www.list.co.uk/film
sea"
(PG) 76min
(BFI DVD retail) ”.0 Disliked by its director and indifferently rrx;ervrxl both critically and commercially when first releasxxl in 1949, Otto Prerriinger's 1949 adaptation of Oscar Wilde's celebratrxl play lady Windermere 's Fan is long overdue for reappraisal. It's certainly not the definitive screen version of Wilde's typically Witty social comedy about 19th century London's upper crust, but then Preminger probably never Intended it to be,
DVD ROUND-UP
3 I
Operation Valkyrie ‘
given that he and his mnptwriters, Dorothy Parker among them, played fast and loose With the text, framing the Victorian setting wrth a post —war one and focusing on the melrxlrarriatics over the laughs.
The result is a stylish, sWift-moVing and, bearing in mind Preminger was a notorious tyrant, surprisingly sensitive film. And it boasts a great cast in Jeanne Crain, Madeleine Carroll and George Sanders, each of whom sketch their morally opposed characters in satisfying
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shades of grey. I xtras include Fred Paul's 191(3 silent version of Wilde's play ((35) minutes). an illustrated txmklet featuring film essays and biography and fully compressrxl I’CM mono audio. (Miles I ielder)
Two great documentaries, available for the first time on DVD, get co-opted into the advertising campaigns for big cinema releases Valkyrie and Milk (reviewed on pages 42 and 43 respectively) this fortnight. Rob Epstein's excellent Oscar winning 1984 documentary The Times of Harvey Milk (Drakes Avenue Pictures) 0000 tells you all you need to know the gay politician who became a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and, along with Mayor George Moscone. was assassinated by Supervisor Dan White in 1978. It also contains some remarkable testimonies. news items and extensive film archives, many of which Gus Van Sant ransacked for his
biopic. Jean-Pierre lsbouts' Operation Valkyrie (Anchor Bay) 000.
is an
interesting dissection of the Stauffenberg plot to kill Hitler which culminated in a failed assassination attempt on 20 July 1944 which utilises rare colour footage, recreated dramatisations, detailed CG reconstructions and exclusive interviews with leading historians. This DVD also contains a ton of extras including some newly remastered colour home movies shot by Hitler's
mistress.
Dominik Dunne: After the Party (Joiningthedots.tv) 000
isa
hagiograph of the renowned US journalist best known for his coverage of high profile celebrity trials including Claus von Bulow and OJ Simpson. Irvine Welsh's intermittently amusing directorial debut Good Arrows (W DVD)
OOO‘
. a mockumentary about a Welsh darts superstar sneaks out on DVD,
and if you want to know where Baz Luhrrnann stole all his best ideas for Australia from you should spend an afternoon with Henry Watts 1946 western The Overlanders (Optimum) 0000 .
Finally you can prepare yourself for Valentine's Day in one of two ways. Dan Zeff's Consuming Passions: 100 Years of Mills and Boon (2nd
Entertainment) ”u - .
intertwines three stories from the Mills and Boon
vaults to tell the history of this remarkable publishing house. It's conceptually dumb but quite fun. Your second option is to spend some time in a darkened room with Swedsh Erotica Collection 2 (Revelation) 0000 . the release of the first collection totally passed me by so it must now be time to spend time with these cult 19703 Swedish arthouse skin flicks starring Christina Lindberg with titles like More About the Language of Love and Love Play: That's How We Do It. Marnma Mia indeed. (Paul Dale)
52 THE LIST 8—22 Jan 2009
llllill l f I? VIOLENCE AT HIGH NOON (18) 99min
qume [)Vl) retail) O...
In his films from the lflfiiis Japanese filmrriaker Nagisu ()shima (In the Heal/rt ot the Senses, Merry (,‘lirist/ri.‘is Mr I awrenrse) often seemed to be putting his entire nation on the analysts (.( iucli In Violence at High Noon he analyses serial killing and failikt social collectives through the killing spree of l isuke (Kei Sato) the
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protagonist becomes increasingly secondary as ()shima focuses on the motives that may lie behind the unfolding events. Still loved by his Wife Matsuko (Akiko Koyama), and also lover Shino (Saeda Kawagushi), l isuke's troubles are unravelled through a series of flashbacks, all marked by a sense of frustration and compromise. Oshirria constantly wrong foots the Viewer with unannounced shifts in time and space, odd camera placement and theatrical distraction. Released here for the first time in the UK, Violence at High Noon is a film of enquiring freshness. Minimal extras. (Tony McKibbin)
HIS I CRY/Di MMA
THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE
(12) 124min
(Optimum DVD retail) 0...
First releasxxl in 1968, this superb critigue of the rx>intlessness of warfare was totally in tune with the ongoing horror of the conflict in Southeast Asia and the explosion of civil protest during that tumultuous year.
Directed by one of the great proponents of the New Wave of British cinema, Tony
THE CHARGE LIGHT BRIGADE
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Hicliari lsi in (A laste (it
ffi illi‘), NH) 1 till) Wrath}, of the l ong Distant ‘e Hun/tel, lone/enemy from a script tit) written by an uncredited .lohii Osborne. it's a lllilflf‘y irreverent, grimly humorous and
unflii ichingly gritt\ account of the infamous rriilitary blunder committed by the British at the Battle of Balaclava during the ()rimean War in 185.1 when. as iiriiriortalised in lennyson'sclassic poem, ti()() cavalrymen charged Russian canons head on and were subiect to wholesale slaughter. As ct)iitempoianrxiris as the film must have felt in the late l‘.)f'>()s, it also looks back in anger, ridiculing the l mpire and scandalising the Victorian class system. No extras. (Miles I ielder)
llllill l l H
OASIS OF FEAR (18) 90min
(Shamelss DVD retail)
Umberto l en/i's 19/1 cult thriller presents a hippy couple (Ray Lovelock and ()rnella Muti) who are apparently amoral and beyond any of the usual social constraints. but being outrrianoeuvrrxl on the anti social behaViour front by an ostensibly straight laced bourgeois Italian housewrfe (Irene Papas). Their freewheeling )aunt through Italy. financed by selling pornographic images of Muti's Winsome Aguarian chick is brought to an abrupt
mm M l‘apas' scheme ".i"ie their‘ after she triers her husband
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lot twig. with a m uple (if »v\°.'.i areries, l enjl iiflt‘Hlti'rf enough ti
kt‘t‘l‘ Illi‘ llltflti‘ttlh lot but leaves.
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one feeling m\t.tilied Still. theies some subtle axial satire on the way. .‘.llll the trend\ .ilterri.iti‘.e couple being iii-int ,nstrated as (list as materialistic as lflt‘ murdr ‘lt‘f‘v’. who fit nuts their) to .i riiglit of
ext en. Willi
Mai hiavellian pli its under her llt):i()ll.lfll\‘ lheiet» a mildly .lllltl?.lll() text
I omnientary as an extra, but little else (Steve (Iraniei)
(1( MI IN MI isit ‘Al THE RULING CLASS
(15) 154mm
I( )ptiiiiurri DVD retail) .0
()IiVier Award Winning dramatist l’eter Harnes' adaptation of his own acclaiiried play, directed for the screen in 19/? by Hungarian emigre l’eter Medak (Hie K/ays, let ll/ni Have ll), was riorriinated for the l’alme d'()r at (Lannes and secured another nomination at the Oscars for its lead, Peter 0' loole. However, looking back at this satirical attack on the British aristocracy which involves the accidental suicide of a irierriber of the House of l ords and his mad heir, it's hard to see What all the fuss was about. Despite sporting a great (xist of British character actors Alastair Sim, Arthur
I owe, Harry Andrews and Nigel Green (who corrirriitted suicide after the film wrapped) it's Just a ridiculous irritating romp With a single note of shrill hysteria that never rises above bad pantorriirrie. Minimal extras. (Miles Fielder)