The General's Daughter

Starring:John Travolta, Madeleine Stowe, James Cromwell, Timothy Hutton, Leslie Stefanson, Daniel von Bargen, Clarence Williams III, James Woods, Peter Weireter, Mark Boone Junior, John Beasley, Boyd Kestner, Brad Beyer, John Benjamin Hickey, Rick Dial, Ariyan A. Johnson, John Frankenheimer, Katrina vanden Heuvel, Chris Snyder (II), Steve Danton
Director: Simon West
Studio: Paramount
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

When John Travolta first opens his mouth during the opening credits of The General's Daughter and speaks in a terrible Southern cracker drawl, one briefly hopes that the movie will turn out to be just as hilariously bad. Unfortunately, the accent is soon revealed to be part of a disguise, and the movie is just as quickly unveiled as a clumsy, run-of-the-mill potboiler. A female officer is discovered strangled and tied to the ground; she's the title character, and because of the general's political ambitions, the mystery of who did it and why has to be wrapped up in 36 hours by Travolta and fellow CID officer Madeleine Stowe (Last of the Mohicans, 12 Monkeys). Sexual violence and lurid S&M have been thrown in to shore up the incomprehensible plot, but that only adds to the queasy atmosphere. The supporting actors--an impressive collection including James Woods (Salvador), Timothy Hutton (Ordinary People), and James Cromwell (Babe, L.A. Confidential)--don't embarrass themselves, but even they can't make sense of their blustering, macho dialogue. It's amazing that screenwriter William Goldman (who wrote such great and genuinely thrilling films as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Marathon Man, All the President's Men, and Misery) left his name attached to this script; there's no sign of his usual skill and intelligence. Madeleine Stowe, a graceful presence in any film, is equally wasted. Directed with a lot of empty flash by Simon West (Con Air). --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews:

Quite a good film that closely tracks the excellent novel.......2007-06-23

The General's Daughter is a powerful film about conspiracy, lust, and above all, betrayal. It tracks the excellent Nelson DeMille novel of the same name fairly closely, and tells a compelling story that engages the viewer. John Travolta, in particular, does a stellar job as CID agent Paul Brenner. Madeleine Stowe is perfect as Sara Sunhill. The rest of the cast turn in excellent performances as well, with the possible exception of James Cromwell, of whom I am not a fan.

Some critics (and some reviewers) panned this movie, which I do not understand. At least this one has a plot, a storyline, and moves things along. Many of the overlong, tedious productions that Hollywood and its foreign rivals have been belching out for the past 20 years do none of these things. This one has no long dreary interludes, and every scene is relevant to the story. The main flaw in this film, in fact, is its downbeat tone. This is not a happy story, and the film utterly fails to inject any lightheartedness into the storyline, which is something DeMille did very successfully in the novel, by the way.

The soundtrack of this film is quite good. It is one of those soundtracks that significantly adds to the drama of the film.

Highly recommended.

Travolta at his best.......2007-05-16

Very gripping from begining to the very end. This is John Travolta at his best.

John Travolta does it again.......2007-05-06

John Travolta is such a GREAT actor and I enjoy many of his movies!!!!
General's Daughter being 1 of my favorite I will be watching a lot....

Strong acting and story come together perfectly .......2007-05-05

"The General's Daughter" is a great thriller with an interesting story. A week before the retirement of a general, his base is beset by a scandal involving his daughter who is found dead, naked and pined down by tent steaks. A military investigator (John Travolta) is called in to find the killer. He has 36 hours to solve the case before the FBI arrives and exposes the scandal to the public. Travolta is partnered with an ex-girlfriend to investigate the crime.

Unraveling the mystery behind the general's daughter murder creates an air of suspense. We are kept guessing who may be behind the murder, as it seems nearly everyone is somehow involved. As we slowly learn more about the daughter, we piece together more of what happened to her. The strong acting and story come together perfectly creating excellent entertainment. I highly recommend "The General's Daughter" to those who enjoy thrillers and suspenseful films.

More of the same from DeMille.......2007-04-05

I'm a big DeMille fan, and I enjoyed "Daughter" thoroughly. However, if I had had to read one more trip down rifle range road, I would have put this one away. Good story, good suspense, maybe not the greatest ending.

I cannot imagine a W04 in the army so sure of himself that he would talk to senior officers the way Brenner did in this book, and I cannot believe a W04 would ever have the authority on his own to grant immunity to a prisoner.

Average customer rating:

Now We Know Where She Got "You Love Me, You Really Love Me"
I had no idea this was a made for tv movie
Corny and Stupid
Great part for Sally Field
Superior TV Movie

Maybe I'll Come Home In The Spring
Starring: Sally Field , Eleanor Parker , Lane Bradbury , David Carradine , and Jackie Cooper
Director: Joseph Sargent
Manufacturer: Passion Productions
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B0000VLLHA
Release Date: 2003-09-30

Customer Reviews:

Now We Know Where She Got "You Love Me, You Really Love Me".......2006-09-02

This must have been one of those avantgarde films of the Seventies to promote the hippie lifestyle. Drugs with a capital D is what it was all about, and the rebellion of children who are not trusted or shown respect by their disapproving parents. What appealed to me was the fact that Linda Ronstadt's songs (those I have never heard) were used at intervals to show how Denice really felt. Sally Field and the actress who played her younger sister both had little girl voices, and had never grown up -- due to the fact that the extremely strict parents had never let them grow, and so Denice decided to fly away to find herself in the hippie world. First, she had gone to Chicago, but finding no one substantial there, she ended up a year later out in L.A. where the beautiful people find their fixes.

The issue I found at the sale showed a beautiful Sally Field, as far from Gidget as possible, with a young David Carradine, rough around the edges. The street scene has a motorcycle formation which did not take place in the film. After she returned to the upscale home complete with swimming pool, the character played by Carradine first stole a pest control truck and then an ice cream truck to get to her parents' home. The younger sister hid her drugs in capsules which looked like real medicine. All of the family took vitamins at the dinner table, but the food was pretty terrible.

The hippies back then are what we now see as the homeless, and this town is full of them. They scavenge through the dumpsters and garbage cans for food, even though they can get two free meals a day at the local missions. One church group even brings soup to Market Square for any and everybody to take free of charge. This backward town which starred a bear killer, an animal abuser, and a drughead to perform before 3,000 people (parents such as Denice had with their young children in tow) take good care of the homeless from who knows where. While the girls' father and mother go through their bedrooms searching for drugs, it defeats their strict discipline when we see them hosting a rauncous party of adults playing "Charades" in a gross, adult scene of drunken participants. Their drug is liquor (and sleeping pills) and thus the lavish lifestyle is deceiving. They could live down in Podunk Florida or Branson, Missouri, wherever the wine flows freely. I thought this would be about the Age of Aquarius; instead, it shows clearly how parents can force their young teenagers to leave home to seek some freedom of choices. Soon, they will be grownups and certainly don't want to be like their unrelenting, uncompromizing parents. It's a shame to have to see this on the screen to realize how some kids had no choice but to leave home. I left home when I was 17.

I had no idea this was a made for tv movie.......2006-08-30

I saw this in 1981 at the age of 13. I was starting to show a more rebellious nature according to my parents, and I just wanted to see what this was about. It was to me about wanting to have acceptance, and hsve a relationship. Sally returns from hanging around with the hippies, and finds herself ridiculed by her parents as she wants to bury the hatchet for running away like she did, and her sister now wants to do the same thing, and in the middle of all this is Sally's character waiting for her love to come, and get her, but imagine her surprise when he's working as an ice cream man, and her sister runs away. I found this movie looking back after 25 years of watching it was about the fact that parents and children don't really know how to talk to one another. Parents seem to want to dominate thier children, and not allow them too many outside influences. I know with me all I did was read a lousy book about Bob Dylan, and I was branded a rebel. I also feel that children don't know how to talk to their parents either as there's a lack of respect, and also mistrust. I'm not saying that parents are not to be trusted with a child's feelings, but that sometimes in their quest to know and grow in the world they will look at outside forces because it's going to be inevitable. When I was reading about Bob Dylan it was because it was a name that was stuck in my brain from childhood, and I wanted to know why. I had no interest in his music, or anything like that, but my father threw down the gauntlet by making him look bad, and weird, and to me that was enough to feul my interest even more, and yes I did listen to his music. Do I thank him for wetting my appetite more for knowledge, or do I look upon him in pity because he wasn't comfortable with himself to be open to the fact I was interested, and just acknowledge this. I have to remember that my son's growing up, and there's going to be times when he listens to weird music, or watches weird movies, or wants to read about people that I may feel not pleasant about, but I have to remember that it's better to just allow the interest, and not provide any feedback unless there's a serious change in his behavior, and with me I read about Bob Dylan a month before I heard the first song from him. I found this to be a rather sad movie of a family that I'm sure tried to get along, but couldn't because of feelings of inadequcies that made them want to build a shell of armor that they could hide behind, and act tough. That's the way the world is, and to me that's the biggest crime of all. What's more sad is the ending as Sally's character is submitting to being like her mother, and is vacumning. I feel that if there was a heart to heart talk with the two women there may have been some healing, but alas there was none, and if this movie were to be remade I wonder how the ending would turn out?

Corny and Stupid.......2004-09-30

This movie was corny,stupid and poorly made 30 years ago and today it's unwatchable. After fastforwarding thru most of this turkey, I put it back in its box and then threw the box in the garbage.

Great part for Sally Field.......2004-08-05

One of the greatest telefilms ever made, from an era in which filmmakers were first sensing the possibilities of the form. Sally Field will break your heart as Denny, the young hippie girl who returns to her mom and dad and their ultra-square suburban lifestyle, after a year or so away from home exploring the complicated hippie life with a boyfriend, "Flack" (the young David Carradine). 40s and 50s screen star Eleanor Parker is super as the icy mother; she makes the most out of a difficult role, outdoing Mary Tyler Moore's part in ORDINARY PEOPLE and doing it ten years earlier, when it was a braver career choice. Jackie Cooper is all right as the Dad, but he and Carradine are no match for the female super acting power of Field and Parker.

It's not a big blockbuster sort of picture, but it is one that you'll take to your heart, and I wonder if Sally Field ever really topped her acting work in this movie. By all means get the DVD, and revel in a different time and place.

Superior TV Movie.......2002-12-28

This made-for-tv movie was filmed at the time when Sally Field was trying to break out of her "Gidget" and "Flying Nun" roles. It is effective at showing what great dramatic work she would do in the future. One drawback about this DVD is it has no special features. Overall, this movie has an absorbing story about the conflict between parents and teenagers. If one can get past the dated '70's feel, it is a film worth watching.

Average customer rating:

I Have the one......
Fiction which relates reality of life for many

Family Pictures
Starring: Gemma Barry , Nikki de Boer , David Fox , Janet-Laine Green , and Anjelica Huston
Director: Philip Saville
Manufacturer: Tango Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00096S3ZE
Release Date: 2005-06-28

Customer Reviews:

I Have the one.............2006-02-03

hi i'm Marlena Grooms and i'm twelve years old.
I am an Anjelica Huston fan.
The reason i saw this is because i like Anjelica and also i have two autistic brothers.

I've learned that my brothers are much smarter than the one i this movie and no they don't scream and bite themselves all the time.my brother does that when he gets really angry.

The movie begins where Lainy(Anjelica)is in the hospital waiting to hold her third baby.but little did they know that he was autistic.they soon figure out he has autisum and it would change their lives.

after a few years she got pregnant again,and again,and again.they were all girls too.Nina,Mary,and the youngest...Sarah.

this family full of kids all try to help out with their brother.

you should see this movie and i don't think you will find it on vhs so dvd is actully better.even though i hate dvds.this movie is touching.

[...]

Fiction which relates reality of life for many.......2005-09-22

I happened to be on a satellite network when this movie started. So I'm not sure what all you'll get on the DVD version. I had to come and write about the movie because it really hit home for me in so many ways having two autistic children. I would back off a bit on 5 stars due to the length, 4 hours of broadcast time, though on DVD you won't be sitting through commercials.

This movie revolves around the life of a family over a period of twenty some years. It shows the effect on their lives (parents and two of the 5 siblings) of having a severly autistic family member - a son named Randall. Apparently it is based on a fictional book, but I found the emphasis of the movie focusing on the effects on the family and those familial relationships kept this movie grounded in reality far more than most movies featuring autism, even movies I love like Rainman.

The father (Sam Neill) is a prominant psychologist and during the 50's the belief was that autism was caused by "refrigerator" mothers who somehow had rejected their child. I admit I'm not a big Angelica Huston fan but I couldn't help but sympathize with her playing the mother's struggles and pain. Doing the best she could for her son and often at the expense of the rest of the family (your life revolves around the one with the problems) and causing strife in her marriage and relationships with her other children as they approach adulthood. I found myself empathizing and relating to parts of the reactions and personalities of both the parents.

Lots of little details that were true to life, without overkill for those who don't have to live with this. I'd say it is just a tip of the iceberg hint of the gritty reality. Also, that all the bad can't be seperated from the good, and that is just life for all of us to one degree or other. That we are imperfect people dealing with imperfect situations,even great pain, and yet we go on and miraculously we take the leap into relationships of love and marriage, having children, and we are better for it even if it isn't perfect.

I couldn't sit straight through the movie as I cried so much on so many points I set the VCR and left to watch the last half later. If you want a good movie about the complexities of personal relationships and a more accurate look at the realities of living with someone who is really autistic and not savant or gifted hollywood autistic, then this would be my number one recommendation.

Average customer rating:

Quite a good film that closely tracks the excellent novel
Travolta at his best
John Travolta does it again
Strong acting and story come together perfectly
More of the same from DeMille

The General's Daughter
Starring: John Travolta , Madeleine Stowe , James Cromwell , Timothy Hutton , and Leslie Stefanson
Director: Simon West
Manufacturer: Paramount
ProductGroup: DVD
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Accessories:

The General's Daughter: Music From The Motion Picture

ASIN: 6305649057
Release Date: 1999-12-14

Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:

Quite a good film that closely tracks the excellent novel.......2007-06-23

Travolta at his best.......2007-05-16

Very gripping from begining to the very end. This is John Travolta at his best.

John Travolta does it again.......2007-05-06

John Travolta is such a GREAT actor and I enjoy many of his movies!!!!
General's Daughter being 1 of my favorite I will be watching a lot....

Strong acting and story come together perfectly .......2007-05-05

More of the same from DeMille.......2007-04-05

Average customer rating:

Director, cast and crew combining for a splendid film.
Foreign service coarsens men so

The High Command
Starring: Frank Atkinson , Lionel Atwill , Archibald Batty , Lil Dagover , and Karl Ludwig Diehl
Director: Thorold Dickinson
Manufacturer: Genius Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0002XN75U
Release Date: 2004-01-01

Product Description

A decorated WWI Veteran must come to terms with a crime he committed in the confusion of war. Will his sense of honor and duty ultimately be his undoing or can he find a way to ease his emotional pain?

Customer Reviews:

Director, cast and crew combining for a splendid film........2005-06-06

Based upon a novel by Lewis Robinson, who assists with the script, HIGH COMMAND gives us a complex tale of blackmail, murder, and other delights, ranging over two continents and two generations, beginning in 1921 Ireland and concluding in West Africa (most of the film was shot in Nigeria and Gold Coast). General Sir John Sangye (Lionel Atwill), holder of the Victoria Cross and commander of a colonial garrison, in order to help protect his daughter Belinda (Kathleen Gibson) from unsavoury scandal, is forced into making several wrenching decisions, with Atwill giving the finest crafted performance of his career. In his first effort at directing a feature film, Thorold Dickinson displays the fluid work with a camera which marks his distinguished career, and has expertly taken a balance of drama and humour from the script while effectively leading his talented cast into strong performances, notably from Steven Geray, Leslie Perrins, James Mason and Lucie Mannheim. Dickinson, along with cinematographer Otto Heller, benefit from their background in silent cinema, and Ernest Irving's score is adroitly woven into the action, all of which assists in effectuating a masterwork.

Foreign service coarsens men so.......2004-11-02

Entertaining, if dated, tale of honor and responsibility, HIGH COMMAND (1936) is a pleasant surprise.
Lionel Atwill stars as a British officer whose men are ambushed in Ireland in 1921. During the firefight he shoots and kills one of his men. An army doctor collects the bullet along with other incriminating evidence. Charges are never brought against Atwill, but the doctor retains the evidence.
Flash forward 15 years and travel south to the west coast of Africa, colonial Nigeria, where now-General Atwill assumes command of the local military garrison. Coincidentally, the bullet pulling doctor is also newly assigned to the same post.
Having briskly laid a clear foundation, HIGH COMMAND dodders about a bit introducing us to the African cast of characters. Atwill has a step-daughter who would suffer more from the resulting scandal if the incriminating bullet was ever used against him. The local business leader has an oily lack of charm and a beautiful, promiscuous wife. James Mason is a junior officer with a winning smile and the mandatory pencil moustache.
It's in this setting, among these people, that Atwill will ultimately have to redeem and preserve his honor. On one level, all is well. The technology is relatively primitive but an adroit director (Thorold Dickinson) compensates with some slick camera work (i.e., with the freshly extracted bullet in tight focus in the foreground, the door in the far background opens. The camera focuses through the bullet onto the figure in the door, bullet owner Lionel Atwill.) The acting is uniformly restrained and convincing - Atwill is quite good as the somewhat stuff-shirted general.
The biggest hurdle I encountered was relating to any of the characters. I felt the treatment of the native West Africans was so condescending and out of sync with modern values that it was a major distraction. Relating to the leisured colonel class was difficult, as well. I can't fault a movie for being left behind as times change, but its outmoded sensibilities were alienating. Rather than becoming emotionally involved with Atwill's dilemma, which the movie asked of me, I observed his plight from a distance.
I bought this dvd for less than the cost of postage to mail it to me. The cover tells us it's "Sound Enhanced," which is a little vague. Whatever it means, the sound is very good for a film this age. Better than the great majority of dvd copies of films from that era. The picture quality is above average, as well.

Average customer rating:

Even great directors have to be born
Creepy Musical Score, that's kinda it...
A Movie With No Redeeming Features
If A Body Meet A Body: Coppola's Big Screen Debut
a Spine Chilling Moment.

Dementia 13
Starring: William Campbell , Luana Anders , Bart Patton , Mary Mitchel , and Patrick Magee
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Manufacturer: Miracle Pictures
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ASIN: B0001KJT56
Release Date: 2004-06-29

Amazon.com

Francis Ford Coppola was working as an assistant to Roger Corman when he made this, his feature debut. The story goes that Corman let Coppola make the film so long as he could work around the shooting schedule of the film they were working on together, and the results are impressive given the budget constraints. Or maybe because of the budget constraints. The story concerns the family at Castle Haloran, the secrets surrounding the death of young Kathleen, and an axe murderer who seems to be picking away at all present. Coppola's deft direction keeps this from being a routine ghost story, using light and dark in his compositions to create tension and suspense. The film has an interesting way of spanning the traditional ghost story and the more modern gore-fests that we're used to. I have one bone to pick with the manufacturer of this disc: the transfer to DVD was made from tape. This is evident from the way the frames roll repeatedly during the last 15 minutes of the film, and the tape bunches a few times leaving video artifacts. DVD consumers want all the benefits of this medium, and not to have the degraded quality of tape preserved on it. If this is the only way you can get this film, at least the price is reasonable. It's also packaged as a Fright Night Horror Classic along with Night of the Living Dead and Revolt of the Zombies. --Jim Gay

Product Description

John Haloran has a fatal heart attack, but his wife Louise won't get any of the inheritance when Lady Haloran dies if John is dead. Louise forges a letter from John to convince the rest of his family he's been called to New York on important business, and goes to his Irish ancestral home, Castle Haloran, to meet the family and look for a way to ensure a cut of the loot. Six years earlier John's sister Kathleen was drowned in the pond, and the Halorans enact a morbid ritual in remembrance. Secrets shroud the sister's demise, and soon the family and guests begin experiencing an attrition problem.

Customer Reviews:

Even great directors have to be born.......2007-06-15

A rather simple and short film by a young director. In black and white of course because it is cheaper, but also because it is very classic in that kind of psychological thriller. Hitchcock did it with Psycho, why not Coppola then? Basically it is the guilt that develops and is cultivated in a family when some unacknowledged, unrecognized and unknown children's game turns sour, that is to say ends up with a dead child. The point is that the situation lacks originality and what's more the cause of the death is even trite, drowning. The most interesting part is the study of the mother as a family tyrant that imposes some kind of eternal remembering of the dead sister. That puts everyone on edge, on the defensive, hence on the side of hiding what should not be hidden because it creates a sick atmosphere that leads everyone to some kind of psychosis if not schizophrenia. Then the film has some shortcomings, such as the inheritance and the mother's will, or whatever that disavows the daughters in law who are treated as so many strangers. Then what is the deal with the first son, the one who has a heart condition? How long can it be hidden that he is not in New York but at the bottom of a lake? But it is worth watching because we can witness the birth of a great film director in these black and white frames.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine & University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne

Creepy Musical Score, that's kinda it..........2006-12-31

Sadly, Demetia 13 is very bland. I'm always up for a classic b/w horror thriller movie, but this just didn't cut it. The music was really good, so I expected a really good movie.

A Movie With No Redeeming Features.......2006-08-21

There are some movies that really are not organically whole. Instead, they are more like messes of discordant elements thrown together into a feature length film that is not a real movie. Invariably, these so-called movies are horrible productions. One such alleged movie is 1963's Dementia 13.

Before going on into the review, its is necessary to lay down the background behind the genesis of this particular flick. Back in the 1960's, there were basically 2 different circuits for movie distribution. The first and most glamorous was the A Theater circuit on which the big budget Hollywood studio productions were circulated. The other, more obscure circuit, was that of the drive-ins and the B Theaters that exhibited low budget productions and flicks of genres (particularly horror and "film noir") that the big studios rarely, if ever, touched. The origins of this dual circuitry date back to the early days of the film industry. With the decline and fall of the drive-ins and, to a great extent, the B Theaters, the only ways that low budget fimmakers can get their movies shown are made for TV movies whether they are for cable TV or direct to the public either on DVD or videotape. Some of these flicks are also shown at film festivals such as Sundance, but that is only a small source of revenue at the moment.

Now, back in 1963 the largest studio catering to the B circuit was American International Pictures (AIP) that employed an ambitious producer named Roger Corman. One of Corman's proteges at the time was a dude by name of Francis Ford Coppola. Coppola was both an aspiring screenwriter and also the assistant director on a flick called "The Young Racers." Bored by the work, Coppola quickly wrote up a screenplay and persuaded both Corman and the AIP honchos to put up $22,000 to make Dementia 13 simultaneously with "The Young Racers" using the same sets and cast of the other movie. Thus it was that 2 movies were produced at the same time, which is something that Hollywood rarely does and for good reason as the results are generally poor. The shooting time for Dementia 13 was only 2 weeks which helped to further lessen the film's quality.

This movie has one of the stupidest openings of all time. A man and his wife (Luana Anders) are in a row boat talking about his elderly mother and how the family fortune will be divvied up once mom dies. For some strange reason, he tells his wife that if he dies of heart attack, she will be cut out of the will. In one of those concidences that occur only in movies, in less than a minute he has a heart attack and dies in the boat. His wife then dumps him overboard and goes to the family reunion, which conveniently started the very next day, telling everyone that her husband is on a business trip.

As it turns out, this is a rather strange family. All of the family members are supposed to be Irish and live in Ireland, however no one has even the slightest Irish accent. In fact, none of the other "Irish" characters in the movie have Irish accents either. Everybody in this flick talks like Midwesterners. This raises the question of why have the movie placed in Ireland with allegedly Irish people when nobody speaks like real Irish folk. Why not set the movie in America?

There are some interesting characters in Dementia 13. There is a poacher who the family shelters for some strange reason from the game wardens. The old lady is quite strange and obsessed with the death of her 7-year old daughter many years ago. The scheming, conniving wife of the dead man is also interesting in her own way. There is also an axe murderer.

However, both the setup and these characters are completely wasted on a bad script, poor acting and an awful production. Continuity is totally lacking in this movie. Although the movie supposedly takes place over a weekend family reunion, the hair color/length of the character played by Luana Anders changes repeatedly. In one memorable scene, Anders is sitting at a table talking with other family members. She is first shown in a long sleeved sweater with long platinum blond hair. After the camera pans to one of her in-laws, it pans back to Anders whose hair has suddenly turned browner and is now wearing a sleeveless blouse. Less than a minute later, Anders is back with both super white hair and long sleeves.

One reason why Dementia 13 is such a bad flick is that Coppola's screenplay was only a rough draft when it got the green light. Another is the fact that Corman made heavy use of outtakes from previous films that the actors were in, as well as surplus film from "The Young Racers," which accounts for most of the continuity problems. The whole show reeks of both hasty production work and a poorly thought out script.

Obviously, there is no way that anyone at AIP could possibly have thought that Dementia 13 could have been anything other than a piece of dreck. The fact that they made it under those conditions and, even worse, actually released it, speaks volumes about the level of arrogance that existed in AIP circa 1963 due to the fact that it was top dog in the B-film world. They literally thought that they could make and release any piece of garbage and it would sell. The fact that Dementia 13 turned out to be a profitable endeavor only furthered their increasing lack of commitment to quality.

This development was ruinous in the long run for both AIP and the world of low budget films in general. As time went on and dreck increasingly filled up the drive ins and B-theaters, movie fans abandoned those places. The great majority of these theaters either went out of business or switched over to showing big budget Hollywood productions.

Thus, the true significance of Dementia 13 is not as a movie, but as an event. The financial success of this pathetic production encouraged B-film producers to make and release movies with increasing lack of regard for their level of quality. In the long run, this tendency brought about the near death of what was once a strong and vibrant part of the movie making scene. Today, there is only a small remnant that desperately clings for its very survival in a world where the vast majority of movie reviewers completely ignore their productions and the general public is oblivious to their work.

If A Body Meet A Body: Coppola's Big Screen Debut.......2006-06-28

Seven years ago Kathleen, youngest child and only daughter of Lady Haloran, drowned in a pond on the family estate. On each anniversary of her death, Lady Haloran (Eithne Dunne) demands the return of her three sons for a morbid memorial. This year one of her sons has married, and wife Louise (Luana Anders) is determined to get her hands on the family fortune. When her husband dies of a sudden heart attack, Louise hides his body and designs a plan to worm her way into Lady Haloran's good graces--but the plan uncovers a secret relating to the dead Kathleen, and before you can say Whist, Faith, or Begorrah there is an ax murderer lurking the castle's shadows.

Today DEMENTIA 13 is best recalled as the directorial debut of Francis Ford Coppola, who was then employed as an assistant to producer and director Roger Corman. Corman has been associated with the occasional "quality" film over the years, but then as now he is best recalled for such low-budget flicks as ATTACK OF THE CRAB MONSTERS, WASP WOMAN, and CREATURE FROM THE HAUNTED SEA. While on location with Corman on another film in Ireland, Coppola wrote a script that could be filmed on the same sets and with the same crew and cast--and since the movie would be so cheap it couldn't loose money, Corman said okay.

There are no two ways about it: DEMENTIA 13 was and is a movie designed for an audience of uncritical teenagers and drive-in moviegoers; it is not a lost masterpiece and there is nothing in it to herald Coppola's future fame. Still, and in spite of the fact that it borrows rather liberally from such films as DIABOLIQUE and PSYCHO, the plot does have a certain originality, and even critics of 1963 commented on the film's memorable atmosphere.

1963 audiences screamed over the film's ax attacks; audiences of today, however, are likely to find them thin stuff. All the same, it remains an entertaining film of its type. Assuming, of course, you can actually find a version on DVD or VHS that is actually viewable: the film quality was probably not great to begin with, and I've yet to encounter any reproduction that can be called better than mediocre. But fans of the 1950s and 1960s B flicks will consider it a minor classic of its kind--and every one else will get a kick out of seeing Coppola's first film of note. Worth seeking out.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

a Spine Chilling Moment........2006-06-25

Its starts with John Haloran(Peter Read) and his wife Louise Haloran(Luana Anders) are on a rowboat ride during the night. John Haloran dies from a heart attack. This leaves Louise with a bit of a problem. Louise will not get to inherit any of the Haloran family money if her husband is dead. So she writes a letter from John trying to convince the family that John has been called away on business to New York while she journeys to the home in Ireland, where her plot eventually doesnt go as planned. The story leads to the secrets behind the death of a young girl named Kathleen, a member of the Holoran family, with an axe murderer involved, taking people out one by one.

The film is slightly slow paced but rewards us with the story as it picks up with the first axe murdering scene as he hacks away at the helpless victim that lies below his feet. It isnt exactly a gory bloodshed scene but does give us a great sense of macabre and butchery. You can see the axe hacking away at the victim and the victim struggling while covered in blood but you never see each of them in actual contact.(Looks like a great inspiration from Alfred Hitchcocks 'Psycho'.) Its gives us a great deal of an intense spine chilling moment with the axe murder dragging the body along the field by the hair. The great thing about this is how Coppola captures an example of identifying the personality of the psychopath without even seeing his face.

The story goes further presenting us with a mystery of who is the axe murderer. Each of them lead to different events and clues trying to convince us that everyone is a suspect. But it seems they presented us with one clue to many.

..."a ghostly murder mystery with a chilling twist"... The twist is actually predictable and not actually chilling. But let me remind you this is just the ending. Everything else before this gives us a decent amount of entertainment to keep you watching. And even though it doesnt live up to the standards of Alfred Hitchcocks 'Psycho', Dementia 13 truly has its inspirations. A great deal of it, no doubt.

Average customer rating:

Actually three and a half stars
Conservation first
firewater
Outstanding Performances

Tulsa
Starring: Susan Hayward , Robert Preston , Pedro Armendáriz , Lloyd Gough , and Chill Wills
Director: Stuart Heisler
Manufacturer: Miracle Pictures
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Smash-Up
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ASIN: B00023BM0C
Release Date: 2004-06-29

Customer Reviews:

Actually three and a half stars.......2004-05-13

This review refers to the Alpha Video (Gotham) DVD.

Overall Quality of DVD: **1/2 /**** Sound: ** /**** Plot: **1/2 /**** Acting: ***/**** Cinematography: ***/**** Direction: **1/2 /****

The story is surprising in the fact that it deals with concern for conservation , the environment and treatment of native indians.

Of course, the oil companies paid no attention then nor now.

All the actors do very well - nothing great but very solid. Director Stuart Heisler is a good "B" director but I disagree with the reviewer that stated he "MADE" Susan Hayword a star. If anything Susan Hayword made him look decent just as Humphrey Bogart does with "Tokyo Joe".

The rear-projection scenes of the oil fields on fire are nearly flawless - I mean, I could not note the telltale signs of rear-projection (things appearing out of proportion or hazy etc.).

In my opinion, it's worth the asking price.

Conservation first.......2002-05-04

One will say one more film about oil in Oklahoma. But this film is different. It brings together several questions that are extremely important. First the alliance between the white entrepreneurs and the Indians. The Indians are divided on the question of the conservation of their land as grazing land, as cattle-raising land due to the easy money oil brings in. We will note that justice does not hear conservationist arguments. Second the position of women in this adventure and women are shown as entrepreneurial just like men, equal to men, though they can use their charms to convince people of the value of their decisions, not force but soft conviction. Third the problem of conservation : how can the land not be ruined and wasted by oil exploitation ? The answer is to do it in a non-intensive way because this intensive method gets a lot of oil in a short period of time, but it also ruins the land through pollution. The answer is in an exploitation that leaves the land clean and usable all the time for cattle or other activities. Then the money brought in is less massive in a short period of time but regular for a long period of time. Such a way is defended by scientists and engineers but opposed by entrepreneurs. It is an accident that will determine the state and various congressional representations to regulate oil exploitation in such a way that nature is not spoiled. Fourth oil culture is not just the exploitation of crude oil, but it creates a whole network of services and roads for the cars that use that oil to run and refill when necessary. It is a structurizing activity whose social consequences are extremely far-reaching. A very well done film on very modern issues. Conservation must be a major objective of man on earth : think of the long-run future instead of the short-term profit.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

firewater.......2001-11-11

Director Stuart Heisler must have liked Susan Hayward because he cast her in 3 films - Among the Living, Smash up - The Story of a Woman, and this one, so in a way he is responsible for elevating her to A level productions. This one hovers in between a B and an A, independently produced, and using a lot of rear projection. The material is interesting in it's view of the American Indian, here presented as land owners and cattle ranchers, with Heisler beginning with a montage of the different kinds of Indians, and Hayward being 3/4 Cherokee. Presumably this is want accounts for her "wildcat" quality.
The screenplay by Frank Nugent and Curtis Kenyon, suggested by a story by Richard Wormser, is a cautionary tale of the emergence of oil drillers in Oklahoma and the effect they had on the environment of the cattle ranchers. We begin with the accidental death of Hayward's father, as the opportunity to hear the anti-oil lobby. However Hayward's form of revenge seems a direct violation of the conservation stance of her descendants, as she enters the oil business to be more successful than her main competitor, the man she blames for her father's death! Robert Preston appears as a "rockhound" engineer who helps Hayward strike oil, and matters reach a climax when she must decide whether to drill the property of her father's Indian friend, Pedro Armendariz.
The notion of Armendariz as a "crazy Indian" is introduced when he refuses to have his land drilled, he is threatened with being declared "mentally incompetent", and Heisler provides an extended and laboured use of montage to suggest his mental breakdown as he drives through fields of oil drilling towers and starts a fire laughing maniacally. Armendariz' view however is seen as a minority as other Indians seem happy to sell as much oil from their property and overlook the "smaller short term profit".
Of course, it is this very issue that produces conflict between Hayward and Preston, with Hayward's ambition seen to be clouding her true nature.
Preston's romantic interest in Hayward is somewhat a surprise considering the way she humiliates him at their first meeting, though I suppose men had to be tougher than usual in the period, but what is more humiliating is the way Preston out-acts her. Here Hayward relies upon big smiles and profile turns for charm, though her yelling at Preston at one point is unexpectedly loud.
Heisler uses horizontal slides, mini-montages, the unbearably bucolic singing of Chill Wills, Freudian symbolism in Hayward drinking from a large glass of brandy in front of Preston, and African-American servants for when Hayward hosts a society party, where Armendariz is a guest in tuxedo. We never actually see a servant serve him, since perhaps the irony would be too much.

Outstanding Performances.......2000-04-21

This little gem, starring Susan Hayward & Robert Preston is a real bargain at this price! I've seen it a few times & still find Ms. Hayward's performance mesmerizing. Robert Preston, who is usually known for his musical roles(especially The Music Man)is superb as the oilman she becomes involved with. Very highly recommended, especially for Hayward fans.

Average customer rating:

A dramatic story about a mother's search for her daughter's child

White Soup -- Zurek
Starring: Katarzyna Figura , Natalia Rybicka , Marek Kasprzyk , Zbigniew Zamachowski , and Hanna Polk
Director: Ryszard Brylski
Manufacturer: mge.tv
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B0009XKLR0
Release Date: 2004-05-25

Product Description

The award-winning and highly acclaimed story of a woman's struggle to discover the identity of her grandchild's father. The grandmother (played by Katarzyna Figura) becomes obsessed with discovering the identity of the man who fathered her daughter's child.

Customer Reviews:

A dramatic story about a mother's search for her daughter's child.......2005-07-17

White Soup / Zurek is a dramatic story about a mother's search for her daughter's child. The mother desperately searches for the father of the child so that the child can be named after him, a promise she made to her husband before he died.

Iwonka is a pretty 15-year-old who looks older than her age, but is mildly retarded. Iwonka's good looks cause her trouble, as men find her attractive and take advantage of her naivete.

Although the theme of "Zurek" is a bit depressing and sad, there are redeeming moments of hope and kindness; a cyclist, Matuszek, who liked the mother when she was younger, helps the women out, expecting nothing in return. Americans may feel the film is quite somber, but from the Polish perspective, "Zurek" is not so serious and filled with some great humor.

"Zurek" is directed by Ryszard Brylski, and a good choice for those people who enjoy Polish cinema.

Average customer rating:

Low expectations...

Snakewoman
Starring: Carmen Montes , Fata Morgana , Christie Levin , Ezequiel Cohen , and Lina Romay (II)
Director: Jesus Franco
Manufacturer: Srs Cinema, Llc
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ASIN: B000BT99AM
Release Date: 2006-03-28

Customer Reviews:

Low expectations..........2006-09-19

I'm getting increasingly low expectations with every new Franco movie. "Snakewoman" turned out to be better than most of his post-1998 films, but that doesn't make it a good movie. The sound quality is bad as usual.

The DVD includes a bonus feature length film, "Dr Wong's Virtual Hell". Like the last time there was a bonus feature on a Franco DVD ("Helter Skelter" on the "Broken Dolls" DVD), the film is more or less unwatchable. Half of the running time is a long sex scene, and the rest of the story is told by means of speech bubbles and narration. They have even exploited the late Howard Vernon by editing in footage from "The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein", for no apparent reason. When the characters don't communicate by speech bubbles you can't hear what they say because of the accents and the bad sound quality.

"Snakewoman" is better than "Vampire Junction", "Lust for Frankenstein" and some of his other recent films, but it's not very good. If you're a Jess Franco addict and have already seen all of his old movies, and if you know what you're getting into, you may want to add this DVD to your collection. If you're not a fanatic, there are lots of better Franco films to see before you need to buy this one.

Average customer rating:

Excelent product and service

Mecanica Nacional
Starring: Fernando Casanova , Pancho Córdova , Manolo Fábregas , Fabiola Falcon , and Sara Garcia
Director: Luis Alcoriza
Manufacturer: Laguna Films
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