Alaskans:
The Complete Series (1959
- 1960/Warner Archive Blu-ray Set)/Beyond
Terror (1980/Cauldron
Blu-ray*)/Chronicles Of
Riddick 4K
(2004/Universal/Arrow 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray set + Blu-ray Set*)/Top
Line (1988 aka Alien
Predator/Cauldron
Blu-ray/*all MVD)
4K
Ultra HD Picture: B Picture: B (Riddick 1080p: B-)
Sound: B-/B-/B/B- Extras: D/C+/C+/C+ Main Programs:
C+/C+/C-/C+
PLEASE
NOTE:
The
Alaskans
Blu-ray set is now only available from Warner Bros. through their
Warner Archive series and can be ordered from the link below.
Here's
a new block of cult action releases upgraded, restored and
reissued....
The
Alaskans: The Complete Series
(1959 - 1960) was the second TV show Roger Moore had the lead in
(despite the plural title) after a decent-but-short run on British TV
in Ivanhoe,
which only lasted so long as this show had, but Hollywood and its
U.K. counterpart knew Moore could be a big star. MGM gave him key
turns in films with Elizabeth Taylor and Lana Turner, while Warner
took him on here.
Moore
plays Silky Harris, joined by buddy Reno McKee (Jeff York) trying to
see who they can cheat out of the gold boom going on all over the
place in the Yukon, with tough showgal Rocky Shaw (Dorothy Provine,
really good here) in some interesting casting that leads to some good
moments here and there. Each tale is about 53 minutes long and all
is professionally handled, but it is nothing to outstanding despite
trying to be a bit different from the Westerns all over TV at the
time.
Dating
it more than its mono sound or for some, the black and white filming,
is easily the bad 'Hollywood Indian' appearances by bad actors and
stuntmen who look about as Native American as a Martian. What also
makes this a curio are some of the guest cast including John Dehner,
Frank DeKova, Frank Ferguson, Ruta Lee, Claude Akins, Paul Wexler,
Richard Collier, Jesse White, Lee Patterson, Richard Webb, Milton
Parsons, Ned Glass, Julie Adams, Mary Windsor, Ray Teal, Lee Van
Cleef, Alan Hale Jr., Pippa Scott, Dick Sargent, Efrem Zimbalist Jr.,
Madlyn Rhue, Warren Stevens, Leo Gordon, Harry Strang, Werner
Klemperer, Diane McBain, Frank Cady, Gerald Mohr, Troy Donahue,
Harold J. Stone, Lee Bergere, Bart Braverman, Jerry Paris, Robert
Lowery, Arthur Franz, Leonard Strong, Ted White and Simon Oakland.
The
bigger a fan of old movies and TV you are, the more you get out of
it. Moore stayed at Warner a bit longer to play Brett maverick's
cousin Beau during a contract dispute on the original Maverick
series, but he was soon Simon Templar on the huge international hit
series The
Saint
for the rest of the 1960s, then became James Bond and the rest is
history. Still, it is interesting to see him and so many others
before they hit it big or just continued to have long careers. Nice
the show has been restored and reissued in such a great set.
There
are sadly no extras.
Tomas
Aznar's Beyond
Terror
(1980) starts as a rather violent film about a gang of thieves on
bikes (even part of a cycle of such post-Easy
Rider/counterculture
films that would include Verhoeven's Spetters)
that can be shocking even by today's standards and it is enough so to
be an exploitation film. Then it takes a late twist to be a
supernatural film and that works to some extent, reenforcing that
this is more of a product of the 1970s and late 1970s than anything
else. The actors are also not bad, but it also wants to provoke the
audience sexually.
That
it is as organized a film as it is for taking on B-movie material on
a unrated level is somewhat impressive, but it also means the film
has uneven results and some parts work better than others. As is the
case with most such low budget films, that also works against it in
some parts, but not others where it just plays out naturalistically
resulting in a more effective, believable film in those moments.
Cheers
to the cast of mostly unknowns doing a good job and going all in on
their work here. Some actors would not feel comfortable doing some
of this, but they meld better together than many larger-budget films
I have suffered through recently with name actors. Also, versus the
four films on the recent Severin Danza
Macabra Volume Three
Blu-ray set with four outright gothic horror films, this was as good
as any of them.
Thus,
all serious film fans should consider seeing this one once if it is
their kind of filmmaking. Films from Spain do not always get seen,
seen as much as they should or restored like this one. It was never
officially released in the U.S. market, something great labels like
Cauldron keep correcting and it is a great thing happening at this
time in film history that is not being celebrated enough. Beyond
Terror
is no longer beyond viewer's abilities to catch!
Extras
include a reversible cover, while the disc adds a solid feature
length audio commentary track by Kat Ellinger who is really going
deep into genre on these films that are under-studied in a good way
and an Image Gallery.
David
Twohy's The
Chronicles Of Riddick 4K
(2004) is the second of what is about to become four films with Vin
Diesel (taking a break form the overkill, auto-pilot, money machine
of Fast
& Furious)
and we have covered the first two films a few times starting with
these older Blu-ray releases at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/8358/Pitch+Black+++The+Chronicles+of+Riddick+(Univer
As
I said in
my earliest coverage...
''Now
escaped, Riddick (Diesel) continues to dodge ruthless bounty hunters
and finding himself in the middle of some kind of civil war, which
could alter or destroy the human race as they know it. Will he use
his talents to help or is the situation beyond him? The idea is that
his character is very able-bodied and if he helps anyone, it will not
be under simple circumstances because of the dangerous killer he is.
However, writer/director David Twohy's screenplay is shockingly silly
and juvenile versus the original film and previous work Twohy has
done.''
That
was also from the Director's Cut then, but in retrospect, it was also
Diesel killing his chance to be a multi-billion dollar action star to
this day and not just a face of an endless, tired car franchise.
Fans will be happy with this set, but it is overkill for the rest of
us.
Extras
are many and (per the press release) include 4K ULTRA HD LIMITED
EDITION CONTENTS
Illustrated
collectors' booklet featuring new writing on the film by Walter
Chaw, original production notes and the 'Chronicles Compendium', an
overview of the characters and planets featured in the film
DISC
ONE
Ambition
on Another Scale: Chronicling a Blockbuster Sequel, a brand-new
feature-length documentary on the film, featuring interviews with
writer-director David Twohy, actors Keith David and Linus Roache,
storyboard artist Brian Murray, concept artist Matt Codd, miniature
effects artist Ian Hunter and digital matte artist Dylan Cole
DISC
TWO
On-set
interviews with Twohy, Diesel, Dench, Urban, Colm Feore, Alexa
Davelos, Thandiwe Newton and producer Scott Kroopf
Promotional
interviews with Twohy, Diesel, Newton, Urban, Davelos and Feore
DISC
THREE (LIMITED EDITION EXCLUSIVE)
The
regular Blu-ray set has the same extras minus the 4K parts and with
the Limited Edition goodies while supplies last.
Nello
Rosatti's Top
Line
(1988 aka Alien
Predator)
has a later lead role by Franco Nero, who is still working in movies
now, long after going from solid supporting work into the 1960s to
becoming a leading man by the end of that decade. By the time he
made this film, he was still doing lead roles, as well as TV and key
supporting work in other films. As you can tell from the alternate
title, this winds up a sci-fi/horror film after many parts of action,
mystery, suspense and even comedy. The problem is it gets sloppy a
little, it throws in too much we've already seen, can be derivative
and the ending is a little odd.
However,
Nero is still able to carry the film, even as his character has a
knack for losing clothing more than once in the beginning of several
chase scenes. Though credited as 'Deborah Barrymore' and not to be
confused with Drew, it is really Roger Moore's daughter Deborah Moore
who more than holds her own here, in one of the best parts of the
film. George Kennedy shows up with a barely believable accent and is
not in the film enough, but there are plenty of fights and the like.
The limited budget shows in the visual effects, but it is well shot.
No
masterwork of genre cinema, it is still an interesting curio, nicely
restored and those interested will want to see it.
Extras
include a reversible cover with alternative are, while
the disc adds Black
Top!
An Interview with Franco Nero
The
Strange Case of Ted Archer: An interview with Eugenio Ercolani
Alien
Terminated: The Alien theories of Top Line by
parapolitics researcher Robert Skvarla
In
depth audio commentary by film historian Eric Zaldivar including
audio interviews from cast members, Deborah Moore and Robert
Redcross, with additional insight on Italian cult films with actors
Brett Halsey and Richard Harrison.
Now
for playback performance. The 2160p HEVC/H.265, 2.35 X 1, Dolby
Vision/HDR (10; Ultra HD Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition
image on Riddick
4K
was shot on 35mm photochemical Eastman Kodak negative film in the
Super 35 format with a ton of older CGI digital visual effects that
were NOT 4K, so they got very creative in this transfer where the
filmed sequences would be 4K easily, but they had to tweak the weaker
digital work. This is as good as the film will ever look, which only
says is much since I was never impressed with its look and thought it
was not quite as good as Pitch
Black.
However, this is still better than the 1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High
Definition image on the new Blu-ray, which improves on the other
previous releases.
The
sound on both sets and cuts have been upgraded to lossless Dolby
Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 mixdown for older systems) for the Theatrical
Cut and it opens up the original 5.1 soundmaster (here
in a DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix on both sets
and versions) but does not outdo it as is the case in many such
upgrades of later digital surround films. You can now hear and
choose for yourself.
The
1080p 1.33 X 1 black & white digital High Definition image
transfers on all The Alaskan episodes hardly show the age of
the materials used, as the original 35mm camera negatives (et al)
have been preserved really well and apparently are 4K scans. The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono
lossless mix are more aged and sometimes limited, but the shows sound
as good as they ever will, so you'll really be able to appreciate the
series in ways no one but those who saw film prints before can.
The
1080p 1.66 X 1 digital High Definition image transfers on both
Beyond
Terror
(from a new 4K scan) and Top
Line
(from a new 2K scan) can
show the age of the materials used in parts with some lightness, a
little more active grain and very minor flaws, but color is really
good in both cases, as is detail and depth considering the limited
budgets and how they may have been stored. Terror
has a lossless Spanish 2.0 Mono, while Top
Line
has a DTS-HD
MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono lossless mix, both sounding as good as
they ever will.
To
order The
Alaskans: The Complete Series
Warner Archive Blu-ray set, go to this link for it and many more
great web-exclusive
releases at:
https://www.amazon.com/stores/page/ED270804-095F-449B-9B69-6CEE46A0B2BF?ingress=0&visitId=6171710b-08c8-4829-803d-d8b922581c55&tag=blurayforum-20
-
Nicholas Sheffo
