Antiviral 4K (2012/Brandon Cronenberg/Severin 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray w/Blu-ray)/Impact (1949/MVD/VCI Blu-ray w/DVD)/Lady Of Vengeance (1956*)/New Adventures Of Tarzan (1935**)/Outpost In Malaya (1958/*both United Artists/MGM Blu-rays)/Triumph Of Sherlock Holmes (1935)/Silver Blaze (1937/**both Film Masters Blu-rays)

4K Ultra HD Picture: B+ Picture: B/B- & C/B-/C+/B-/C+ Sound: B/C+/B-/C/C+/C & C+ Extras: B/B-/D/D/D/D Films: B-/B-/B-/C+/B-/C+

Now for a variety of thrilelrs and mysteries covering nine decades of suspense...

Brandon Cronenberg's Antiviral 4K (2012) is a film that proved thew then-new director could direct effectively creepy and visually striking films with substance like his famous father and now, it is here in a nice upgrade and remaster whose timing could not be better. We reviewed the older Blu-ray edition at this link:

https://fulvuedrive-in.com/review/12301/Antiviral+(2012/Brandon+Cronenberg/IFC+Midnight/MP

Seeming more like science fiction and more distant in its initial release, things like popular weight loss drugs, advanced gene splicing, viral technology (like that used to stop COVID-19) and digital technology has made this more palpable and believable now. Sad that this film was ahead of its time in that way, but here it is and here we are. Severin has done a great job picking this up and reissuing such a solid upgrade with many more extras, but I also hope it helps Brandon Cronenberg get more recognition as a filmmaker in his own right. I again recommend this one.

Extras expand on the older Blu-ray release and repeats the sometimes silly Feature Length Audio Commentary With Writer/Director Brandon Cronenberg And Director Of Photography Karim Hussain from the older Blu-ray

• BROKEN TULIPS: Short Film Written And Directed By Brandon Cronenberg

• Anatomy Of A Virus: Making-Of Featurette from the older Blu-ray

• Reviving A Dead Cell: Brandon Cronenberg And Karim Hussain Discuss The Restoration

• Brandon Cronenberg: A First-Time Director's Vision

• Deleted Scenes With Optional Commentary By Brandon Cronenberg And Karim Hussain

• First Meeting with Actors Caleb Landry Jones And Sarah Gadon

• The Design Of ANTIVIRAL: Interview With Production Designer Arvinder Greywal

• Manufacturing Celebrity: EPK With Cast And Crew

• and an Original Theatrical Trailer.

Arthur Lubin's Impact (1949) stars Brian Donlevy as a very successful industrialist and inventor who thinks his life is great and loves his wife Irene (Helen Walker) who he takes care of, but little does he know she is seeing another man and has plotted with him to kill her husband. Pretending to be a distant cousin and hitching a ride with Walter (Donlevy,) the 'cousin' (Tony Barrett) puts a small hole in one of the car tires. When it gets flat and they stop, he intends to kill him and make it look like an accident.

That way, Irene can play the horrified widow, get all the money, house and benefits and they can live happily ever after without anyone knowing. However, it quickly goes very wrong and not only does Walter survive, but a series of unexpected madness follows. I'll quit there, but it is a great set of twists, sometimes darkly hilarious and on that, I highly recommend this Noir gem.

Lubin was later known for his comedy films and comedy and dramatic TV work, but he made thrilelrs early on in his career and this would be considered a return to form from the man who helmed the 1943 Phantom Of The Opera remake, Mysterious Crossing, Big Town Czar, Black Friday (1940,) and Meet The Wildcat. Good work. Charles Coburn, Anna May Wong, May Marsh and Jason Robards Sr. also star.

Extras include a feature length audio commentary track by film scholar Bernard M. Prokop, a Photo Gallery and a Poster Gallery.

Burt Balaban's Lady Of Vengeance (1956) stars Dennis O'Keefe (T-Men, Raw Deal) as a man whose young female ward decided to commit suicide in broad daylight near a British railway station, a shock to all who witness it. A publisher with a good reputation, he starts to look into it all and the more he does, the uglier it gets. One lead is a man (the great Anton Diffring) who seems to know more than he is saying or may know, while he gets so angry until then, he hires a killer to find the potential killer... if she was somehow pushed!

A decent, later British Noir, it has its moments and is well done, with some suspense, mystery and a pace that can still hold up well. The locales are a plus and Balaban (Murder, Inc. (1960)) helms this one well. Though not an all-time classic, a good effort all Noir fans will want to catch just the same. Patrick Barr, Ann Sears and a solid supporting cast also star.

There are sadly no extras.

The New Adventures Of Tarzan (1935) gets its own Blu-ray single after appearing on The Tarzan Vault Blu-ray set we reviewed a while ago at this link:

https://fulvuedrive-in.com/review/16169/The+Tarzan+Vault+(1918+-+1935/Film+Detective

With too many of the latest adaptions being forgettable and superfluous, these are at least interesting and ambitious, even if the results do not always pan out. Herman Blix plays him in all twelve chapters here after missing out on leading the highly successful MGM movie series, but this has its moments. I have more to say in the link above, but this is a convenient Blu-ray single if you do not want to get that whole set.

There are sadly no extras.

Ken Annakin's Outpost In Malaya (1958) is another underrated thriller at the end of the Noir era that is not quite a Noir, but has some elements of one as Claudette Colbert and Jack Hawkins run a rubber plantation that suddenly finds itself under attack in the British-controlled title locale, as bandits and armored political groups start attacking. Add that they have a child and their marriage is not in the best of shape and you can imagine how crazy things get when the attacks start piling up.

In all this, can they hold their land and live? By the latter half of the film as this all happens, it becomes very suspenseful and plays like an action film and better than most we have suffered through of late, intelligent, well written, thought out, filmed and consistently so. Colbert was still a big star and her career was far from over, really good here, especially in some scenes and ways you might not expect.

The sets are made well enough considering it was not done on a blockbuster budget and the cast is a big plus, also staring Anthony Steel, Jeremy Spencer, a young Peter Asher and uncredited turns by Patrick Westwood, Alfie Bass, Don Sharp and Victor Maddern. Its just that kind of movie with so much up and coming talent too.

Annakin is yet another one of the underrated journeyman filmmakers whose work includes Double Confession, Disney's The Sword & The Rose, Underworld Informers, The Biggest Bundle Of The All, Paper Tiger, Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies, the epic Battle Of The Bulge and parts of The Longest Day. There are plenty of prime moments here and that too is a reason to go out of your way to see this one.

There are sadly no extras.

Finally we have two older and too unseen Sherlock Holmes films that we are now looking at for the third time: The Triumph Of Sherlock Holmes (1935) and Silver Blaze (1937) and this is their second Blu-ray appearance. They previous appeared in slightly upgraded copies on the Sherlock Holmes Vault Blu-ray set here:

https://fulvuedrive-in.com/review/16051/The+Sherlock+Holmes+Vault+Collection+(1900+-+193

I still like them and think they are interesting, but to many fans have not seen them and are both worth a look. I have more to say in the link above, but this is a convenient Blu-ray single if you do not want to get that whole set.

There are sadly no extras here.

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 Antiviral 4K is the best the film has looked in all versions issued, including the somewhat softer presentation on the 1080p Blu-ray included here and the older, slightly yellower (intentionally) IFC Blu-ray we reviewed at the link above. It is as good as the film will ever look, making it more creepy and effective than ever. All three versions offer DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mixes and it is slightly better on the two new editions, as good as the film will ever sound. Its best they did not try to upgrade to DTS: X or Dolby Atmos. The combination, especially in 4K, is great.

The 1080p 1.33 X 1 black & white digital High Definition image transfer on Impact can show the age of the materials used, but this is far superior a transfer to all previous releases of the film I've seen on home video and TV, even with some softness and detail limits. The PCM 2.0 Mono is just older and can only sound so good for an independent production, but has been restored as well as can be expected. The 1.33 X 1 image on the DVD is anamorphically enhanced and windowboxed looking passable, but just here for convenience, with a lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono soundtrack. The combination can be trying at times, and not as good as the Blu-ray.

The 1080p 1.85 X 1 black & white digital High Definition image transfer on Lady Of Vengeance is listed as 1.33 X 1, its original aspect ratio, but is too cut off here and hurts all of the compositions despite the nice transfer. 1.66 X 1 should have been the widescreen limit, so even when this can look good, warm, clean, clear and with some depth and detail, it is foiled by too much cropping. Director of Photography Ian D. Struthers (The Girl In The Picture, Fire Maidens From Outer Space) did not compose the films framing that tightly.

Otherwise, this is well shot and edited and the DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono lossless mix sound so good, I doubt it will ever sound better.

The 1080p 1.33 X 1 black & white digital High Definition image transfer on Tarzan can certainly show the age of the materials used, the same transfer from the above noted box set. The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono lossless mix is as good as it can be, but the audio is still too rough and problematic, even after some remastering here. The combination is passable for now and we can only hope better elements are secured sometime down the line.

The 1080p 1.33 X 1 black & white digital High Definition image transfer on Outpost can sometimes show the age of the materials used, but this is far superior a transfer to all previous releases of the film and has some nice detail and depth, as well as warmth though a little more work would be nice. Director of Photography Geoffrey Unsworth, B.S.C., (The 300 Spartans, Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, Superman: The Movie, Zardoz, The Assassination Bureau, A Bridge Too Far) is one of the greats and you can see why you would want to see the film just based on his work here. Nice it has so much more to offer.

The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono lossless mix sounds good for its age, but it is only so clean, clear and dynamic, though better than the Tarzan or Sherlock Holmes entries. The combination is just fine, but a 4K edition would be interesting.

The 1080p 1.33 X 1 black & white digital High Definition image transfer on the two Sherlock Holmes films can certainly show the age of the materials used, the same transfers from the box set noted and linked above. The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono lossless mix sounds better and clearer on Silver Blaze than Trials, but the sources are only so good.

- Nicholas Sheffo