Author Archives: chipkaufmann

I first saw JAVA HEAT at a local action movie festival back in May of 2013. I had never heard of it and went to see it to help support the festival and raise money for a local charity. I wasn’t expecting much as most of the movies in this festival had been no greatContinue reading “JAVA HEAT: Exotic Indonesian B Movie Kept Me Engaged”

This cinematic oddity from 1969 is actually interesting in many ways. It was one of the last movies to be filmed in Cinerama (a widescreen process similar to today’s IMAX) and one of the first to use stereo Surroundsound. It’s also a precursor to the many Irwin Allen disaster flicks of the 1970s such asContinue reading “KRAKATOA – EAST OF JAVA (1969): Krakatoa Is Actually West Of Java”

…but that’s highly unlikely at this point in time. Chances are this 2003 release from Kino won’t get an upgrade unless they decide to put it on Blu-Ray along with the other American Film Theatre titles which, like the original series, have no commercial potential. That’s really too bad for just like Shakespeare or anyContinue reading “AFT’s THE ICEMAN COMETH (1973): Superb Adaptation Could Use Some Subtitles…”

…even on DVD. There will never be a movie quite like CLEOPATRA again when you consider when it was made. While James Cameron has given us TITANIC and AVATAR which surpassed CLEOPATRA in expense and certainly in box office and Peter Jackson has mined the works of J.R.R. Tolkein with great success, CLEOPATRA was theContinue reading “CLEOPATRA (1964): Much Maligned Epic Shines Brightly After 50 Years”

Back in 1967 when this film was first released, critics jumped all over it as just a Richard Burton-Elizabeth Taylor vanity project which it was but that’s all they saw. Now that Dick and Liz have been supplanted by …insert celebrity couple here…the film is ripe for rediscovery and there is much to discover here.Continue reading “DOCTOR FAUSTUS (1967): Richard Burton’s Version Is Ripe For Rediscovery”

I first encountered this film upon its initial release in 1978. I’ve always admired Richard Burton (even in disasters like BLUEBEARD) and would go to see Lee Remick in anything. The two of them along with Franco-Italian actor Lino Ventura made for some pretty strange casting yet somehow it works. The major selling point isContinue reading “THE MEDUSA TOUCH: The Power Of A Destructive Mind”

I have been a fan of silent movies for many years and am happy to be living in a time where a renewed interest in silent films is growing every day. New titles are being discovered at a remarkable rate and festivals in the U.S. and Europe are drawing larger and more enthusiastic crowds. ThisContinue reading “KIDNAPPED (1917): A Moviegoing Experience From 100 Years Ago”

It has been a long time in coming but at last Josef von Sternberg’s three legendary silent masterpieces are coming to DVD and in a Criterion edition no less. I’m not quite sure how or why Paramount agreed to this but I’m certainly not complaining. As others have pointed out, DOCKS OF NEW YORK andContinue reading “JOSEF VON STERNBERG: 3 Legendary Silents”

WHY CHANGE YOU WIFE is the latest Cecil B. DeMille silent film to be released on DVD. It is the last of his marital trilogy and the second to be issued so far (DON”T CHANGE YOUR HUSBAND (1919) and OLD WIVES FOR NEW (1918) are the others). WIFE with Gloria Swanson and Thomas Meighan wasContinue reading “DeMILLE & de MILLE DOUBLE FEATURE”

Having recently watched and reviewed MISS LULU BETT and being impressed with the job done by William C. de Mille (1878-1955), I went back and revisited THE SECRET GAME from this 2001 collection as it is the only other readily available film from Cecil B’s older brother (Cecil was born in 1881 and died inContinue reading “WW I FILMS OF THE SILENT ERA: More From William C. de Mille”