The week’s DVDs begin in Brazil:
DVDs and streaming for April 21 by Boo Allen
This week, we begin in Brazil:
That Man From Rio (***1/2 ), Up to His Ears (**1/2)
The Cohen Film Collection gives DVD and Blu-ray debuts to two films on two discs in a single package from French director Philippe de Broca. Although mostly overlooked today, in the 1960s and 1970s de Broca delivered some highly entertaining films that became universally influential. Several action-oriented American directors noted the quick-cutting rapid pace complemented by inventive action and off-handed humor. De Broca first gained international acclaim for his romp That Man From Rio (1964, 112 minutes). The film starred Jean-Paul Belmondo as Adrien, a soldier home in Paris on leave. But his vacation quickly ends when he embarks on a chase to Brazil when he witnesses the abduction of his girlfriend Agnes. She is the daughter of a world famous explorer who once discovered the priceless statuette that has been stolen in Paris and taken to Rio. Francois Dorléac, Catherine Deneuve’s equally-as-ravishing sister, played Agnes, one of Dorléac’s 21 film roles before dying in in a car accident in 1967 at the age of 25. The Oscar-nominated script, rare for a foreign language film, sends Adrien and Agnes from one mad scrape to another, establishing several sequences that obviously influenced future James Bond films. Rio keeps a firm tongue-in-cheek, even when kidnappers, gangsters, and various factions scatter to retrieve the statuette, the film’s McGuffin. Extras: a comprehensive 66 minute “making of” documentary, a 14 minute featurette on the collaboration between de Broca and composer Georges Delerue, and a ten minute interview with Rio script writer and future director Jean-Paul Rappeneau. De Broca’s next film, Up to His Ears (1965, 104 minutes), loosely based on a Jules Verne novel, followed the same recipe as Rio, with plenty of action to complement the light narrative. Belmondo again stars, here as a bored rich man who tries to instill some excitement in his life by taking out an insurance policy on himself and then encouraging his beneficiary to murder him. This gambit sets the millionaire off on an avoidance course with several gangs of killers, taking him to Hong Kong, where he meets and falls in love with a beautiful stripper (Ursula Andress, just returned from her role in Dr. No), before heading on to India and Nepal and then back again, all accompanied by his manservant, played by Jean Rochefort, who seemingly appeared in every French film of the 1970s. The comedy again remains broad and even slight, but de Broca delivers his trademark action sequences. In both films, de Broca choreographs some of the most impressive stunts seen in a pre-C.G.I. era. Extras: a nine minute interview with Jean Rochefort, a 29 minute “making of” featurette, the original trailer, and more.
From the Dark (**1/2)
In the first scene of this sporadically effective Irish horror film, a farmer digs up peat in an isolated field. He accidentally uncovers something, that, surprise, suddenly starts to move. Uh-oh. Before long, whatever he uncovered attacks him amid a flurry of dark images. Cut to a handsome young couple, Sarah and Mark (Niamh Algar, Stephen Cromwell), as they drive along while on vacation. Their car breaks down (darn), and they head to the farmer’s house for assistance. Double uh-ho. Before long, director Conor McMahon has Sarah and Mark fighting off the resurrected yet hazy demon which ends in Sarah kicking major monster-backside. McMahon keeps most of the action layered in the dark interiors, but before that, he takes advantage of the endlessly green Irish landscapes to create his atmosphere of innocence and false safety.
Not rated, 90 minutes.
Extras: commentary, a 21 minute “behind the scenes” featurette.
Face of Fire (***), Screaming Eagles (**1/2)
On demand Warner Archive releases a pair of films from the mid 1950s originally released from the small outfit Allied Artists. In Face of Fire (1958, 80 minutes), based on a Stephen Crane allegory set in the 1890s, venerable character actor James Whitmore plays Monk, handyman to the doctor (Cameron Mitchell) in a small town. Everyone in town loves Monk, the children, the women, even the dogs. One night, Monk enters a burning house and saves the doctor’s young son. But the fire scars Monk, leaving him so disfigured that everyone then runs from him. When he unintentionally scares a young woman, the townspeople chase after him like he was Frankenstein’s monster (a movie this one often resembles). Royal Dano plays one of the rabid town-folk who actually take to the so-called monster with a pitchfork. Director Albert Band creates and maintains a Gothic aura to his film, making everything seem dreamlike and almost illusory. In 1956, World War II had been over barely a decade, a period still ripe for war films. In Screaming Eagles (81 minutes), fifteen paratroopers set off from England on the precipice of D-Day. They land behind enemy lines with orders to secure a bridge. But, before they achieve their goal, their numbers dwindle. Making up the squad were several actors who graduated into high profile television roles, including Martin Milner of “Route 66,” Robert Blake, billed as Bobby Blake, of “Baretta,” Paul Burke of “The Naked City,” and several other ubiquitous actors of the era, such as Alvy Moore, Pat Conway, Joe di Reda. The single female, Jacqueline Beer, Miss France of 1954, appeared for years on “77 Sunset Strip.” The film itself is boiler-plate, as the men journey miles from their target area through Nazi-infested French territory to achieve their objective.
Scooby-Doo! And Scrappy-Doo!–season one
The big dog returns in this collection of 16 episodes on two discs. The venerable animated favorite features all the Mystery Inc. gang, including Fred, Daphne, Velma, Scooby-Doo and his pupster nephew Shaggy-Doo. They explore everything from a supernatural haunted house to underwater adventures and more.
Not rated, 343 minutes.
Also on DVD and streaming: Avenged, First Period, Hit By Lightning, Taken 3, Walter.