicol Williamson's Holmes. Seven-Per-Cent Solution is perfectly enjoyable as a piece of exceptionally high-grade fan fiction. Additionally, it's difficult to dispute the novelty of Duvall as Watson, Olivier as Moriarty, Excalibur's Merlin playing a manic Holmes, and Arkin doing a surprisingly good American-faking-an-accent Freud. This should be reissued, if only to allow the intrigued to witness Duvall's English accent in action. He worked his ass off on it (and it shows), but it's still pretty ridiculous. The Image/MCA/Universal DVD that was issued in 1998 was among the first DVDs produced by Uni, and as a result, it had a low-quality Pan-and-Scan transfer. Don't blame Universal, since no one knew what they were doing at that point. The disc has been out of print as far back as 2002 from what I can gather. I had a copy once upon a time, which I sold at a tidy profit in college. I'd rather be without it than suffer that horrendous transfer. Australian and UK DVDs are available for import, but I'd prefer a properly-mastered US version all the same. Click here to vote on TCM's "TCMdb" website for it to be brought back into print (this time in 16x9 widescreen). As of this writing, it's #274, so pass this story along to friends and let's see how high on the list we can get it. Studios respond to viral buzz more than anything else these days, so a sudden explosion in its ranking can and will make a difference as to its DVD fate. I'm sure some torrenting gluttons will want to tell me that it can be freely downloaded illegally and that no one should feel remorse since it's out of print, but I'm already aware. Everyone should keep in mind that the version available would have to be either a rip of a VHS tape or the atrocious DVD pan and scan transfer that came before. Demand quality by voting with your buzz and dollars. Disc Wanted covers the movies that should be available on disc, but (for whatever reason) are long out of print or have never seen the light of a DVD or Blu-ray laser in the US.

A few days ago, Paramount announced a new DVD special edition of John Hughes' Planes, Trains, and Automobiles with no matching Blu-ray. This disappointed me greatly, as Paramount's recent Blu-ray port of Ferris Bueller's Day Off is fantastic. Whether Hughes had died yesterday or not, I should certainly hope that Paramount quickly announces plans for the same edition to be released on Blu-ray. If they don't, they're making a huge mistake going into a very important holiday season for the format. Planes, Trains, and Automobiles is a "buy, don't rent" title for a large number of people that will be picking up players in that same quarter of the year, and it would be the no-brainer among first additions to a Blu library. For that matter, I found the only major Hughes movie currently on Blu-ray aside from Bueller is Home Alone. No Weird Science, Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, or Pretty in Pink are to be found. Not to be unsentimental, but Universal and Paramount could sell new Blu-ray users copies of all these movies in a couple months' time without breaking a sweat. Some thoughts on the Bueller Blu, as I noted a couple months ago: "Similar to the other two catalog releases from Paramount last week, Ferris Bueller's Day Off has jumped to Blu-ray, carrying over the supplements of the Bueller...Bueller Edition that hit DVD in 2006. The movie itself looks and sounds better than it ever has, which should be the bare minimum expected at this point. What has impressed me most with the catalog titles is that they haven't overdone the DNR or edge enhancement as far as I can tell. There's an appropriate amount of grain in the picture such that it isn't too clean and plastic-looking."

Believe it or not, Video On Demand was instrumental in the downfall of the Kevin Kline-starring Pirates of Penzance. By many accounts, this screen adaptation of the Joseph Papp-directed 1980 Broadway staging was really excellent. The entire cast reprised their roles with the exception of Estelle Parsons, who was replaced by Angela Lansbury. The Broadway performance was recorded by the Broadway Theatre Archives and came out on DVD in 2002, but the feature film adaptation is still nowhere to be found. Even boasting a cast including Kline, Linda Ronstadt (both of whom won Tony Awards in 1980), pop singer Rex Smith, and Lansbury, Penzance couldn't have made much money on only 92 screens. Multiplex owners revolted when MCA Universal decided they were going to make the movie available via the SelecTV on demand cable service day-and-date with its theatrical release. The movie was considered a massive failure, but gained a following thanks to the rise of home video and parents hungry for family-friendly titles. Despite a few lyric changes made for American comprehension and the somewhat hokey nature of the piece as a whole, it's far from an embarrassment. At the very least, a DVD release would be in order, right? It'd be a brilliant move for a forward-thinking company like Universal to make it available for VOD services as more set-top options appear. Kids and parents alike get bored with all the CG-animated garbage, and this one could prove quite popular and profitable if it could actually be rented or purchased.

The Digital Bits is reporting in their Rumor Mill that Paramount has set a Centennial Collection DVD-only release of The African Queen for October 13th of this year. Blu-ray could follow later this year or next year. This is all unofficial and subject to change, but it's great news nonetheless. The African Queen has become on of the most conspicuous movies MIA on DVD, having not appeared on any digital format at all to this point. So why aren't we getting a Blu-ray at the same time? The reason this and other classic titles hit DVD first is that there's a lot more data to clean up in the much larger, higher-quality scan for Blu-ray. To put it bluntly, it'd look like shit if they took an image suitable for shrinking down to DVD resolution (which hides a lot of imperfections) and slapped it on a 1080p disc. It takes more time, but it's worth it. This is why Warner Bros. had to do a full re-restoration on The Wizard of Oz for the blu coming out this fall.

Next week's release of Angels and Demons brings to mind another movie similarly derided by the religious establishment: Ken Russell's The Devils. It's still not available on Region 1 DVD. There's a bootleg DVD floating around featuring the 111-minute uncut version, but I never trust picture quality on these, much less support them (it just delays or prevents a decent version). There was allegedly a DVD transfer made, a gold master struck, and a release date set, but it was then pulled from release. I first saw the film on a battered old VHS copy projected in a cathedral-like lecture hall during my Anthropology of Religion class in college. My professor, Bruce Grindal, said it is a movie that has always been impossible to find on home video. He added that all sorts of religious institutions and censor groups have helped prevent its availability since its release nearly 4 decades ago. The movie concerns itself with the Loudun Possessions of 1634, considered the largest mass possession in history. Godless heathen that I am, I don't believe any of the possession malarkey and expect this was a Crucible-like situation where the clergy and the nuns came to blows. Significant artistic license was taken in the portrayals of Cardinal Richlieu and Louis XIII, but what really gave the church and censor boards fits was the infamous Rape of Christ scene. Full of nudity and violence, it's the kind of thing that might still cause trouble with the MPAA. In a recent Home Theater Forum chat (3/24/09) conducted by The Digital Bits, Warner Bros. had the following to say: "[MichaelStreeter] Hi, congratulations - I love the WBArchives idea and it's really exciting. Any chance we'll see Brewster McCloud, The Devils or The Power on DVD? [warnerbros] How did we know someone would ask about the THE DEVILS :) All three titles are under consideration and are in various stage of approval. Cross fingers!" It appears to be more a matter of "when" rather than "if" at this point. I'm most interested in whether they're planning to release it as an Archive title or an extras-laden standard release. The trailer is viewable on YouTube here (embedding disabled to frustrate me). Below I have embedded the 6 parts of Hell on Earth: The Desecration & Resurrection of "The Devils", a 2004 UK TV documentary that ran on Channel 4. Nudity and foul language are included, so even the doc is NSFW. It digs into the production and decades of controversy surrounding The Devils better than anyone has written about it in just 50 minutes, give or take. The presence of this doc would be the reason to buy and not rent the theoretical DVD from Warner.

Many have already acknowledged the passing of Jack Cardiff, one of many great cinematographers who people know better by his work than his name. For those who love his craft in any capacity behind the camera, it's time to look at where there are holes in home viewing options. He directed a few features that are still missing on DVD (already featured in our Most Wanted box), but I wanted to give as comprehensive a look as possible at all of his work and where it stands digitally. For someone so associated with the images he burned into the memories of many, I've included those titles he shot that may be on DVD, but not yet Blu-ray, knowing full well that the progression to Blu takes time. As Cinematographer The African Queen (Huston, 1946) Paramount has long-promised this would eventually come to DVD (and now Blu-ray), and it stands as one of the prestige catalogue titles not yet available on home video in the US since VHS. It has been available on DVD in what looks like an all-region Hong Kong dupe of questionable quality for a few years. The Awakening (Newell, 1980) Charleton Heston is featured as an archaeologist whose daughter is possessed by an ancient Egyptian spirit. Those archaeologists and their propensity for entanglements with evil spirits! Susannah York is in it as well, and fans of the Harry Potter movies will recognize Miriam Margoyles in a small role. This title has not been on DVD in the US, though it has popped up in the UK and Australia. Americans do have the option of VOd renting through Amazon on their computer for the time being. Death on the Nile (Guillermin, 1978) Starz/Anchor Bay released this Ustinov-starring Poirot movie in 2001, but it has since gone out of print. It would be nice to see a DVD/Blu rerelease alongside other Poirot titles they have. Directed by Cardiff The Mercenaries (aka Dark of the Sun, 1968) This is his greatest directorial effort not released to DVD. Described quite accurately as a cross between The Dirty Dozen and Heart of Darkness, Rod Taylor's performance here is raw and intricate, absolutely stellar. With the major studio release this year of a "death squad on a mission" movie (Inglourious Basterds), one could hope we see MGM or whoever controls Dark of the Sun (as many know it from VHS) give it a decent release at least in time for the Tarantino movie's home video release. That's something I'd buy five of for friends. A great discovery for many that has faded due to never seeing any kind of digital release. Young Cassidy (1965) John Ford started out directing this movie and then passed the reins to Cardiff when he fell ill. It tells the story of Irish playwright Sean O'Casey (here renamed Johnny Cassidy) and stars no less than Rod Taylor wrestling with choosing from two love interests: a prostitute (Julie Christie) and a bookshop clerk (Maggie Smith). Having never seen it and only read about it, this looks like a lightweight, melodramatic biopic like any other, but the headliners and supporting cast demand it be viewable. Michael Redgrave, Flora Robson, Jack McGowran, Sian Phillips, and Edith Evans are all good reasons to Sons and Lovers (1960) Dean Stockwell with a controlling mother bearing down on him plus early 1960s monochrome. Fox owns the rights, so who knows if we'll ever see this one. There's an Australian disc and a Hong Kong crap transfer, but that's not good enough for me. B&W deserves justice. The Girl on a Motorcycle (1968) Released in 1999 and now out of print. Alain Deleon and Marianne Faithfull star. Wife leaves her husband and hits the road on a Harley. M.I.A. on Blu War & Peace (Vidor, 1956) Paramount put this one out in 2002. It could be a good addition to a burgeoning catalogue selection. The Barefoot Contessa (Mankiewicz, 1954) MGM released a bare version of this in 2000. I don't care if they make me buy it in a 3 or 4 movie set, I would like to see it in 1080p. The Red Shoes (Powell & Pressburger, 1948) Black Narcissus (Powell & Pressburger, 1947) A dance classic and an emblematic Britons-in-the-jungle story. Criterion's existing editions of both currently sit on the my top Criterion shelf (I have them separated for cataloging purposes). Now that I've seen a few pre-1960 transfers from them and WB, I'm hungry for both of these. I'll pay the upgrade cost on all the ones I already own. A Matter of Life and Death [aka Stairway to Heaven] (Powell & Pressburger, 1946) This is available in a double feature package released in January (paired with Age of Consent). Sony have it, and as the progenitors of Blu-ray, this one would be a stellar catalogue title for them to get on store shelves. It's the movie that introduced me to David Niven, and I could watch it any day of the week. Pandora and The Flying Dutchman (Lewin, 1951) Kino released this one in 2000. Starring Ava Gardner (also in front of Cardiff's lens in Contessa), James Mason plays a mysterious potential love interest in a picture that isn't very deep, but is great to bask in the technicolor glow of on a Sunday afternoon. The Kino DVD is currently sitting in the Blu-ray price range at $26.99 on Amazon. I'd rather wait a few years than drop that on a 9-year-old DVD at this point. Under Capricorn (Hitchcock, 1949) Image released this in 2003 on DVD. I'm not a huge fan of it, but for completion's sake, it should be available in HD, both due to Cardiff's work and the fact it's a Hitch title. The Black Rose (Hathaway, 1950) Tyrone Power, Orson Welles, and owned by Fox. This was part of their 2007 Tyrone Power box set, and I hope to see the thing just rereleased with a Blu coat of paint. The Vikings (Fleischer, 1958) Another MGM title dropped on DVD in the early 0's, the 2.35:1 photography demands a Blu-ray transfer with a cast like Kirk Douglas, Tony Curtis, Ernest Borgnine, and Janet Leigh. The DVD is ten bucks, but I'd pay $20 for Blu. Put it in a box with two other things I don't care about, and I'll buy it anyway. Legend of the Lost (Hathaway, 1957) John Wayne and Sophia Loren star. MGM owns it, and could pack this in a three-movie set of other Wayne movies, easy. Gorgeous frames of West Africa before a series of conflicts split it into a bunch of pieces. Fanny (Logan, 1961) Image released this in 2008 after many clamored for it, and I'm uncertain of the quality that came across. As with many of their releases, it's a mixed bag from what I've read, with dirt and flaws marring the opening sequence. Image does not appear to have done any cleanup or restoration, which Cardiff's photography of Marseilles demands. Some are glad it's available, but many fans stay away. Questions abound as to whether Warner Bros. still retains any rights to this title. If they do, they should slap it and a couple other non-marquee name musicals into a restored Blu box and I'd buy it. The Dogs of War (Irvin, 1980) Early 1980's merc movie with Walken and Berenger. Another MGM 2001 release. People buy bundles and double features. Pair it with another action movie from the same era and charge $20.