Adventure
Calls! Karl May At CCC
(1964 - 1968/Eureka! Blu-ray Set*)/Angry
River
(1971/88 Films Blu-ray*)/G.
I. Samurai
(1979/Arrow Blu-ray*)/Robin
Hood: Prince Of Thieves 4K
(1991/Arrow Blu-ray*)/Running
Man 4K
(2025 remake/Paramount 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray w/Blu-ray)/Soldier
4K
(1998/Warner/Arrow 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray/*all MVD)
4K
Ultra HD Picture: B+/B/B+ Picture: B- (Shatterhand:
B)/B-/B-/X/B/X Sound: C+ (Shatterhand:
B-)/C+/B-/B-/B/B Extras: C+/C+/C+/B-/C-/B- Films:
C+/C+/C+/C+/C-/C+
Here's
a wild mix of all kinds off genre films, being bad even when they
cannot avoid it or don't care about...
Adventure
Calls! Karl May At CCC
(1964 - 1968) covers the studios' series of Karl May films they
insisted on making despite a rival studio doing a successful series
of adaptions of some of the same books and even same characters in
films that actually made it to the U.S. via Columbia Pictures,
including ones with Stuart Grainger. By the time CCC made theirs,
they had settled on the already active Shatterhand character (a
variant of the character Grainger played) in a series of films that
never made it to the U.S. and eventually included more than Westerns.
Producer
Artur
Brauner got some rights, Italian co-producers in a move that led to
Spaghetti Westerns being made changing cinema in their own way and
with former Tarzan Lex Barker on board to play Shatterhand,
delivered the big 70mm epic Old
Shatterhand
(1962) and the result was a critical and commercial success that most
in the U.S. still
have not seen.
Directed
by Hugo Fregonese, the story takes place as the 'peace treaty'
between Apache Indians (none of the actors look like them, but...)
and the U.S. Government, so in comes Shatterhand and can he help the
volatile situation? His friend Winnetou (Pierre Brice, who played
the character across a good few films) insists the Apaches want
piece, but we know it is not going to be that simple.
With
a cast of thousands that includes Daliah Lavi, Guy Madison, Gustavo
Rojo, Ralf Wolter, Rik Battaglia, Joe D'Amato, Nikola Popovic and
Bill Ramsey, this is at least a genre classic and a must-see for all
serious film fans. The remaining films in this set include:
Winnetou
and Shatterhand in Death Valley
(1968, directed by Harald Reini) has the duo (played again by Lex
Barker and Pierre Brice) trying to stole who stole a huge gold
shipment before it leads to war, joined by Karin Dor of You
Only Live Twice.
The
Shoot
(1964, aka The
Yellow One,
directed by Robert Siodmak) has the title character (Rik Battaglia)
running an Albanian-like country where terror rules and Kara Ben
Nemsi (Barker) and some friends of his decide to try and stop him.
Through
Wild Kurdistan
(1965, directed by Franz Josef Gottlieb) brings Barker's Nemsi back
to rescue the son of a sheik while helping another duo save a
kidnapped Asian lady.
In
The Kingdom Of The Silver Lion
(1965, directed by Gottlieb) is another Barker/Nemsi romp as Nemsi is
arrested and put into an ugly survivalists position as a priceless
treasure may hang in the balance.
Pyramid
Of The Sun God
(1965, directed by Siodmak) gives us Barker as Dr. Karl Sternau, who
knows where an extremely valuable treasure (again!) is located and
gets tortured for it, but fights back and has just begun to fight and
protect it. Jeff Corey shows up uncredited as Abraham Lincoln and
the soundtrack steals a bit from the actual Magnificent
Seven
theme. Hmmm.....
and
The
Treasure Of The Aztecs
(1965, directed by Siodmak) has Barker's Dr. Sternau stands by the
official Mexican President as a group of Australian nationalists
(!!!???!!!) occupy the country and intend to keep it and yes...
another priceless treasure! Corey is back as a credited Lincoln and
character actor Fausto Tozzi also shows up in the cast. You can see
how formulaic these were, though its fair to say these films
influenced some of what Lucas and Spielberg did on Raiders
Of The Lost Ark.
These
can look really good, but some old-styled costumes that look too much
like costumes, actors who are nto the ethnicity they are cast as and
some fake-looking set parts with fake visual effects age these, but
they are pre-Star
Wars,
so that is to be expected. Still, these are an underseen (and in the
states, pretty unseen) series of films worth revisiting for those
interested, but just expect the later films to only have aged so
well. Nice this set exists.
Extras
in this Limited Edition of 2,000 copies with a Limited Edition
Hardbound Slipcase include:
1080p
HD presentations of all seven features from 4K restorations of the
original camera negatives undertaken by CCC Film
New
introductions to each film by Sir Christopher Frayling, author of
Spaghetti
Westerns: Cowboys and Europeans from Karl May to Sergio Leone
New
audio commentaries on Old
Shatterhand
and The
Treasure of the Aztecs
by film historian David Kalat
Karl
May at CCC:
new interview with producer Alice Brauner, managing director of CCC
Film and daughter of CCC founder Artur Brauner
Prodigal
Son:
new interview with film historian Sheldon Hall on the late career of
Robert Siodmak
Archival
making of documentary on Old
Shatterhand
and Winnetou
and Shatterhand in the Valley of Death
Archival
featurette on Daliah Lavi, star of Old
Shatterhand
Archival
interview with Bernhard Schmid, co-editor and contributor to Karl
May Verlag
Archival
featurette on the restoration of The
Shoot,
Through
Wild Kurdistan
and In
the Kingdom of the Silver Lion
Archival
news footage on The
Shoot
Original
theatrical trailers
and
a Limited Edition 60-page collector's book featuring new writing on
Karl May on page and screen by German popular cinema experts Tim
Bergfelder and Holger Haase, a profile of Lex Barker by Boris
Brosowski and an essay on Old
Shatterhand and Winnetou.
Huang
Feng's The
Angry River
(1971) is a sometimes good, yet strange film and the first-ever for
the now-legendary Golden Harvest studios, the launch worked, even if
it is also part of a bizarre cycle of martial arts films that just
blatantly and carelessly recycled actual music from various James
Bond feature film soundtracks and not in a Kill
Bill
kind of way. The legendary Angela Mao plays a young woman trying to
help her wounded father, but those responsible for his poor condition
must pay and she will do what she has top do to see that happen.
It
works well as a Revenge Western and the actors are good here, the
fighting not bad thanks to a then-unknown Sammo Hung directing those
sequences, but any time you start taking it seriously, this On
Her Majesty's Secret Service
music score by John Barry keeps popping up, undermining the whole
thing. It also looks good, the new studio putting out the money for
better widescreen lenses (see more below) great costumes and even
beautiful production design. Too bad a new soundtrack minus that
music was not here to really bring out how much does work, but I can
only cover the film as is and 88 Films has done it as much justice as
possible.
Unfortunately
for Bond fans and continuity, the use and abuse of James Bond music
scores continued, almost its own unrecognized cycle some expert ought
to do a book about and if the nuttiness was not enough here, it would
really get bonkers after the 1974 James Bond cult classic The
Man With The Golden Gun
since it was Barry doing music for a martial arts Bond!
That
Bond actually bombed in theaters before becoming a big cult item and
remains the highest rated Bond ever shown on broadcast TV since so
many missed it in theaters, so the seemingly hundreds of films that
ripped off Barry's music afterwards may have thought they were
getting away with presenting it like it was their own. Wrong!
Golden
Gun
probably now holds the record for film whose actual music score was
recycled in other films. With that said, you have a new, unexpected
reason to sit through Angry
River,
even if it was one you were not expecting.
Extras
include a reproduction poster and slipcase, while the disc adds a
feature length audio commentary with Asian Cinema Expert Frank Djeng
Kosei
Saito's G.I
Samurai
(1979) comes from the same era as The
Final Countdown
(1980) where mixing genres was a newer thing. Here, Sonny Chiba
leads a military exercise that seems routine, until the whole group
lands up crossing into some kind of time slip to a feudal war 400
years ago and lands up fighting in it!
Of
course, it has to be a particularly special moment, which is either
fun or really pushing already difficult suspension of disbelief, but
cheers to Chiba, Saito and company for going for it. We get two cuts
of the film, both of which are fine, but like Final
Countdown,
it only goes so far for me. Still, this is an ambitious production
with Chiba mid-career showing off his star power and box office clout
and we do not see that kind of thing enough today anywhere, so it
gets a point for that too.
If
you are curious, you'll want to try this out, but if you are looking
to be spectacularly impressed, only set your hopes so high.
Extras
include
two optional viewing modes via seamless branching: the original
Japanese version or the uncut English-language version titled Time
Slip,
with lossless English mono audio
Brand
new audio commentary by Samm Deighan and Tom Mes
The
Good Fight,
an introduction by Japanese film specialist Mark Schilling
Acting
in Self Defence,
an appreciation by Matt Alt, author of Pure
Invention: How Japan's Pop Culture Conquered the World
Back
in Time,
a discussion of the film by authors and film critics Masaaki Nomura
and Tatsuya Masuto
Cast
and crew interviews from 2005 with Sonny Chiba, Isao Natsuyagi,
Hiromitsu Suzuki, Kamayatsu Monsieur, Jun Eto and Isao Kuraishi
Original
theatrical trailers
Image
gallery
Reversible
sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Ilan
Sheady
and
a collectors' booklet featuring new writing on the film by Josh
Slater-Williams.
Kevin
Reynolds'
Robin
Hood: Prince Of Thieves 4K
(1991) is a relic of the pre-9/11 era in its humor, attitude,
characters and a Hollywood that has faded more than anyone could have
imagined at the time. Kevin Costner was just coming off of the
massive success of his blockbuster Best Picture winner Dances
With Wolves
when he made this project his next film and it too was a hit. Some
thought he playing the title character was ridiculous and that he had
the most inaccurate accent in the film, though scholars countered
that it was closer to what was an accent at that time than the
current accents we had been hearing since the 1930s.
Joined
by Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as Maid Marian, Alan Rickman (Die
Hard,
Harry Potter) as the evil Sheriff of Nottingham, Christian Slater as
Will Scarlet, Brian Blessed as Lord Locksley, Michael McShane as
Friar Tuck, Nick Brimble as Little John and Morgan Freeman as friend
Azeem, it is also the last big hit film with the character and likely
because they did everything they could do with the characters here
and that was enough. Later versions were too flat or took it all too
seriously, versus maybe not seriously enough.
The
cast has some chemistry, the script and the high production values
make this richer than the many B-movies made on the character, as
good as some of those versions might have been. Some TV attempts are
still not bad either. However, there are a few moments that would
not fly today (I'll let you figure them out) and all that makes
seeing it again worth a look no matter what.
Extras
include a feature length audio commentary with director Kevin
Reynolds and actor Kevin Costner
Audio
commentary with actors Morgan Freeman and Christian Slater and
writers/producers Pen Densham and John Watson
Here
We Are Kings: Making Robin
Hood: Prince of Thieves,
a multi-part documentary featuring interviews with Densham, Watson,
director of photography Douglas Milsome, editor Peter Boyle, costume
designer John Bloomfield and many more members of the creative team
Robin
Hood: The Myth, the Man, the Movie,
an archival 1991 documentary hosted by Pierce Brosnan
One-on-One
with the Cast,
archival 1991 interviews with Costner, Freeman, Mary Elizabeth
Mastrantonio, Slater and Alan Rickman
Bryan
Adams' ''(Everything
I Do) I Do It for You''
performance at Slane Castle, Ireland
Music
soundtrack cues
Theatrical
trailer
TV
spots
Image
gallery
Reversible
sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Paul
Shipper
Collectors'
perfect-bound booklet featuring writing on the film by Jackson
Cooper and Mark Cunliffe
Double-sided
fold-out poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by
Paul Shipper
Double-sided
fold-out poster featuring newly commissioned artwork by Jose Saccone
and
six postcard-sized artcards.
Edgar
Wright used to be a somewhat cutting edge director who delivered
films that were at least fun, including Shaun
Of The Dead
(2004) with reunions that followed, Scott
Pilgrim Vs. The World
(2010,) the lucky-to-be-released early Baby
Driver
(2017) and his previous film, the underrated Last
Night In Soho
(2021) which should have led to something amazing. Instead, back in
2012, someone thought getting Colin Farrell and remaking the
Schwarzenegger hit Total
Recall
(1990) was a good idea. Great actor, but they forgot to write a
script (the runners are called 'runners' and Warner Bros. did not
call them out on it over Logan's
Run)
or do it with any energy.
Last
year, Wright was brought on to remake another Schwarzenegger hit, a
less successful one, getting genre actor and cartoon voice artist
Glen Powell to give us a new version of The
Running Man 4K
(2025) in which you would think Wright would not make any of the
wrong mistakes of the Total
Recall
remake/dud. Instead, it is a lame, bad, flat recycling with zero
ironic distance, lame action, zero to bad humor and a lead who seems
bored.
Now
that we are in an era of bad reality TV and equally horrid
competition TV shows that the original film saw sadly coming, yet was
better than, this thing wallows in it all, is yet another bad Stephen
King big screen adaption, Wright seems to be MIA here creatively and
does anyone involved actually like or get game shows in the first
place?
The
cast includes the likes of Josh Brolin, Sean Hayes, Lee Pace, Alex
Hoeffler, Colman Domingo, William H. Macy, Michael Cera, and the
ever-underrated Debi Mazar actually make for a decent support and
even they
cannot save this from itself, droning on and on and on and on and on
and on and on and on and on. The saddest thing is this had so much
potential, but its a wreck I wanted to like, that I hoped would be a
big surprise. Instead, all I could keep hearing was Richard Dawson
complaining about it and constantly pressing the famous 'wrong'
buzzer from Match
Game '75!
Extras
include a
feature length audio commentary with writer/director Edgar Wright,
lead actor Glen Powell, and writer Michael Bacall.
The
Hunters and the Hunted Documentary:
A featurette exploring the film's primary antagonists.
Surviving
the Game: Shooting ''The
Running Man'':
A behind-the-scenes look at the principal photography and stunts
and
Welcome
to ''The
Running Man'':
Designing the World:
A documentary focused on the production design of the film's
futuristic setting.
Paul
W.S. Anderson's Soldier
4K
(1998) came from a screenplay by David Webb Peoples that was
originally intended as a prequel or sequel to Scott's Blade
Runner
(1982) connecting to the Rutger Hauer character more than anything
else, dealing with dealign with killer replicants, artificially
produced, et al. Instead, we get a still-decent actioner with Kurt
Russell bulking up to play the title character, genetically
engineered to help his makers hold onto power, but they have a new
series of such killers manufactured and they intend to dispose of him
and all of his series of soldiers.
Surviving
their assassination, he vows revenge at all costs, which will pit him
against the next-generation fighter (the terrific Jason Scott Lee)
among other things. You can still imagine this connecting to that
other world, but it manages to be its own solid actioner and is Paul
W.S. Anderson's most underrated film. I was glad to see it get the
4K treatment because it always had the potential for a larger
audience than it got.
The
one is on the screen, action sequences nice and pacing more intense
than almost all we get today in the mostly garbage action films that
somehow keep getting greenlit and released. Another plus is the
supporting cast including Jason Isaacs, Sean Pertwee, Connie Nielsen,
Michael Chiklis, Paul Sklar and a still-then acting-capable Gary
Busey. It has a growing following and this new, expanded 4K release
can only help matters.
By
the way, there is one connection to the original Blade
Runner.
In one scene, if you look at a passing shot of a huge junkyard, as a
joke, you can see a wrecked version of the Spinner flying car
Harrison Ford's Dekker used in the 1982 film!
Extras
include an archival audio commentary by director Paul W.S. Anderson,
co-producer Jeremy Bolt and actor Jason Isaacs
Reporting
for Duty,
a brand new interview with actor James Black
Fire
in the Hole!,
a brand new interview with assistant director Dennis Maguire
On
the Front Lines,
a brand new interview with associate producer Fred Fontana
Designing
for the Future,
a brand new interview with production designer David L. Snyder
VFX
Before and After,
a brand new behind-the-scenes look at how the film’s special
effects were created with visual effects supervisor Craig Barron
Weapons
of Mass Creation,
interviews with visual effects supervisors Craig Barron and Van Ling
and miniature supervisor Michael Joyce
A
Soldier's Journey,
a brand new interview with Danny Stewart, author of Soldier:
From Script to Screen
We
Don't Need Another Hero,
a brand new retrospective on the film with film historian Heath
Holland
Archival
electronic press kit
On-set
interviews with cast and crew
Trailers
Reversible
sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Orlando
Arocena
and
a collectors' booklet featuring new writing on the film by film
critic Priscilla Page.
For
more on the Blade
Runner
films, try these links:
Blade
Runner 4K
https://fulvuedrive-in.com/review/15042/Blade+Runner:+The+Final+Cut+4K+(1982/Warner+4K
Blade
Runner 2049 4K
https://fulvuedrive-in.com/review/15125/Blade+Runner+2049+(2017/Warner+4K+Ultra+HD+Blu
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 Robin
Hood: Prince Of Thieves 4K
is a pretty decent version of the film, scanned from the original
35mm negative. With its naturalistic approach, including some
intentional softness, it is meant to look more like it is taking
place in the past and not yesterday like too many bad Robin Hood
productions before and after, having the added luxury of being shot
on both Kodak and Agfa 35mm color negative, giving it a unique and
more expansive look, so you get some interesting demo shots here and
there too. That is all thanks to Director of Photography Douglas
Milsome, B.S.C., whose films include Full
Metal Jacket,
The
Sunchaser
and the 1990 Desperate
Hours
remake does some of his most interesting work here.
The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix does its best to upgrade
the old analog Dolby Stereo sound, but it shows its age no matter
what, so expect some sonic limitations of the time. Otherwise, the
combination is solid.
The
2160p HEVC/H.265, 2.35 X 1, Dolby Vision/HDR (10; Ultra HD
Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition image on Running
Man 4K
(2025) is an odd one, with the too few regular shots looking really
good, but the plastering of digital work all over the place degrading
detail and depth over and over again, making those shots (in the
majority) no better than the
1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition Blu-ray and ultimately not as
good as the 1987 film. The
lossless Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 mixdown for older systems)
mixes on both discs are the same and have some good sonic moments,
but even those are few and far between, so only expect so much from
this one.
The
2160p HEVC/H.265, 2.35 X 1, Dolby Vision/HDR (10; Ultra HD
Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition image Soldier
4K is
easily the best I have seen the film since it opened in fine 35mm
film prints with great color, scope compositions and more. Any
digital work is not a joke, taken more seriously than most films
being made at the time, has some character and helps this hold up.
The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix also holds up better
than expected and is a competent, consistent mix, like the kind we
usually expect and get from all of Anderson's films.
The
1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image quality on all the
Adventure
Calls!
films (save Old
Shatterhand)
have been well restored with usually good color, but some shots are
faded or down a generation or two. These later CCC-produced films
were either shot with the somewhat underrated Ultrascope anamorphic
or starting in 1965, Technicolor's Techniscope format, which had less
definition, but not as much visual distortion since it is using
regular lenses and only 2-perforations a frame. Never issued in the
U.S., the Techniscope films all had dye-transfer, three-strip
Technicolor prints issued, while all were apparently shot on Eastman
Color Kodak 35mm negative and not necessarily got the same higher
quality treatment.
The
1080p 2.20 X 1 digital High Definition image on Old
Shatterhand
is another matter, since it was shot on Kodak 65mm color negative and
used the German MCS
(aka Modern Cinema Systems) 70 Super Panorama format that Kubrick
actually added (uncredited) to making 2001:
A Space Odyssey
to the Super Panavision 70 and Todd AO 70mm formats in getting the
film done. He apparently liked its look and the camera's stability
as do I and seeing an entire big epic film shot this way is a real
treat, even exceeding the parts that would otherwise be less
watchable or memorable. Color, detail, depth and definition are
easily the best of the seven films and the highlight of the set, even
if some shots (recycled from other films?) may have used the inferior
CinemaScope format.
All
the films here are presented in German PCM 2.0 Mono, though Old
Shatterhand
had a six-track magnetic stereo presentation that is sadly missing
here. Versus several other sets and other German releases we have
covered lately, the sound is much better, showing its age in a way
you would expect more versus how brittle and limited too many German
films on disc we have reviewed lately turned out to be. Maybe
they'll find the Old
Shatterhand
soundmaster around the time they might do the film on a 4K disc, but
this is still all fine for this set overall.
The
1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Angry
River
can
sometimes show the age of the materials used, but the Eastman Color
is decent and the film used anamorphic Dyaliscope lenses that had
their limits and distortions, yet were better than the unnamed
anamorphics so many Hong Kong and Japanese films were using at the
time. A big deal at the time, these lenses were an improvement over
the old CinemaScope system and used on several Francois Truffaut
films and other classics like Resnais' Last
Year At Marienbad
(1961,) but also found use on many B-movies including a few Hercules
films and even a Tarzan film from MGM. If nothing else, that alone
makes it one of the best looking films in its genre at the time.
The
Mandarin PCM 2.0 Mono sound really shows its age, with even the
sampled Bond music not only monophonic, but often distorted and even
warped. We will never see or expect to hear the soundtrack upgraded
with new stereo transfers of the Bond soundtrack music.
The
1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on G.I
Samurai
can also
sometimes show the age of the materials used in both cuts, including
some softness that seems to be part of how it was shot, but the film
was originally shot in 1.85 X 1, so it being scope here is odd for
whatever reasons. The
Japanese DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) lossless mixes include a 5.1 mix,
2.0 simple stereo mix and a surprise 4.0 mix that is not bad for its
age or time, likely from a 4-track magnetic soundmaster intended for
select 35mm print releases that may have been only recently
recovered. However you watch the film, the options are fine for fans
and the curious.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
