Francis Ford: The Craving (1918/Undercrank Blu-ray)/Rocky: Ultimate Knockout Collection 4K (1976 - 2006/UA/MGM/Warner 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Set)/Ted Lasso: The Richmond Way (2020 - 2023/HBO/Warner Blu-ray Set)/William Shatner: You Can Call Me Bill (2024/Legion M Blu-ray)

4K Ultra HD Picture: B Picture: B- Sound: C+/C+ (B: Balboa)/B/B Extras: B-/B-/C-/C+ Main Programs: C+/B-/C+/C/C & B-/C/C/B-/B

Next up are a group of new releases that deal with leading men and sometimes, how the characters they play can take over...

Francis Ford: The Craving (1918) is a remarkably early silent film that goes out of its way to depict how horrid and nightmarish drug addiction can be when people did not talk about that much and sadly over 100 years later, it still has a stigma and taboo that never helps matters. The visual effects they use were groundbreaking for their time and not always easy to pull off, but that is more than reason enough to save the film. Of course, Ford had a big career at the time and a majority of his work is lost. For only now we hope.

Remarkably, being the brother of directing legend John Ford did not stop so many films form being lost and you would think otherwise, but that is not the case. However, you will see why he was a star, he could act in the style of the time, the camera liked him and he had enough presence and chemistry with his co-stars. I liked this film and think all serious film fans should check it out, never exploitive of its subject and sadly, as relevant as ever. The case also touts other short films by Ford and they are here.

Those extras include additional shorts that include Unmasked (1917; originally issued as The Black Masks in 1913) directed by Grace Cunard and Francis Ford; starring Grace Cunard and Francis Ford; archival 35mm from the George Eastman Museum; 11 minutes. This one about a jewel thief is a fun mystery piece and well done.

The Post Telegrapher (1912) directed by Francis Ford; starring Francis Ford; with Anne Little, Ray Myers; archival 35mm from the Library of Congress and Eye Filmmuseum; 24 minutes. A western with the expected, dated trappings.

When The Tables Turned (1911) directed by Emory Johnson; starring Belle Bennett; with Francis Ford, June Marlowe, Henry Victor; archival 35mm from USC HMH Foundation Moving Image Archive and Library of Congress; 11 minutes. Also a western, but with more tinted scenes.

Screen Snapshots excerpt (1920) directed by Francis Ford; with Francis Ford, Jack Hoxie, Billie Rhodes, Marian Sais; archival 16mm from Library of Congress; 2 minutes. This has movie stars behind the scenes making movies.

and a new 9-minutes-long video essay featurette: Francis Ford: Film Pioneer (2023).

That makes Francis Ford: The Craving a fine set of silent films to see and a solid set for those not used to silent cinema to start out with besides the usual classics.

Rocky: Ultimate Knockout Collection 4K (1976 - 2006) finally adds the last two of the six films from the Sylvester Stallone franchise (which he will no longer be a part of and has zero rights to?) in Ultra High Definition with the first four we already covered in 4K at this link:

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/16260/Project+Wolf+Hunting+(2022/Well+Go+Blu-ray)/R

Then we have this earlier set of the six films in one Blu-ray set for more information on the plot and extras...

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/9311/Rocky+%E2%80%93+The+Undisputed+Collection

And my coverage of the final film from its Blu-ray/DVD set...

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/5127/Rocky+Balboa+(Blu-ray+++DVD-Video

So for those who never saw any of the films or are curious after the (reviewed elsewhere on this site) Creed spinoffs, here is the set, but it is a little disappointing in playback though the films are not all masterpieces by any means. Still, as bad as the sequels can get, we should be able to see them looking as good as they can and hear them as vividly. You can read my tech comments below, but this was and is always going to be for fans only, save the first film.

Extras include all the extras from the previous releases, plus Digital Movie code.

Ted Lasso: The Richmond Way (2020 - 2023) the the oddly retitled complete three-season series that was a surprise HBO hit. The one surprise is that it came from Jason Sudeikis only briefly playing the character elsewhere with no potential plans for expansion and the other is that anything on the subject of soccer is a hit in the U.S., despite its slowly (finally!) growing popularity. As the title character, Sudeikis is the unlikely guy to take over a failing soccer team that has some money behind it, but gets the chance because of a divorce among its rich owners and its on-the-field filed performance.

But Ted is a for real guy who is almost too nice and good to be true and after pretty much everyone involved thinks he will just make the team situation a further disaster, he very slowly starts ot turn the situation around to the surprise of most. The question then becomes whether he can really pull off the most difficult of comebacks in sports, from worst to first... or somewhere close.

The first season is the best, well written and thought out, but the weekly TV grind and maybe a lack of time and rushing things when they should not have (think how long new Moonlighting episodes with Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd took when the show was good in its early seasons) resulting in a situation of somewhat diminishing returns narratively speaking. We have also seen some of this before, but the show tries ot do some things different.

Also a plus are supporting cast members are Jeremy Swift, Anthony Head, Hannah Waddingham, Brendan Hunt, Brett Goldstein and others help keep this working so well, so I can see what all the hype was about and am glad I waited until I could take it all in at once. It still might not be for everyone, but at least try it if it sounds interesting to you and see what you think. At least you'll understand why it was a hit.

A poster is the only extra, but I am always recommending the great documentary Once In a Lifetime about how in the 1970s, Warner Bros. tried to launch soccer in the U.S. with all their massive resources, a superteam and the results are... something....

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/5994/Once+In+A+Lifetime

Alexander O. Philippe's William Shatner: You Can Call Me Bill (2024) is a surprisingly personal autobiography by the iconic Star Trek and media star, a survivor of his belatedly hit series and the industry that made him, who has seen more downs than many realize and is as brutally candid about all that as anything else, which also leads to select retrospective of his career and how he became more of an environmental advocate than you might think.

However, he is grateful for his life, as hard as it has been and after watching this, I had a new respect for him to go along with how much I liked him to begin with. You understand the man better and sometimes, I wondered if he should have had more friends, support or professional help along the way, even if he got some he does nto discuss here. He talks about living in Canada as a young Jewish kid with parents that were taking care of him, but were not emotionally available, then gets into how much he loved film, TV and the stage early on and what it did for him.

He is fearless in places too, but also gets into so much of his life and career outside of Trek that some of what he covers is long overdue. However, it is the man himself telling and revealing all, ot the point that this gets so sad, you might not want to watch at times you are too tired or having some bad times in your life. However, despite all the mockery of his limits as an actor, which are not always as bad as some say and role depending, he is now a success and proved most of his critics wrong. He is also a decent man who helped build the industry and does not get enough credit for it. For all that and more, that is why I highly recommend this documentary.

A live Q&A with Shatner from 'Screen Rants' with Philippe and host Tamara Krinsky is the only extra.

Now for playback performance. The 2160p HEVC/H.265, 1.85 X 1, Dolby Vision/HDR (10; Ultra HD Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition image on the Rocky films continue to disappoint with Rocky V being flat and Rocky Balboa somehow looking a little worse and less naturalistic than the Blu-ray I covered years ago. Why the set is being issued in secondary condition versus how they first looked, save the expanded version of the fourth film is odd, but the issue extends to the sound, which was never great on the series until the fourth film, then got weaker with fifth, so no consistency here. Balboa does not sound quite as good as it did on the older Blu-ray, despite the upgraded transfer, yet it does not look upgraded to me and a little off. This is still the best way to see these films outside of a good film print, but I hope Amazon/MGM gets to working on all of them for preservation purposes.

The 1080p 1.33 X 1 black & white (with some various tinting) digital High Definition image transfers on Craving and the accompanying Ford shorts are lucky they have survived, but have been restored as well as can be expected and can look surprisingly good for their age. Again, the work is as remarkable as any of this surviving at all, though all are shot well for their age and as you watch, you realize how pioneering the makers were being in creating a new artform and how to make this look good and watchable. Ford and company do well here. We get new music by Ben Model that is fine, is in lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo and sounds good, but I wish this were all lossless. Otherwise, the combination is as pleasant as any silent releases we've covered of late and keeps Undercrank's solid reputation growing.

The 1080p 2.00 X 1 digital High Definition image transfers on Ted Lasso has good, consistent color, but can be on the soft side in some of the details and even beyond some images (smart phones, so-so digital TV images of faux sports coverage) could be sharper. We'll see if a 4K version would eliminate that. The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mixes fare better and are more consistent with is clearly recorded dialogue mixed with music and convincing sound effects.

The 1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Shatner has a slightly dark look, through the majority of the interview footage with Shatner himself, but the quality of the licensed and public domain clips is usually pretty good versus similar programs. The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix is mostly Shatner speaking and many of his older clips are monophonic, but the sound is not bad throughout considering.

- Nicholas Sheffo