Eyck, Peter Van

Sailor of the King

Based on the WWI adventure novel Brown on Resolution by C.S. Forester, Sailor of the King is an enjoyable British-made war drama buoyed by its energetic star, Jeffrey Hunter, and an exciting and suspenseful premise. The picture opens on a slow note with British Navy captain Michael Rennie ending a tryst with English girl Wendy Hiller; years later, the product of that union is British-Canadian sailor Jeffrey Hunter, whose ship is dispatched to intercept a powerful German warship by now-Admiral Rennie. The ensuing fight sinks Hunter's ship and damages the German boat, but Hunter evades capture and hunkers down on the island where the Nazi captain (Peter Van Eyck) has docked for repairs; there he wages a one-man assault against the ship using only a rifle and his own skills. Roy Boulting's direction is crisp and assured, and the cast, especially the underappreciated Hunter (in his first leading role), is uniformly fine, which should make Sailor of the King a worthwhile discovery for WWII action fans. The DVD includes two endings--the original British release, which adds to the Rennie-Hiller relationship, and the pat American conclusion. -- Paul Gaita

A British naval officer has a brief affair with a woman in England and never knows that she bears him a son. 20 years later the boy is on a ship under his command when he is tracking a German Raider. When the boy is captured after his ship is sunk he finds a way to slow the German's progress while a lethal hunt for him goes on.System Requirements:Run Time: 83 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: NR UPC: 024543432951 Manufacturer No: 2243295

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

John le Carre's classic spy yarn gets a suitably brisk, unromanticized telling in this quintessential Cold War movie. A British agent (Richard Burton) sets up an elaborate cover story for being lured into defecting to the Communists, but he hardly needs to manufacture his disgust and cynicism over spying. The grim business of point-counterpoint espionage has rarely been depicted with less glamour; Burton's great climactic speech on the subject is the definitive take on sinking to the level of the enemy. Claire Bloom is an offbeat love interest, and a bearded Oskar Werner is an East German investigator on Burton's case (the pecking order in the Communist spy hierarchy is a source of black humor). Director Martin Ritt extends his unvarnished approach to the movie's stripped-down look, which means that Richard Burton is constantly in a harsh, unflattering light. He looks terrible, but it's in the service of a fine performance. --Robert Horton

The Bridge at Remagen

Fine casting, rugged characters, and authentic military detail make The Bridge at Remagen one of the best World War II action films of the 1960s. Based on actual incidents during the final Allied advance on Germany in March 1945, the story focuses on the U.S. Army's exhausted 27th Armored Infantry, assigned to seize the bridge at Remagen, on the Rhine River, to prevent 50,000 German troops from retreating to safety. Lieutenant Hartman (George Segal) leads the mission, while a Nazi major (Robert Vaughan) defies orders by attempting to hold the bridge instead of blowing it up. With strong emphasis on war's harsher realities, the film features compelling characters who illustrate the camaraderie of survivors and the heroism of mavericks in the thick of battle. Segal and Ben Gazzara effectively convey a hard-won friendship, and the film's dynamic action (filmed in Czechoslovakia and Italy) never overwhelms the story's emotional impact. Highly recommended. --Jeff Shannon

An all-star castincluding George Segal, Robert Vaughn, Ben Gazzara and E.G. Marshallbrings all the glory and agony of war to stunning life in this intense and exhilarating, but uniquely human, look at a struggle widely regarded as the most strategic coup of World War II. "Excellent special effects, spectacular photography and fine action sequences" (Motion Picture Exhibitor) put you on the front lines of the battle and with the courageous soldiers who fought it. 1945: The Allies are making their final advance into German territory, and only one strategic bridge on the Rhine River remains in Nazi hands. Both sides have much to gain: the Germans, the lives of 50,000 soldiers stationed on the wrong side of the bridge; and the Allies, a quicker end to the war with fewer lives lost. Though both armies would fight valiantly, only one could win the heart-rending battle for The Bridge at Remagen.

Attack

There's dissension in the ranks during the Battle of the Bulge! Oscar® winner* Jack Palance and Oscar® nominee** Eddie Albert star in this "tightly directed" (Leonard Maltin) and "gritty film [that] packs a wallop" (Blockbuster Entertainment Guide). "Prepare to take a tight grip on the arms of your seat" (Los Angeles Times) the power of Attack! will rattle you!When Lieutenant Joe Costa (Palance) learns that his men died because the commander Captain Cooney (Albert) was too much of a coward to join the fight Costa issues a serious warning: Don't let it happen again! But Cooney's cowardice forces Costa into a fateful choice: continue to risk the lives of his men or take the life of the captain!*1991: Supporting Actor City Slickers**1972: Supporting Actor The Heartbreak Kid; 1953: Supporting Actor Roman HolidaySystem Requirements:Running Time: 108 Min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE Rating: NR UPC: 027616885753 Manufacturer No: 1004524

Shalako

Saddle up for a raucous and robust western adventure (Variety) that packs strong action (Film & TV Daily) and the crackling chemistry of screen icons Sean Connery and Brigitte Bardot! Based on the novel by Louis L Amour Shalako is a handsome (Variety) rousing western (Motion Picture Herald) that delivers nonstop thrills with both barrels blazing!Gutsy gun-slinging Shalako (Connery) is a loner who looks out for number one until he finds himself rescuing and falling for a beautiful countess (Bardot) under attack by Apache Indians. But when Shalako discovers that the countess is part of a European hunting party that refuses to be led to safety he must summon all his courage to fight the Apache and save the woman he loves or die trying!System Requirements: Running Time 113 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: WESTERN/MISC. Rating: PG UPC: 027616905796 Manufacturer No: M102769

The Wages of Fear - Criterion Collection

Henri-Georges Clouzot's gripping 1953 thriller throws four men into a primal struggle against the jungle armed with modern machinery and their own nerves and endurance. The squalid, isolated South American town of Las Piedras is a veritable refuge turned prison for criminals from all over the world. When an oil fire ignites 300 miles away, dozens of desperate volunteers apply for the dangerous job of driving highly volatile nitroglycerin across rugged jungle roads--for a $2,000 payday. The bulk of the film charts the slow, grueling trek over bumpy, pothole-dotted dirt roads and worse. A dangerous cutback forces the trucks to back over a rotting wooden platform built over a cliff, a boulder in the road must be blasted away, and a river of oil (gushing from a broken pipeline) must be forded--all with one ton of explosive nitro resting in the back of each truck. The ordeal forges a tough-guy trust between German Bimba (Peter Van Eyck) and Italian Luigi (Folco Lulli) but tears apart Frenchmen Mario (Yves Montand) and Jo (Charles Vanel). Former gangland hotshot Jo finds his once-fearless exterior cracked, while Mario discovers in himself a new grit and tenacity. Clouzot's stark, simple imagery and painstaking attention to detail create a riveting tension that never lets up, intensified by the ruthless drive of Mario, who proves he will do anything--anything--to get his truck through. William Freidkin remade the film in 1977 as the stylish Sorcerer. --Sean Axmaker

In the squalid, impoverished South American town of Las Piedras, desperate men and women from all over the world scrape out a living and dream of escape, under the watchful eye of the ruling Southern Oil Company.

Heidi

The Complete Mr. Arkadin (aka Confidential Report) - Criterion Collection

Something of a remake of Citizen Kane, Orson Welles's 1955 Mr. Arkadin is a knowing and self-reflective variation on one of Welles's pet themes: the search for a defining secret of a powerful man. Welles plays an important financier who tries to discover his own past by hiring a man (Robert Arden) to research it. Did the seemingly haunted Arkadin simply forget who he is or where he's been? Or is he seeking his own Rosebud--a crucial, lost thing from his life that can serve (if identified) as a mythic key to former happiness? The film, a European coproduction, was made under the typically difficult and extended conditions Welles had to navigate after leaving Hollywood, and the bumpiness shows. But the entire project is really an act of Wellesian deconstruction--it's Welles making a film about the kind of film Orson Welles previously made--and that approach is more electrifying than one might imagine. The editing in this film, for instance, is not quite like in any of Welles's other works, with bursts of linear action literally disappearing between frames, as if the fabric of reality itself was vanishing. As far as the titan Arkadin is concerned, it might as well be. --Tom Keogh

Will the "real" Mr. Arkadin please stand up? Probably not. However, thanks to the folks at the Criterion Collection, we may now have a version of Mr. Arkadin that is as close as it's going to get to Orson Welles's original vision. Part Citizen Kane, part The Third Man, Mr. Arkadin is another Wellesian Post-War Noir tale about the unraveling of the defining secret of a powerful and wealthy tycoon. Welles plays the ruthless financier Mr. Arkadin who hires small time smuggler Guy Van Stratten (Robert Arden) to investigate the amnesiac Arkadin's lost past and create a confidential report of his findings. Did the mysterious and elusive Mr. Arkadin simply want his criminal past uncovered? Or is his motive to erase a key missing piece of his past? As many fans know, the story of Mr. Arkadin's post-production and ascertaining which of the many versions is the most "Wellesian" is almost as mysterious as Guy Van Stratten's search for Gregory Arkadin's identity. Since the film is unfinished it does have an incomplete feel to it. For instance, it is very choppy with a few awkward jump cuts, there are lots of annoying overdubs that are not cleanly matched, the supporting cast is fairly weak and some scenes clearly needed to be reshot. However, the gems of the films are so precious, such as Welles's picturesque shots, unique camera angles, flashback story telling, and intricate plot, it's easy to overlook the shortcomings and classify Mr. Arkadin as essential Orson Welles.

Mr. Arkadin may have been written, directed and starred Orson Welles, but it sure wasn't edited by him. So the story goes, since it took Welles too long to complete the editing process, producer Louis Dolivet banned him from the editing room and never allowed Orson to get the final cut. Welles, who was known to say "All of the eloquence of my film is created in the editing room" disowned the film claiming it was the most butchered of all his works. There were many cuts made of the Mr. Arkadin film stock over the years, none of which are considered "definitive", all of which contain pieces to the overall puzzle. Fueled by their passion for film, along comes the Criterion Collection. Their mission, to take all the pieces of Mr. Arkadin's troubled past (the best available versions of the films, documented timelines, a reprinted version of the novel, scholarly documentaries and feature length commentaries), compile it and present it to fans in one incredibly comprehensive set letting them decide which is the real Arkadin. The Complete Mr. Arkadin (A.K.A. Confidential Report) includes digitally restored transfers of the two well known versions of the film (the flashback "Corinth" (99 minutes) version and the notorious linear "Confidential Report" (98 minutes)). In addition, there is a newly edited "comprehensive" version (105 minutes) pieced together by top Welles scholars who have an intimate understanding of his style, his creative direction, and thought process in the editing room. This new "comprehensive" version is the crown jewel of the set and without a doubt the best version of Mr. Arkadin ever released. While no one will ever know what Welles intended, you can't help but feel this comprehensive version has got to be pretty darn close. Inevitably, purists may feel this is another instance of someone mucking with Welles's film stock, but in all honesty, the end result is stunning. So who is the real Mr. Arkadin? No one may ever know, but with the help of this set you have all you need to piece together the puzzle and draw your own conclusion. Enjoy. --Rob Bracco

American smuggler Guy van Stratten decides to investigate the mysterious Mr. Arkadin (Orson Welles) after hearing about the wealthy man from a prison cellmate. Van Stratten befriends Arkadin's daughter Raina but Arkadin himself claims amnesia about his own life sending van Stratten off to investigate his past. The search spans many countries and characters but the real purpose of the mission is not what it seems. Orson Welles's elusive film presented in three different versions.System Requirements:Running Time 105 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE/THRILLERS Rating: NR UPC: 037429207727 Manufacturer No: ARK010

The Wages of Fear - Criterion Collection

Henri-Georges Clouzot's gripping 1953 thriller throws four men into a primal struggle against the jungle armed with modern machinery and their own nerves and endurance. The squalid, isolated South American town of Las Piedras is a veritable refuge turned prison for criminals from all over the world. When an oil fire ignites 300 miles away, dozens of desperate volunteers apply for the dangerous job of driving highly volatile nitroglycerin across rugged jungle roads--for a $2,000 payday. The bulk of the film charts the slow, grueling trek over bumpy, pothole-dotted dirt roads and worse. A dangerous cutback forces the trucks to back over a rotting wooden platform built over a cliff, a boulder in the road must be blasted away, and a river of oil (gushing from a broken pipeline) must be forded--all with one ton of explosive nitro resting in the back of each truck. The ordeal forges a tough-guy trust between German Bimba (Peter Van Eyck) and Italian Luigi (Folco Lulli) but tears apart Frenchmen Mario (Yves Montand) and Jo (Charles Vanel). Former gangland hotshot Jo finds his once-fearless exterior cracked, while Mario discovers in himself a new grit and tenacity. Clouzot's stark, simple imagery and painstaking attention to detail create a riveting tension that never lets up, intensified by the ruthless drive of Mario, who proves he will do anything--anything--to get his truck through. William Freidkin remade the film in 1977 as the stylish Sorcerer. --Sean Axmaker

One of the most nerve-wracking and exciting films ever made, Henri-Georges Clouzot's masterpiece won the Grand Prize at the 1953 Cannes Film Festival. An American oil company enlists four tough drifters for a high-paying suicide mission-transporting explosives across the rough terrain of Central America. Criterion is proud to present Wages of Fear in its original 148-minute version.

The 1,000 Eyes of Dr. Mabuse

Fritz Lang's all-but-unseen final film, a low-budget German thriller that resurrects (sort of) his legendary underworld genius Dr. Mabuse, is a flashback to Lang's early days of criminal conspiracies and wild, fast-paced adventures. A relentless police inspector (Gert Goldfinger Fröbe) targets the Nazi-built Hotel Luxor as the central connection in over a dozen murders and camps out in the lobby. Upstairs an American industrialist (played by the very German Peter Van Eyck) rescues a suicidal woman (Dawn Addams) from the ledge and falls in love, while in the basement a mysterious, club-footed character watches everything on an elaborate closed-circuit surveillance system. Rounding out the cast of shady characters are a jovial but nosy insurance salesman, a creepy blind psychic, and a particularly menacing Howard Vernon as an icy assassin with a silent rifle. The complicated, at times confusing plot is secondary to the web of blackmail, murder, secret identities, and incessant surveillance at the center of the conspiracy: everyone is spying on somebody and almost no one is as he or she seems. The generic sets and frankly cheep special effects are made up for with ingenious cinematic signatures (the opening assassination is a model of cool simplicity and striking suggestion), dark humor, a rich cast of vivid characters, and a driving pace that sends the film hurtling headlong toward a fatal climax. --Sean Axmaker

The last film ever made by the great Fritz Lang (Metropolis, M, The Big Heat), this fascinating thriller combines elements of film noir, horror, and science fiction. Gert Frobe (Goldfinger) stars as police commissioner Kras, trying to uncover the sinister secret of the mysterious Hotel Luxor, ground zero for a massive crime wave. The crimes show all the hallmarks of evil genius Dr. Mabuse--but he died 30 years ago! Digitally restored from original studio negatives.