In the Shadows

Starring:In the Shadows
Studio: Allumination
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

Standing in the Shadows of Motown is a must-see film for any fan of the Supremes, the Temptations, Marvin Gaye, or any other classic Motown stars. This swinging documentary celebrates the Funk Brothers--the team of studio musicians who powered dozens and dozens of hit Motown songs--by combining reminiscences, reenactments, and clips from a recent concert put on by the Funk Brothers, featuring singers like Chaka Khan, Ben Harper, and Joan Osborne on classic tunes like "What's Going On," "Ain't Too Proud to Beg," and "Heatwave." This crafty gang of elderly musicians will charm your pants off with a slew of entertaining anecdotes. Though it seems that there's a lot of dirt they're declining to dish, the movie deftly outlines the history of Motown, surely the most significant music label in American history--the label that turned segregated "race music" into chart-topping success. A soulful delight. --Bret Fetzer

Description

Detroit, Michigan, 1959. Berry Gordy gathers the best musicians from the city's thriving jazz and blues scene for his new record company: Motown. For the next 14 years these players are the heartbeat on "My Girl," "Baby Love," "Ooo Baby Baby," "Bernadette," "I Was Made To Love Her," "I Heard It Through The Grapevine," "Dancing In The Street," and every other hit from Motown's Detroit era. By the end of their phenomenal run, the unheralded group of musicians plays on more Number One hits than the Beach Boys, the Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley, and The Beatles combined, making them the greatest hit machine in the history of popular music. They call themselves the Funk Brothers. But no one knows their names...this is their story.

Customer Reviews:

Do yourself a favor and get it.......2007-07-04

This might be the best 10 bucks you'll ever spend if you like Motown or heck if you like music. It leaves you wanting to know more and many of us who grew up with this music should know more. While some of their stories are heartbreaking it was a pleasure to see Pistol Allen smiling behind the drums even though he was so sick he would die shortly after the completion of the film. It was a sad moment too when two of the surviving brothers describe their last encounter with James Jamerson who would die the day after their visit. But there is fun too, fun for the Funk Brothers and fun for us as we are honored to hear these guys play and play they still can. The band is still very tight and very good. The vocalist do an admirable job of interpreting the hits. It would have been nice to have been graced with Marvin Gaye's and David Ruffin's presence but this is about the Funk Brothers and I for one am damn glad I got to see it.
Thanks to Dr. Lick's for putting this together.

Motown disappointment.......2007-06-27

I was looking forward to seeing the actual footage of the singers. I do appreciate the story of the fellows behind the artists but still, I think the video would have been more enjoyable had they included the actual singers.

FANTASTIC!.......2007-06-18

I rented this from Blockbuster,and immediately bought it. It's sooooo good and informative, I can't describe it. I loaned it to someone who stayed up until 2:00 a.m. to see the whole thing. There are absolutely great live performances from: the late Gerald Levert, (His "Shotgun" is outstanding) Me'shell Indegeocello (sp.)(who sexes up "You Really Got A Hold On Me"), Bootsy Collins, ("Cool Jerk"). Joan Osborne does a great ("What Becomes of the Broken Hearted") and Ben Harper all sing 2 songs. (The only performance I HATED was Ben Harper's "Heard it through the Grapevine"). Chaka Khan, Montell Jordan & Tom Scott also appear. The remaining "Funk Brothers" musicians who played behind the Motown groups,tell funny stories about each other, how they met, Berry Gordy and the label's performers. They even go to "Hitsville" where it all started. There are reinactments, and old photos. It's so good I've seen it at least six times. You will almost cry at the finale when they introduce everyone, even the musicians that have passed away. Their photos are on stage with the remaining members. There is a second disc of extras that I have yet to finish, but the movie itself is wonderful. I've watched it with Black and White people, young and old, and everyone loves it. Go get it. Now.

I never really liked Motown..........2007-05-25

...and the Motown sound. I saw it as a saccharine, watered-down parody of Soul for mass consumption.

This DVD changed all that for me.

The story of the Funk Brothers and their different personalities --personal and musical-- was fascinating and a revelation. The music is top-notch and the modern vocalists they got for this film and for the excellent soundtrack --buy it, even if you think you don't like the Motown sound-- bring out the magic of those famous tunes I dismissed at an earlier age.

Maybe the current crop of singers have more soul or more influences to draw on than the originals artists, or maybe the engineers/producers sucked some of the guts out of the original tracks... I don't know, but these songs sound great!

What is more or less the same is the line-up of the Funk Brothers, finally getting a very small measure of the recognition they deserve.

The filmmakers and the the artists featured in this film turned me from detractor to a fan of the Motown sound. I can't give a better review than that.

If you like music documentaries and you haven't seen this one, you're missing one of the best!

Standing In The Shadows of Motown.......2007-05-14

Excellent documentary brings to light the artists behind the music that was the "Motown Sound".

Average customer rating:

A very CHARMING movie!
Delightful in so many ways
One of the 10 Best Films I have ever seen!
A must see!
Shadows in the Sun - a writer's motivator

Shadows in the Sun
Starring: Harvey Keitel , Joshua Jackson , Claire Forlani , Armando Pucci , and Giancarlo Giannini
Director: Brad Mirman
Manufacturer: Buena Vista Home Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Proof

ASIN: B000C8STWQ
Release Date: 2006-04-25

Amazon.com

Shadows in the Sun is a feel-good movie that tells the story of two men who're struggling to overcome their fears of not being good enough. When Jeremy Taylor (a charming Joshua Jackson of Dawson's Creek) is assigned the unenviable task of tracking down and signing up reclusive author Weldon Parish (Harvey Keitel), he has his work cut out for him. The American expatriate hasn't written a book in 20 years, has no interest in dealing with junior editors such as Taylor, and sees no reason why he should change his idyllic lifestyle in Italy to worry about meeting hurried deadlines and publisher's editorial changes. In reality, Parish--who stopped writing when his wife died--is scared he won't be able to live up to his reputation as a relevant literary icon. After a few fistfights and the reclaiming of a stolen cow, the two begin to bond. A little. As Parish tells Taylor, "I dislike you less today than yesterday." Not as subtle as Diane Lane's Under the Tuscan Sun, Shadows in the Sun highlights the beauty of rural Italy--and of Claire Forlani, who plays Parish's daughter Isabella. The warm acting and lush scenery transcend the film's slow-moving pace and the predictable ending, which, in movies like this, can be nothing other than happy. --Jae-Ha Kim

Description

If you liked UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN, you'll love this wonderful romantic comedy set in the stunning Italian countryside! Ambitious agent Jeremy Taylor (Joshua Jackson -- CURSED, TV's DAWSON'S CREEK) is sent by his London publishing company on a mission to achieve what many others have failed to do: sign reclusive, wildly eccentric author Weldon Parish (Academy Award(R) nominee Harvey Keitel -- Best Supporting Actor, BUGSY, 1991; NATIONAL TREASURE). Once in enchanting Tuscany, however, Jeremy instead falls head over heals for Weldon's beautiful daughter (Claire Forlani -- THE MEDALLION, ANTITRUST) and develops a friendship with the literary master. It's a charming, fun, and passionate tale that's sure to steal your heart!

Customer Reviews:

A very CHARMING movie!.......2007-04-15

If you liked "Under The Tuscan Sun", you will enjoy this movie too. It is a romantic comedy filmed in the beautiful Italian town of Tuscany. This movie shows wonderful scenery of the countryside. It really makes me want to visit Italy one day. This movie is about an ambitious agent Jeremy Taylor (Joshua Jackson) who is sent by his London publishing company to convince a reclusive, retired author Weldon Parish (Harvey Keitel) to write again. After Jeremy spends time in Tuscany he finds himself very much in love for Weldon's daughter (Claire Forlani) and also he becomes friends with Weldon. This movie has a little bit of everything...romance, comedy, and wonderful scenes of Italy. However I would consider this a girl's movie...or better yet.."chick flick". It is a good movie for a girl's night together with a bottle of wine. Or a good entertainment on a rainy day. If you are interested in Italy or Italian movies then this is the movie for you. I also am a fan of movies filmed in Italy. I imagine it to be the most beautiful place on earth.

Delightful in so many ways.......2007-04-13

Excellent film, my son is a writer, getting his MFA (Masters of Fine Arts) in creative writing/English, to be a professor at a University, he enjoyed it as well.

One of the 10 Best Films I have ever seen!.......2007-04-05

We loved everything about this film. The acting was some of the best. And how can you go wrong with a backdrop like Tuscany to film in! We loved the tender story of two artists who brought out the best and the worst in each other. Amazing! We would like to see more films like this one. We also enjoyed the extra features on the DVD that explained more fully about the making of the film. Let's see more of this caliber of filmmaking!

Dean and Lori Mickelson

A must see!.......2007-02-23

Stunning Tuscan scenery, well filmed and a superb storyline. There is no bad actor nor any bad role in this entire movie! I've never known much about Harvey Keitel before this film. I've seen him but the characters he played never matched his ability. But, this film is, by far, THE BEST role I've ever seen Mr. Keitel play! The depth of this movie will amaze you and long after the movie had ended, good vibes and happy thoughts will linger in your mind! This is a must see movie, definitely an addition to my personal collection and is a "feel good movie" that I will watch again and again! Enjoy!

Shadows in the Sun - a writer's motivator.......2006-08-31

What a wonderful story. For a writer, it is pure inspiration!
Made me laugh and cry :o)
Outstanding cast ...

The Val Lewton Horror Collection (Cat People / The Curse of the Cat People / I Walked with a Zombie / The Body Snatcher / Isle of the Dead / Bedlam / The Leopard Man / The Ghost Ship / The Seventh Victim / Shadows in the Dark)

Average customer rating:

The Val Lewton Horror Collection
The Val Lewton Horror Collection
Quintessential Lewton...
Elegant horror
Note recycled Lewton props.

The Val Lewton Horror Collection (Cat People / The Curse of the Cat People / I Walked with a Zombie / The Body Snatcher / Isle of the Dead / Bedlam / The Leopard Man / The Ghost Ship / The Seventh Victim / Shadows in the Dark)
Starring: Simone Simon , Kent Smith , Tom Conway , Jane Randolph , and Jack Holt
Director: Jacques Tourneur , Robert Wise , and Gunther von Fritsch
Manufacturer: Turner Home Ent
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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The Innocents

ASIN: B000A0GOEQ
Release Date: 2005-10-04

Amazon.com

Val Lewton's name is synonymous with the subtlest, most mysterious brand of horror filmmaking in Hollywood's golden age, and the nine horror classics he produced at RKO between 1942 and 1946 constitute the most remarkable cycle of creativity in B-movie history. (For the record, the Lewton/RKO legacy also includes two non-horror entries, Youth Runs Wild and Mademoiselle Fifi.)

Before becoming a film producer, the Russian-born Lewton was a prolific writer of pulp fiction, nonfiction, and a couple of pornographic novels. He also worked for years as assistant to David O. Selznick, a legendary producer with a distinctive personal signature--and a flair for grandiosity Lewton himself never emulated. It's ever so revealing that, on Selznick's Gone With the Wind, it was Lewton who came up with the idea for the famous rising shot of the Atlanta railyard filled with Southern wounded, with the Confederate flag streaming above--only he idly proposed it as a joke, never imagining that anyone would actually film such a spectacularly ambitious scene.

In 1942 Lewton left Selznick to undertake a series of horror films for RKO Radio Pictures. The studio would give him a budget around $200,000 per picture and a title RKO deemed to be grabby; Lewton would have a free hand as long as he stayed on budget, used the title, and gave the studio a salable movie of second-feature length (around 70 minutes). Over time, Lewton would increasingly have trouble with studio supervisors, but RKO was the right place for him. Although low in the pecking order among Hollywood majors, the studio made up for its lack of MGM-style glamour and Warner Bros. grit-and-gusto by working in a finely filigreed, almost miniaturist style. The art department under Van Nest Polglase and Albert S. D'Agostino was capable of exquisite artisanry, and in Nicholas Musuraca, a master of low-key cinematography and supple camerawork, Lewton found an invaluable collaborator in creating moody shadow-worlds where what you couldn't see was more disquieting than what you could.

He was also fortunate in having Jacques Tourneur to direct his first three efforts (they had teamed years earlier on the Bastille-storming sequence for Selznick's A Tale of Two Cities). They scored first time out of the gate with both a popular hit and a masterpiece: Cat People (1942). The story involves a pretty young Serbian woman in Manhattan (Simone Simon) convinced that her ancestors had practiced animal worship during the Middle Ages--and that she herself might shape-change into a lithe, ravening panther if her passions were aroused. The film is uncannily successful in keeping the viewer guessing whether this is a phobia borne of morbid obsession and sexual repression, or a genuine, horrific possibility. There are two sequences of matchless artistry and almost unbearable suspense--a lonely, echoing walk through pools of lamplight alongside Central Park, and a late-night swim in a deserted indoor pool--that build to throat-grabbing climaxes and remain milestones in the history of screen horror.

Many critics feel that the second Lewton-Tourneur endeavor, I Walked With a Zombie (1943), is both men's finest work. The title is so lurid that the heroine-narrator (Frances Dee) must shrug it off with her very first words, yet the movie is an amazingly delicate and poetic piece of spellbinding--nothing less than a reworking of Jane Eyre on a voodoo island in the Caribbean. Other horror aficionados prefer the more mainline ferocity of The Leopard Man (1943), an adaptation of a Cornell Woolrich story about a serial killer strewing corpses along the U.S.-Mexican border. Although on one level this is the Lewton film that veers closest to conventional mystery-suspense, there's no end of unsettling ambiguity (another black panther on the loose!) and hints of occultism and religious mania.

RKO promoted Tourneur to A-movies after this; Lewton would never again have so masterly a directorial partner. Yet in a weird sense (which is only appropriate), this underscores how much Lewton--with his wealth of arcane historical lore and storytelling archetypes, his quiet, patient attention to detail, and his taste for oblique narrative--was the essential auteur of all his films. Promoting first Mark Robson and then Robert Wise from the editing table, Lewton went on to make the deeply mysterious The Seventh Victim (1943) and The Ghost Ship (1943), two films in which such grotesque elements as Satan worship and murderous psychopathology are folded away inside eerily drifty, almost becalmed sleepwalks into eternal night. The Seventh Victim--a movie populated with more walking dead than Lewton's out-and-out zombie picture--is one of the cinema's supreme meditations on the ways lives brush against one another in the spaces of a great, impersonal city. And The Ghost Ship (the rarest of Lewton's films, owing to a ruinous copyright suit) is like a fever dream from which the viewer never awakens.

That's enough for a legacy, surely. Yet there remain The Curse of the Cat People (1944), a sequel that is not quite a sequel, a pretend-horror movie that's really a contemplation of the fragility of childhood; Isle of the Dead (1945), a doomed reverie about travelers who escape the Goya-esque chaos of a 19th-century war only to be beset with plague on a miasma-shrouded island; The Body Snatcher (1945), an atmospheric Robert Louis Stevenson adaptation that invokes the grisly history of graverobbers Burke and Hare, and supplies a together-again-for-the-last-time occasion for Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi; and Bedlam (1946), the Hogarth painting come to life to portray the real-life horrors of an 18th-century insane asylum. Bedlam's critical and box-office failure ended Lewton's quasi-independent status at RKO; he would live to make only three other, unsuccessful films.

James Agee, the premier American film critic of the 1940s, reckoned that Val Lewton was one of the three foremost creative figures in Hollywood--an assessment yet more impressive when we consider that the other two were Charles Chaplin and Walt Disney. His greatest films--Cat People, I Walked with a Zombie, The Seventh Victim--are towering achievements, and even his half-realized projects are haunting experiences, the products of an utterly distinctive sensibility. This is an extraordinary collection. --Richard T. Jameson

Description

Val Lewton, a famous RKO Radio Pictures producer, redefined the horror genre with low-budget, high-box office films. Now available are nine of these horror classics on DVD in the all new Val Lewton Horror Collection. Exclusive to the collection are a new documentary on the producer and 3 of the 9 films.

DVD Features:
Audio Commentary:Greg Mank with Simone Simon on Cat People and Curse of the Cat People, Kim Newman and Steve Jones on I Walked With a Zombie, Steve Haberman with Robert Wise on The Body Snatcher, Tom Weaver on Bedlam, and Steve Haberman on The Seventh Victim.
Documentaries:Shadows In The Dark: The Val Lewton Legacy
Theatrical Trailer

Customer Reviews:

The Val Lewton Horror Collection.......2007-06-25

-------------------------------------------------------------
"Cat People"
What you can't see "will" hurt you

A man marries a strange woman with a European accent. She seems shy, but she actually carries a secret. Seems she knows she came from a line of "Cat People" and passion can bring out her claws. This is reinforced in a scene at a restaurant where another one of her kind recognizes her. She also suspects her new hubby's female friend has designs on him. So we get a spooky scene at a swimming pool at night alone in the gym.

There was not enough money or sufficient technology to show scary cat people. They tried people in cat suits, but they just looked cutesy. So they decided to just show shadows and sounds. The rest was up to your imagination. It is a psychological movie with a touch of film noir. ---------------------------------------------
"The Curse of the Cat People"
In many ways superior to the original

The Curse of the Cat People (1944) is not really sequel to Cat People (1942) as much as a stand alone physiological thriller that just happens to be an extension of the original characters. We have seen the formula before but you may not have seen such a presentation; a lonely child Amy Reed (Ann Carter) seeks a playmate that understands her. Who best but the spirit of Oliver's dead wife, Irena (Simone Simon) one of the cat people. Naturally this upsets the parents. Toss in Amy's new relation to reclusive neighbor Julia Farren (Julia Dean). Julia has problems of her own relating to her daughter. The story just gets complex from there.

The question is, is it dangerous to fantasize that much and what will become of the characters in the end.
-------------------------------------------
"I Walked with a Zombie"
A classic Val Lewton production

We are treated to exotic titles and expectations with titles such as "I walked With a Zombie." My only encounters with Zombies are those that process in an UNIX operating system that can not be killed. I also watched "Weekend at Bernie's II."

As with other Lewton productions he got a way with a psychological thriller in the guise of a monster movie. In the days of sailing ships a nurse (Frances Dee) is employed to go to San Sebastian to look after a plantation owner's wife (Christine Gordon.) She fined that her charge is more than just a victim of a disease that heft her without will. Turns out if you cut the wife she does not bleed. We all know what that means.

The true story is the relationship to man and wife, man and nurse, nurse and wife, brother and brother, brother and wife, need I say more? Could it mean that there is nothing supernatural or is love moving in mysterious natural.

Can this all be straightened out or is Jessica Holland the wife destined to be zomiated for ever and the nurse must learn to love from afar?

Yeah Lord pity them who are dead and give peace and happiness to the living.
--------------------------------------
"The Body Snatcher"
Based on a short story by Robert Louis Stevenson

"It is through error that a man tries and rises. It is through tragedy he learns. All the roads of learning begin in darkness and go out into the light." Hippocrates of Gos

This film has the psychological complexity of a Val Lewton production but is a lot more graphic than most of his productions where he just implies violence. He even takes it out on innocent dogs. I feel that some one was pushing Lewton from behind to be more vicious with this film.

A young student (Russell Wade) wants to become a doctor like the great Dr. Wolfe 'Toddy' MacFarlane (Henry Daniell.) Little does he know what it will entail?

The DVD has a voiceover commentary from the late Director Robert Wise who directed "West Side Story" and "The Sound of Music." Surprisingly he said that the original basic script was written by Philip MacDonald.
--------------------------------------
"Isle of the Dead"
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,

than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE / Hamlet Act 1. Scene V abt. 1601

`Under conquest and oppression the people of Greece allowed their legends to degenerate into superstition; the Goddess Aphrodite giving way to the `Vorvolaka.' This nightmare figure was very much alive in the mines of the peasants when Greece fought the victorious war of 1912."

Gen. Nikolas Pherides (Boris Karloff) is an experienced watcher. That is he must watch over his troops to be sure the do what they are supposed to and survive to win the day.

Finding some time take a war correspondent (Marc Cramer) to visit the grave yard island where his wife is buried. There he meats a strange collection of people and an unseen enemy that is much deadlier than any bullet. Will he be able to fight it logically and scientifically? Or will his cultural fears lead him to see the truth?

Once again we see that Boris Karloff can act and that Val Lewton can take a scary title and turn it from a cheap horror movie into a classic Psychological Thriller.
---------------------------------------------------
"Bedlam"
Story suggested by The William Hogarth painting Bedlam plate 8 "The Rake's Progress

Once again Val Lewton takes what would have been a second rate horror story and turns it into a sit on the edge of your seat psychological thriller. The basic question of the story is the same as the one in his movie "Ghost Ship"; that is, is man fundamentally good and helpful of others or is he so self centered that he will act even to his own ultimate demise? An added element is that of not quite being granted all mental faculties.

The year is 1791 Lord Mortimer (Billy House) is just one of the upper class (Wiggs) that gets his kicks from watching the loonies of Bedlam loon. His protégé (Anna Lee) is discussed at the treatment of the "guests" by the head apothecary, Master George Sims (Boris Karloff who can actually act). She attempts to correct this to the detriment of Lord Mortimer. So Lord Mortimer and Sims invite her as a guest to Bedlam.

Will she ever get out or just go crazy. While there she applies a theory supplied by a Quaker (Richard Fraser), one of the Society of Friends if this works the tables may turn on Sims. What can Sims say in his defense?
------------------------------------
"The Leopard Man"
All or our lives are like the ball bouncing at the top of the fountain

Rival entertainers meet in a club in New Mexico Kiki Walker (Jean Brooks) brings in a leopard to upstage Clo-Clo (Margo). But Clo-Clo gets the last laugh when she chases the leopard off with her castanets.

All is fun rivalry until people start dying. Naturally the local authorities think it is the leopard. But Jerry Manning (Dennis O'Keefe) who rented the leopard has a theory that this is the work of a demented person. This theory is sort of supported by Dr. Galbraith (James Bell) the local museum curator. To make matters worse the leopard's owner, Charlie How-Come (Abner Biberman) does not remember where he was at the time.

As with the cat people it is what you don't see that can harm you. And the simile turning of a card can mark you for death.

You may recognize Dynamite the leopard that was also used in the movie "Cat People".

Produced by Val Lewton (7 May 1904, Yalta, Crimea, Russian Empire (now Ukraine) ) whose story telling device is unique in that this is more of a psychological film that does not focus on any one person as they are all pawns in a much larger story. Some time it verges on the surreal.

Now that you have seen the film read the book "Black Alibi" by Cornell Woolrich.
----------------------------------
"The Ghost Ship"
A new third mate on his first long sea voyage in introduced to captain and crew. Before he steps on bard he is warned by a blond man. He runs into a mute. And before they even leave port Jensen is found dead, just a heat attack. "With his death the waters of the sea are open to us. But there will be other deaths and the agony of dieing."

Don't go looking for anything supernatural as this is a Val Lewton movie. I would pay close attention to the characters. One of them may be a bit unhinged. The big question in this story is man's nature to help or ignore their fellow man.
--------------------------------------
"Shadows in the Dark"
This is more of a Val Lewton biography with more emphasis on his producer years.

The Val Lewton Horror Collection.......2007-06-25

While the plots alone are enough to distinguish Lewton's brand of horror from other practitioners--a mysterious Serbian beauty might or might not have the ability to transform herself into a panther in "Cat People," a death-haunted New York woman is pursued by a cabal of satanists in "The Seventh Victim"--these films are also masterpieces of noir atmospherics. Karloff, an intellectual bored by ghoulish makeup, emerged from semi-retirement to make three pictures with Lewton: "Bedlam," "The Body Snatcher," and "The Isle of the Dead," with Bela Lugosi. It was a fruitful relationship. And this omnibus collection amply demonstrates Lewton's pulpy, lurid genius.

Quintessential Lewton..........2006-10-31

I've read the other reviews, and agree with most. Still, my favorite is "Curse of the Cat People". I've always been fascinated by (good) films that see life through the eyes of a child.Next to "To Kill a Mockingbird", I can't think of another film that brought me back to those simple, sweet times that adults just didn't get! (Except for Atticus, of course). I was also annoyed that the collection was in a tall box that would never fit on my shelf; I hate to separate them to fit on my shelf, alphabetically. Lewton had that wonderful idea, realized by Tourneur, with the glorious black & white photography, crisp and clear as a bell, and much appreciated by those of us who love outstanding film-making. I enjoy this collection a lot, but wish I could put it on the shelf with my other "collections", in a nice box.

Elegant horror.......2006-10-30

Steven Spielberg and Brian DePalma should be locked in a closet with a projection screen and forced to watch these films repeatedly until they swear an oath to imitate them. Made on what Tom Cruises' cleaning bill for one day's shoot would be adjusted for 1940 dollars, and infinitely superior to anything they have done. "Curse of the Cat People" and "The Seventh Victim" are largely unknown but the best and most subtle of these works. Less is more, I only wish there were more of them.

Note recycled Lewton props........2006-08-31

Val Lewton's productions have long been treasured by cinematic aestheticians. This accrues not only from his singularly intelligent treatment and subtle presentation of macabre themes, but from his recurring Lewton "stock company" of players. How we Lewton devotees savor the return of Jane Randolph, Jean Brooks, Isabel Jewell, Russell Wade, Sir Lancelot, Tom Conway, Ottola Nesmith ! etc. etc.

Less noted perhaps, are the recurring props to be spotted in Lewton films. Thus, Ottola Nesmith's tufted Victorian sofa from "The Leopard Man," later becomes the property of Miss Julia Dean in "Curse of the Cat People." Likewise, Miss Nesmith's daughter in the same film, ("Teresa") sleeps in the same curly maple bed destined to later belong to little Ann Carter in "Curse...".

Many other Lewton props follow this same recycling pattern, i.e., Kim Hunter in "Seventh Victim," turns up in that film's cocktail party sequence sporting Jane Randolph's fur trimmed topcoat from "Cat People"; the exterior double doors to Simone Simon's "Cat People" brownstone apartment building do double duty as the entrance to a hotel in "Seventh Victim," as well as serving as portals to the museum in "Leopard Man."

These delightful economies, however, may have more to do with RKO than Mr. Lewton, since Julia Dean's Victorian chairs may also be spotted in the non Lewton productions, "Beware My Lovely" and "Experiment Perilous."

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Hawkwind - 'In Concert-Out Of The Shadows' (MVD)
Hawkwind fans will want this one!

In Concert: Out of the Shadows
Starring: Hawkwind
Manufacturer: Mvd Visual
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Hawkwind: Sonic Assassins
Hawkwind: Solstice at Stonehenge (20th Anniversary Collector's Edition)

ASIN: B000KLNLSM
Release Date: 2007-02-20

Description

This brilliant performance was filmed and recorded on December 4, 2002 at the Newcastle Opera House in Newcastle, England. It includes 14-song set as well as an exclusive interview with Dave Brock. The legendary Hawkwind have continuously amazed audiences far and wide with their engaging live shows. Their countless tours have become renowned for being much more than just the band performing their legion of hits. Led by founding member Brock, Hawkwind does it again here with fan favorites such as Sonic Space Attack and Assassins Of Allah, plus many more.

Customer Reviews:

Hawkwind - 'In Concert-Out Of The Shadows' (MVD).......2007-05-06

Superb music DVD that is SURE to fully please any true Hawkfan. First you get an 80-minute concert that was filmed at the Opera House in Newcastle, UK on December 4, 2002. Fourteen songs total, with several must-experience 'deep album cuts'. Tunes like "Out Of The Shadows", "Master Of The Universe", "Huury On Sundown" (off their very first lp), the *ss-kicking "Assassins Of Allah" and "Earth Calling" (which carries into "You Shouldn't Do That") were all shot with a full-blown psychedelic light show. Other memorable moments include two Bob Calvert gems, "Aerospace Age Inferno" and "Song Of The Gremlins". Fellow aging long-time UK rocker - none other than Arthur Brown is guest vocalist on several songs here and serves his purpose as Hawkwind's frontman, rather well I thought. Even gets to perform two of his own songs here, "Time Captives" and "Time & Confusion". A very happening bit on this DVD is when Brown comes out all dressed in black like 'the invisible man' for "Sonic{Space}Attack". After the show, Dave Brock gives an hour long interview speaking of playing space rock, Hawkwind's expensive stage shows, musical roots, etc. Simply great picture and sound quality. A must-have.

Hawkwind fans will want this one!.......2007-04-05

This is an excellent concert with the basic lineup of Dave Brock, Allan Davey and Richard Chadwick supplemented with Huw Lloyd-Langton, Tim Blake and Arthur Brown. The best thing is the track selection which is significantly different than most Hawkwind shows and features some more obscure Hawkwind songs as wll as two Robert Calvert songs (1,6), two Arthur Brown songs (4,7), one Tim Blake song (9) and one Lemmy song (10). Here is the Track listing:

1) Aero Space Age Inferno
2) Angel of Death
3) Out of the Shadows
4) Time Captives
5) Master of the Universe
6) The Song of the Gremlins
7) Time & Confusion
8) Hurry On Sundown
9) Lighthouse
10) The Watcher
11) Assassins of Allah
12) Earth Calling
13) Sonic Space Attack
14) Silver Machine

This was recorded early in the tour and although as Dave Brock claims in the additional one hour interview that they didn't have much practice time, the band pulls off a tight and energetic performance. My only quibbles are that the camera work is pretty basic and the show is only 80 minutes long so I docked it one star. That being said this is still worth the money.

Yu Gi Oh - Battle City Duels - Showdown in the Shadows

Average customer rating:

i stiil think marik rules
The greatest duels in yu gi oh battle city.
WE LOVE MERIK!!!!
A little bit of favoritism.
oooooooooooo i love it

Yu Gi Oh - Battle City Duels - Showdown in the Shadows
Starring: Yu-Gi-Oh
Manufacturer: Funimation Prod
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Yu-Gi-Oh!: Season 2, Vol. 10 - Mind Game
Yu-Gi-Oh!: Season 2, Vol. 9 - Awakening the Evil
Yu-Gi-Oh!: Season 2, Vol. 8 - The Dark Spirit Revealed
Yu-Gi-Oh!: Season 2, Vol. 7 - Friends 'Til the End
Yu-Gi-Oh!: Season 2, Vol. 6 - Double Duel

ASIN: B00069FKR8
Release Date: 2004-12-28

Customer Reviews:

i stiil think marik rules.......2006-12-03

reviewer- elizabeth longwood fl usa

i liked the prat when marik was duling baruka it was funny when evil bakura said to evil marik that he can,t be destored i was also fuuny when marik and baurka on the week side were fighting marik is still hot and my favorite cahater

The greatest duels in yu gi oh battle city........2006-09-03

On this dvd you will see kaiba fighting ishizu.

A battle with destiny.
Can kaiba take off ishizou even that she can predict the future?
You will also find the true story of marik and the reason why he wanted te revenge the pharaoh.
The best duel of this dvd is evil marik vs evil bakura and marik.
Bakura takes the egyptian god card from evil marik, but the question is if bakura can control the true power of the winged dragon of ra and what about if ra has got more than one special abilities.
You will find out if you buy this dvd.

WE LOVE MERIK!!!!.......2005-12-08

Once again, I'm just writing pointless reviews.
However, in the peak of the Yu-Gi-Oh saga, these were the best.
I never really watched these in interest of the duels, however, the backstories and events happening elsewhere, was what made these stories so great.
Merik is by far the best character of the entire lot, and his flashback sequence was heartwrenching. He was soooooo cute!! I feel really bad for him, yet I still love him all the more.He is definitely the best villain ever!!!!
In tribute, I have named and based a character after him in the book I've been writing for several years now.

Queen of Annwen

A little bit of favoritism. .......2005-10-22

I am a HUGE fan of Yu-Gi-Oh, as you see. I don't like the dub, but...

My two favorite characters of the show are on the cover, so this is the only dubbed DVD I bought. As most people complain, the dub likes to mix and change things, as well as added melodrama. I prefer to watch it on mute, but even with the subs, it's obvious how hacked it is.

The final episode of this set is the best looking onewith all the cast drawn with nice heads, accurate facial expressions, and overall animation. The first, looking the worst, has rather blocky faces and unnatural movement(though Obelisk's summoning was pretty). The animation consistency is tragic(which is one point for the manga).

Still, this was a duel between the crazy characters, thus making it more entertaining than most of the duels. This is somewhat of a turning point in the Battle City Saga, as there is a bit of turmoil on the villain's side. I wouldn't watch YGO if it weren't for Marik(both of them) and Bakura(and you wouldn't understand unless you were a YGO junkie like me). And in another one of the "Marik's Past" episodes, you can't deny how adorable little Marik is.

I could stand the inconsistent animation, and maybe some of the violent parts edited(although I wish it wouldn't be so choppy), but the biggest downer is Marik's story being changed for no good reason. His likeability was lower in the dub, and so dub viewers might not have as much sympathy for him as one who's watched the original.

Still can't rate it lower than a B.
(shame about the shirt part.)

oooooooooooo i love it.......2005-01-20

omg this dvd is so good u gotta get it last dvd for season 2 contains 4 episodes interesting where 1 they show a flashback of mariks past this time isheizu talking about it then where they have yami malik and yami ryou bakura duel in the shadows and the episode where isheizu or isis and kaiba duel to see who will win my favorite otta the whole entire season

Average customer rating:

T'AS DE BEAUX YEUX, TU SAIS !
Improvisational train wreck
Shadows & Fog
A very nice french film
Jean Gabin steps out of the shadows

Port of Shadows - Criterion Collection
Starring: Jean Gabin , Michel Simon , Michèle Morgan , Pierre Brasseur , and Édouard Delmont
Director: Marcel Carné
Manufacturer: Criterion
ProductGroup: DVD
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Similar Items:

Pepe Le Moko - Criterion Collection
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Touchez Pas au Grisbi - Criterion Collection

ASIN: B00026L74U
Release Date: 2004-07-20

Amazon.com

On a foggy highway, a lonely soldier hitches a ride and ends up in a lonely bar on the outskirts of town, where lost souls gather for a melancholy repast. The soldier is Jean (Jean Gabin), a deserter on the run whose flight is interrupted when he meets sad runaway Nelly (Michele Morgan) and falls in love. He becomes entwined in the troubles of her life, notably the lascivious guardian (Michel Simon) who lusts after Nelly and attempts to blackmail Jean, and a cocky, hot-headed gangster (Pierre Brasseur) who tries to scare Jean off, only to be humiliated in front his men and the town. It's not hard to see where this spiral of threats and confrontations is leading (the title, after all, translates to "Port of Shadows," as ominous a title as any American film noir, especially in a small town where everyone's lives become tightly wound together. Director Marcel Carné and writer Jacques Prévert (who went on to collaborate on the French masterpiece Children of Paradise) infuse the film with a sense of dignity and quiet poetry. At night the port town is like a world in the clouds, cut off from the rest of the world, where all the sordid yearnings and desperate plans of the ambitious players take on a mythic resonance. It's only by light of day that everything returns to its shabby place. A classic of French poetic realism. --Sean Axmaker

Description

Down a foggy, desolate road to the port city of Le Havre travels Jean (Jean Gabin), an army deserter looking for another chance to make good on life. Fate, however, has a different plan for him, when acts of both revenge and kindness turn him into front-page news. Also starring the blue-eyed phenomenon Michèle Morgan in her first major role, and the menacing Michel Simon, Port of Shadows (Le Quai des brumes) starkly portrays an underworld of lonely souls wrestling with their own destinies. Based on the novel by Pierre Mac Orlan, the inimitable team of director Marcel Carné and writer Jacques Prévert deliver a quintessential example of poetic realism, one of the classics of the golden age of French cinema.

Customer Reviews:

T'AS DE BEAUX YEUX, TU SAIS !.......2007-03-12

Marcel Carné's PORT OF SHADOWS (Le Quai des Brumes) belongs to the list of movies we had to see in school in the seventies. This film is part of the French cultural heritage and was regularly showed by the film clubs of our schools. Some of the greatest actors of that period appear in PORT OF SHADOWS : Jean Gabin, THE unquestionable star of French cinema from the beginning of the 30's until the beginning of the 70's, Michèle Morgan who attained a cult status with this film she shot while she was 17 years old, the Swiss actor Michel Simon (Zabel) who portrayed numerous unforgettable characters during his long career on the screen (1924-1975), Pierre Brasseur who's excellent as Lucien the hoodlum.

Great actors and also great dialogues written by Jacques Prévert, a poet-artist often associated with the Poetic Realism genre of that period. Lines as "Tu as de beaux yeux, tu sais" (You do have beautiful eyes, you know) or "Vite, on est pressé" (Hurry, we don't have much time left) said by Gabin to Morgan are sentences you don't easily forget if you happen to like PORT OF SHADOWS.

A DVD zone your library.

Improvisational train wreck.......2006-12-09

What happens when the director shoots a movie without a plot or a point or even a script and lets his famous actors improvise amok? The Port of Shadows. Yes, a few frames of the moody cinematography are worth watching, but you can see one of them for free on the box art. If you like watching high speed artistic train wrecks in super slow motion, then this is the movie for you. It's a 1 star movie plus 1 star for it's historical significance plus 1 star for Criterion's excellent transfer.

Shadows & Fog.......2006-03-27

I first became aware of director Marcel Carne when I saw "Children of Paradise". In a review I wrote on here for that movie I said to call it a masterpiece is to understate it's case. The same can be said for "Port of Shadows", easily one of the greatest films I have ever seen.

The movie stars Jean Gabin as a soldier running away from the past. What exactly did he do? I don't know, we get the hint he must be a deserter, but maybe that's just the beginning of his problems. Whatever the case may be it doesn't matter. All that matters is the fact he wants to get away. Jean (that's his character's name) finds himself in a hideout run by a man called Panama (Edouard Delmont) which is near what is known as "the port of shadows". Here is where Jean will get all the help he needs to leave the country. But things are never that easy. For instance he meets a girl, Nelly (Michele Morgan) and gets mixed up with criminals; Zabel (Michel Simon) and Lucien (Pierre Brasseur). And soon Jean fears he may be a suspect in a murder.

Jean Gabin is an absolute natural for a role like this. He practically invented the character in "Pepe le Moko". A character that American actors such as Humphrey Bogart would play in films like "Casablanca". Gabin has those rough edges around his face and a dour look on his face that leads us to believe the guy has been through a lot. This is a complete contrast to the look Michele Morgan has. She is to put bluntly a beauty!

The film was based on a novel written by Pierre Mac Orlan and was adapted by Jacques Prevert (a poet as well as songwriter. If you are familiar with the song "Autumn Leaves" he wrote the lyrics). I've never read the book so I cannot comment on how faithfully this film is adapted, but I can say Carne does a masterful job directing this movie. The film takes us down paths I wasn't expecting to travel. Carne doesn't throw too much in our face. He lets the story flow at it's own pace. And things move along quite quickly. The film is only 90 minutes. But at the same time, nothing feels rushed. We understand these characters, their situations and the fate that awaits them. Having only seen two films from this director I'm ready to call him a master. His films manage to touch me on a deep personal level. He creates characters that seems to live off the page. And just think, this was Carne's third film! He clearly had a natural gift. And luckily people took notice during his lifetime. "Port of Shadows" won the National Board of Review award for "Best Foreign Film".

As for the film's title, at first I wondered how they arrived at it. We don't find out the name of the port until the end of the film but couldn't it have a double meaning? Couldn't the "port of shadows" refer to a place where people go looking to escape the shadows of their past? Or maybe it's just that you can't see a darn thing with all that fog hanging around!

Bottom-line: Marcel Carne's film is one of the greatest I have ever see. Carne handles the story and the characters with a sure touch. The movie takes some unexpected turns and takes what could have been a simple story and transcends it into something much more.

A very nice french film.......2005-02-21

This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD edition of the film.

"Port of Shadows" known in France as "Le quai des brumes" is an excellent film.

The film stars Jean Gabin as a deserting soldier who is trying to start fresh. He hitchhikes into a port town and finds a stray dog who he takes for his own. He later becomes romantically involved with a woman who has some problems of her own. That's all I can say without spoiling the film.

Jean Gabin is probably best known for his role in "Grand Illusion" and does a fine job in this film also. He is perfect for the part, but the only drawback is that I now see him as typecast in military roles.

The other actors in the film do great also and the dog in the film was well trained.

The DVD only has two special features but the liner notes contain much more material than usual. The features are a theatrical trailer and a gallery of production stills and film posters. This is a great film and has a nice story.

Jean Gabin steps out of the shadows.......2005-02-06

Jean Gabin is a great French actor - rugged and rude with the swagger and confidence of a male achetype he nonetheless posseses a style and charm that makes him appear as if he could sweep any woman off her feet of the most posh Paris night spot. Here Gabin's performance is no exception as he portrays a solider weary of colonial French outposts who has abandoned his duties. Arriving in the port of Le Harve he soon encounters the murky band of hangers-on, losers, and unseemly characters one might suspect would lurk in such a place. Some of the most dangerous are a small band of wanna-be gangsters whose penchant for violence and desire for respect outweighs their low intellingence.

The one bright spot in this sordid locale is Michele Morgan as Nelly. Morgan nearly stops the heart of the viewer at first moment on the screen as the ultimate femme fatal wrapped in translucent raincoat with a beret covering her blonde locks.

The combination of these two, some nice supporting performances - including the proprietor of a portside dive bar who recounts every great moment in his life to a trip to Panama 30 years previous, and a few tense, even terrifying, screen moments make this film stand the test of time, while similar others of the era might be dismissed and forgotten as pulp pot boilers.

Hikaru No Go, Vol. 5: The Rival in the Shadows

Average customer rating:

Hikaru No Go, Vol. 5: The Rival in the Shadows
Starring: Hikaru No Go
Manufacturer: Viz Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Hikaru No Go, Vol. 6: Among Champions
Hikaru No Go, Vol. 4 - The Ghost in the Net
Hikaru No Go Vol 3 Third Player
Hikaru No Go 7: The Young Lions Tournament (Dub & Sub)
Hikaru No Go, Vol. 8: The Awful Opponent

ASIN: B000HIP44C
Release Date: 2006-11-28

Description

With Hikaru's help, the ghost of Go master Sai has become the sensation of the Internet Go world. Players from all over the world are itching to know the identity of the player who never loses and displays an almost superhuman ability. But rival Akira sees the similarities in the mystery player's game to the one he played with Hikaru, and will stop at nothing to discover the true identity of "Sai"!

Average customer rating:

So bad it's funny!

Shadows Run Black
Starring: Elizabeth Trosper , William J. Kulzer , Shea Porter , George Engelson , and Dianne Hinkler
Director: Howard Heard
Manufacturer: Live / Artisan
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B000089767
Release Date: 2003-03-18

Description

In the deep, dark still of the night - SHADOWS RUN BLACK and only terror illuminates the darkness. There is a deranged killer on the loose, and his bloody killings give a new, gory dimension to the word "murder." After three college coeds are found brutally bludgeoned to death, Detective Sergeant Rydell King is brought in to investigate. Sergeant King discovers that the victims are from a group of four close friends - only one is left alive. Judy Cole has nowhere to hide - darkness will eventually fall and her terror will scream through the night. Turn around slowly - and beware when SHADOWS RUN BACK.

Customer Reviews:

So bad it's funny!.......2004-09-20

Here we have another cheap horror picture with a predictable ending about a mad killer who dons a mask and runs loose killing college coeds. So, what else is new?

Flat, emotionless, and wooden. These are only a few of the words I can come up with to describe whatever it was that the players in this flick were trying to pull off. The acting was so bad, in fact, that I think it gives lousy acting a bad rap. Such films are good to watch once in a while, I suppose, for research. That is, so that one can see just how bad bad acting can get. It can make one appreciate the slightly better films a little bit more. Flicks like "A Nightmare on Elm Street" and "Halloween" look like "Gone With The Wind" in comparison to this crap. It deserves the one star, however, for the simple fact that it kept me laughing my tail-end off the whole way through. It was clearly intended to be serious, and frightening, but came off as just being a comedy of moviemaking errors.

Average customer rating:

"Show me the money!"
DARK BUT ENGROSSING
Great Start, disapointed with ending.
Why didn't this film get noticed in the theaters?
Engrossing

In the Shadows (2001) (Ws Sub)
Starring: Matthew Modine , James Caan , Joey Lauren Adams , Lillo Brancato , and Cuba Gooding Jr.
Director: Ric Roman Waugh
Manufacturer: Lions Gate
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ASIN: B0000640UD
Release Date: 2002-05-21

Customer Reviews:

"Show me the money!".......2006-07-21

Cuba Gooding Jr&James Caan give the only good performances in this movie,though they look like they're in agony on account of the awful screenplay.

Strangely,I've sat through this movie TWICE.It's so bad it's engrossing.

Matthew Modine,who was once a rising star in the '90s,is now on this straight-to-video dud.He plays a hitman trying to reform his life--and it's as melodramatic&unconvincing as church musicals about people giving their lives to God.

The gangsters are campy enough to have John Waters as their padrone.The premise-a stuntman?-whose death must be avenged is ridiculous,as is the unconvincing romance between Modine&his squeaky-voiced ladylove (she sounds like Disney's Snow White)The ending is ENDLESSLY drawn out,so like the hero you want to cry out,"Just shoot me!"

DARK BUT ENGROSSING.......2005-05-05

A talented cast and some sharp direction elevate IN THE SHADOWS to a very entertaining, if somewhat somber, film. Matthew Modine stars as a hitman "with a conscience" who ends up on trial because he didn't kill the only witness to his latest hit. The family however gets him out with a crooked judge and give him a new assignment: James Caan. Caan plays a stunt coordinator who takes the blame when one of his stuntmen (who also happens to be a mobster himself)dies during a dangerous stunt. His uncle (veteran Val Avery) wants Modine to off Caan, but not until the uncle himself recovers from bypass surgery. (He wants to be there for the hit). So Modine goes to Miami to case Caan out and initiates contact by "bumping into" Caan's lovely daughter (a whispy and effective Joey Lauren Adams). Mixed into this bag is Cuba Gooding Jr. as a Fed agent undercover as a drug dealer. Seems the dead mobster/stuntman refused to pay Gooding for a drug deal and got off with both the money and the drugs. So while waiting to off Caan, Modine is given the job of getting rid of Gooding. Of course what complicates all this is Modine falls in love with Adams and develops a close almost fatherly relationship with Caan, and even becomes a good stuntman. The ending is unavoidable, but tragic in a poignant fashion.
Modine is coolly effective in his out of character role and it's to his credit that we develop a sympathy for this cold-blooded killer who suddenly discovers the important things in life: love and family. Caan is excellent as always, and Adams does a commendable job. Gooding does his role, but doesn't overly impress as he isn't given a lot of screen time. Stuntman Scott Waugh does a good job as Graham, Caan's right-hand man.
IN THE SHADOWS is not the usual mobster fare, and it's message is clear and denouement poetically just.

Great Start, disapointed with ending........2003-12-20

The whole movie up the end was great, but just when I think this hit man is finally gonna get his chance to a normal life style, he dies. His death was a big blow for me as I waited up late to watch it and then the ending was like a real bad disapointment for me. He fought so well and then went out like nothing. Bad ending, I was mad!

Why didn't this film get noticed in the theaters?.......2002-11-01

Now and then movies turn up on the shelves of a video store with a case that has good graphics, a cast that looks first rate and a brief description of an interesting story line. On the off chance that you just missed the ads of the theatrical release, you rent it, watch it and make a discovery. Such is the case for this fine little film. With a cast that includes James Caan (in one of his better roles!), Matthew Modine ( in an out of character part), Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Joey Lauren Adams, this is a tale of a hit man who pursues his career because he has no family and has never felt as though he belongs. Without sacrificing the considerable suspense the writer of this script provides, suffice it to say that his ultimate hit assignment results in a turnaround of his value system and offers a restored vision of what life can be like when true 'family' is discovered.
The photography is sensitive, creative, and moody. The story involves the behind the scenes information of the stunt man's lifestyle. The performances are uniformly fine. No soft pedaling here, the life of high crime is brutally presented. But the direction and acting make this realistic depiction of mob mania a credible background for the talents of those involved in telling a gripping tale. Very much worth your time.

Engrossing.......2002-08-09

This was not the best love story I've seen, not the best movie about a hit man and not the best movie about the mob. But it was a good movie. Surprisingly entertaining.

Matthew Modine plays a hit man, without feeling who falls in love with the stunt man he is supposed to kill. The stunt man is marked for death because of an accident the mob holds him responsible for. But the emotionless hit man falls in love with "the marks" daughter and soon understands what he has been missing in life.

This movie had some high powered stars, James Caan, Matthew Modine and Cuba Gooding Jr (who plays a federal agent acting as a drug dealer). Lots of good acting and a nice portrayal of the metamorphosis of a person.

DVD:

DVD

DVD

DVD

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