It’s a world of rigor and solemnity, a world of devotion, isolation, and self-control. Most often shown within the stylish realm of studied gangsterdom, the cinematic province of Jean-Pierre Melville, realized in just 13 features, was generally consistent in tone, subject matter, and formal order. But it’s because this vision was so thoroughly entrenched in one prominent genre, that a film like When You Read This Letter (Quand tu liras cette lettre), Melville’s third, is regarded as such a discernible outlier. In any event, Melville himself dismissed When You Read This Letter as a mere commercial exercise, a means to the end of funding his own studio. And auteurist critics, just before establishing Melville as one of their pioneering exemplars, were also quick to sweep aside this purportedly blasé work of creative compromise. Contemptuous evaluations are unfortunate, for while When You Read This Letter does stand out from...
- 9/12/2018
- MUBI
This podcast focuses on Criterion’s Eclipse Series of DVDs. Hosts David Blakeslee and Trevor Berrett give an overview of each box and offer their perspectives on the unique treasures they find inside. In this episode, David and Trevor discuss Eclipse Series 27: Rafaello Matarazzo’s Runaway Melodramas.
About the films:
In the late 1940s and early 1950s, film critics, international festivalgoers, and other studious viewers were swept up by the tide of Italian neorealism. Meanwhile, mainstream Italian audiences were indulging in a different kind of cinema experience: the sensational, extravagant melodramas of director Raffaello Matarazzo. Though turning to neorealism for character types and settings, these haywire hits about splintered love affairs and broken homes, all starring mustachioed matinee idol Amedeo Nazzari and icon of feminine purity Yvonne Sanson, luxuriate in delirious plot twists and overheated religious symbolism. Four of them are collected here, chronicles of men and women on...
About the films:
In the late 1940s and early 1950s, film critics, international festivalgoers, and other studious viewers were swept up by the tide of Italian neorealism. Meanwhile, mainstream Italian audiences were indulging in a different kind of cinema experience: the sensational, extravagant melodramas of director Raffaello Matarazzo. Though turning to neorealism for character types and settings, these haywire hits about splintered love affairs and broken homes, all starring mustachioed matinee idol Amedeo Nazzari and icon of feminine purity Yvonne Sanson, luxuriate in delirious plot twists and overheated religious symbolism. Four of them are collected here, chronicles of men and women on...
- 2/1/2016
- by David Blakeslee
- CriterionCast
Stars: Lee Van Cleef, Giuliano Gemma, Walter Rilla, Christa Linder, Yvonne Sanson, Lukas Ammann, Andrea Bosic, Ennio Balbo, José Calvo, Giorgio Gargiullo | Written by Ernesto Gastaldi, Tonino Valerii, Renzo Genta | Directed by Tonino Valerii
When it comes to cult Italian movies we tend to know them for two things, horror and the Spaghetti Western. This is probably why Arrow Video looked to the western for one of their latest releases with Day of Anger. Starring Lee Van Cleef who had somewhat of a career comeback with the Italian westerns is it about time to take another look at this movie?
Scott Mary (Giuliano Gemma) is at the bottom of the social ladder in the perfect little town of Clifton. Bullied and made to do the jobs like cleaning out the toilets, picking up trash and sweeping the floors he dreams of a better life. When an ageing gunfighter Frank Talby...
When it comes to cult Italian movies we tend to know them for two things, horror and the Spaghetti Western. This is probably why Arrow Video looked to the western for one of their latest releases with Day of Anger. Starring Lee Van Cleef who had somewhat of a career comeback with the Italian westerns is it about time to take another look at this movie?
Scott Mary (Giuliano Gemma) is at the bottom of the social ladder in the perfect little town of Clifton. Bullied and made to do the jobs like cleaning out the toilets, picking up trash and sweeping the floors he dreams of a better life. When an ageing gunfighter Frank Talby...
- 4/16/2015
- by Paul Metcalf
- Nerdly
In the enduring, boundless shadow of Sergio Leone’s legacy, a deluge of neglected and forgotten Italian genre titles languish undeservedly, ready for rediscovery. Arrow Video has dusted off a masterful example long overdue, Tonino Valerii’s 1967 sophomore feature, Day of Anger (aka Gunlaw). Valerii worked as Leone’s assistant on A Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More before launching his own directorial career, re-fashioning the villainous energy of Lee Van Cleef in the actor’s effort to break out on his own. Scripted by Italian genre regular Ernesto Gastaldi (who worked with many masters of giallo film, including Mario Bava, and Sergio Martino), the overtly familiar narrative does little to hamper the enjoyable performances of Van Cleef and Giuliano Gemma, replete with several memorable action sequences and set pieces that assist in elevating the title to its deserved reputation.
Lowly street cleaner Scott Mary (Giuliano Gemma...
Lowly street cleaner Scott Mary (Giuliano Gemma...
- 4/7/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Directed by: Alberto Lattuada
Written by: Alberto Lattuada, Giorgio Proseri, Giordano Corsi
Cast: Renato Rascel, Yvonne Sanson, Biulio Stival, Ettore Mattia, Giulio Cali
I must admit, my knowledge of Italian cinema is limited to the works of Dario Argento and Mario Bava and the grindhouse classics of the '70s. So when Il Cappotto (The Overcoat) showed up for me to review, I was a bit hesitant about trying to critique a restored classic. But, according to the DVD cover, the film is a ghost story, so I figured I'd give it a shot.
Well, the jacket wasn't exactly telling the truth. A ghost does show up, but not until the final 10 minutes of the film. And using phrases like "retribution" and "wreaks havoc" in the plot summary implies much more than the movie delivers. The film is quite good, with stunning cinematography and solid performances, but it is not...
Written by: Alberto Lattuada, Giorgio Proseri, Giordano Corsi
Cast: Renato Rascel, Yvonne Sanson, Biulio Stival, Ettore Mattia, Giulio Cali
I must admit, my knowledge of Italian cinema is limited to the works of Dario Argento and Mario Bava and the grindhouse classics of the '70s. So when Il Cappotto (The Overcoat) showed up for me to review, I was a bit hesitant about trying to critique a restored classic. But, according to the DVD cover, the film is a ghost story, so I figured I'd give it a shot.
Well, the jacket wasn't exactly telling the truth. A ghost does show up, but not until the final 10 minutes of the film. And using phrases like "retribution" and "wreaks havoc" in the plot summary implies much more than the movie delivers. The film is quite good, with stunning cinematography and solid performances, but it is not...
- 3/9/2012
- by Chris McMillan
- Planet Fury
"It's easy to enjoy Raffaello Matarazzo's melodramas for the campy excess of their acting and story lines," blogs Dave Kehr, "but it's more productive to take them seriously, I think — to see how cleanly and elegantly Matarazzo presents this bezerko material, with a visual style that reminded Jacques Lourcelles of Lang, Dreyer and Mizoguchi, and how perfectly engineered his narratives are, with every outlandish episode incorporated into a serene, symmetrical structure. The new Matarazzo box set (my New York Times review is here) from Criterion's budget Eclipse line contains four of Matarazzo's seven films with the towering star couple Amedeo Nazzari and Yvonne Sanson (literally — Matarazzo's mise-en-scene somehow makes them seem larger, both physically and emotionally, than any of the other characters on the screen), all subtitled in English for the first time: Chains (1949) [image above], Tormento (1950), Nobody's Children (1952) and The White Angel (1955)."
"Though immensely popular, the films were dismissed by...
"Though immensely popular, the films were dismissed by...
- 6/30/2011
- MUBI
With this week’s New Release Tuesday now past, those of us obsessed with Criterion’s Eclipse Series of DVDs (as well as those who remain merely curious, just beginning their exploration) are able to latch on to what might be one of the oddest and most pleasurable old movie discoveries of 2011. I’m willing to bet that prior to the announcement earlier this year that something called Raffaello Matarazzo’s Runaway Melodramas would be among Criterion’s June offerings, few if any of us had one of Italy’s most commercially successful directors of the 1950s anywhere close to our wish list of hotly anticipated “must buy” DVDs.
I’ll admit that I was stumped when I first saw the news a few months back, and when I went to IMDb and Wikipedia to try and learn more about this newest addition to the Eclipse lineup, I didn’t...
I’ll admit that I was stumped when I first saw the news a few months back, and when I went to IMDb and Wikipedia to try and learn more about this newest addition to the Eclipse lineup, I didn’t...
- 6/22/2011
- by David Blakeslee
- CriterionCast
It always manages to amaze me how fast the months fly by, it seems like only yesterday we were announcing the May 2011 Criterion Collection titles, and here we are with June’s. This month continues Criterion’s recent trend of increasing the new titles selection, and bringing an amazing director to the Eclipse Series.
Let’s go through all of the new titles first this time. Earlier this year, Criterion released their “wacky new years” drawing, hinting at a couple of titles that we are finally getting to see made official this June. In that drawing we had an image of Marilyn Monroe with Albert Einstein’s head, hinting at Nicolas Roeg’s film, Insignificance. This will be released on DVD and Blu-ray on June 14. In that drawing, we also had the infamous glowing briefcase, hinting at Robert Aldrich’s Kiss Me Deadly (which also screened last year at the...
Let’s go through all of the new titles first this time. Earlier this year, Criterion released their “wacky new years” drawing, hinting at a couple of titles that we are finally getting to see made official this June. In that drawing we had an image of Marilyn Monroe with Albert Einstein’s head, hinting at Nicolas Roeg’s film, Insignificance. This will be released on DVD and Blu-ray on June 14. In that drawing, we also had the infamous glowing briefcase, hinting at Robert Aldrich’s Kiss Me Deadly (which also screened last year at the...
- 3/15/2011
- by Ryan Gallagher
- CriterionCast
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