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This hour-long reverie from Argentinian film-maker Matías Piñeiro offers chilling insight into the agonies of unrequited love

The three words “you burn me” are a surviving fragment (or micro-poem) by Sappho, and make up the title of this hour-long reverie from the Argentinian film-maker Matías Piñeiro, a multilayered essay or dramatised exchange musing on the nature of death, desire and love. It is, in fact, an adaptation of the chapter Sea Foam from the Italian author Cesare Pavese’s 1947 volume Dialogues With Leucò, which imagines conversations between mythic figures.

This film shows us a dialogue between Sappho (supposed by unreliable romantic myth to have thrown herself into the Ionian sea in the anguish of heartbreak) and the goddess Britomartis, who is imagined to have plunged into the water to escape the pursuit of a man. So they are the exact opposites: in them desire runs in opposite directions. The movie...

This unassuming noir classic can boast a strong creative pedigree and an unusual ending… which I’ll not spoil. Dan Duryea is the confused pianist helping June Vincent clear her husband of a murder charge, by infiltrating the nightclub of suspicious Peter Lorre. The outline sticks close to Cornell Woolrich’s story source, and Roy William Neill contributes a classy job of direction.

Black Angel

Blu-ray

Arrow Academy

1946 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 81 min. / Street Date January 28, 2020 / 39.95

Starring: Dan Duryea, June Vincent, Peter Lorre, Broderick Crawford, Constance Dowling, Wallace Ford, Hobart Cavanaugh, Ben Bard, Freddie Steele, John Phillips.

Cinematography: Raoul Ivano

Film Editor: Saul A. Goodkind

Special effects: David S. Horsley

Original Music: Frank Skinner

Written by Roy Chanslor from a novel by Cornell Woolrich

Produced by Roy William Neill, Tom McKnight

Directed by Roy William Neill

The many movies made from Cornell Woolrich’s novels and stories can be a...

Dan Duryea and Peter Lorre in Black Angel (1946) will be available on Blu-ray January 28th From Arrow Academy

Elegantly directed by Hollywood veteran Roy William Neill (best known for his 11 Sherlock Holmes films starring Basil Rathbone), Black Angel is an underappreciated film noir treasure, adapted from a novel by the acclaimed crime writer Cornell Woolrich (Phantom Lady).

When the beautiful singer Mavis Marlowe (Constance Dowling) is slain in her chic apartment, the men in her life become suspects. There is Martin Blair, her alcoholic musician ex-husband, nursing a broken heart; there is the shady nightclub owner Marko who has been sneaking around her place, and there is Kirk Bennett (John Phillips), the adulterer who found his mistress s dead body and fled the scene. When Bennett is convicted and sentenced to death, his long-suffering wife Catherine (June Vincent) joins forces with the heartbroken pianist Martin Blair to uncover the truth…...

Happy March, everyone! This month’s home entertainment offerings are starting off with the proverbial bang as there seems to be a little something for every genre fan arriving on Blu-ray and DVD this Tuesday. Scream Factory is releasing both The Boy and Narcopolis on both formats this week, and Kino Lorber is resurrecting a pair of cult classics in HD as well: Gog (3D) and Transformations. Grindhouse Releasing has assembled an incredible Blu set for their release of Pieces, and the recent home invasion thriller, Intruders, makes its way onto DVD on March 1st.

For those of you who have made the leap to 4K, both The Last Witch Hunter and Mad Max: Fury Road are getting a special 4K release on Tuesday and other notable titles making their way home this first week of March include Zoombies, The Sinful Dwarf, The Fear of Darkness, Scream at the Devil,...

Now, after 62 years, viewable again in beautiful 3-D! Scientists are being murdered in a secret underground laboratory overseen by a super-computer and two robots, Gog and Magog. The restoration is a stunning achievement, covered thoroughly on the disc extras. The year is young, but this is an early favorite. Gog 3-D 3-D Blu-ray Kl Studio Classics 1954 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 85 min. / Street Date March 1, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 34.95 Starring Richard Egan, Constance Dowling, Herbert Marshall, John Wengraf, Philip Van Zandt, Michael Fox, William Schallert. Cinematography Lothrop B. Worth Film Editor Herbert L. Strock Original Music Harry Sukman Written by Tom Taggart, Richard G. Taylor, Ivan Tors Produced by Ivan Tors Directed by Herbert L. Strock

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Once viewable only at isolated special film festivals, vintage films on 3-D are enjoying a comeback thanks to a busy independent company. The 3-D Film Archive has done work for various studios and disc distributors,...

Black Angel

Written by Roy Chanslor

Directed by Roy William Neill

USA, 1946

Famous recording artist Mavis Marlowe (Constance Dowling) has sheltered herself from her drunkard husband Martin Blair (Dan Duryea) in her lush Los Angeles condo. To ensure tranquility and peace of mind, she has asked the doorman to disallow Martin from reaching her, the latter looking up anxiously from street level at her window high above. The doorman’s rebuttals send Martin into a drinking frenzy, during which time another man, Kirk Bennet (John Phillips), enters Mavis’ home for reasons unknown only to find her dead. It isn’t long before the police track Kirk to his homely domain, where his wife Catherine sees her better half arrested for murder, sending her into a tizzy. With Kirk convicted and sentenced to death, Catherine takes it upon herself to piece together the puzzle to clear her husband’s name. To do so,...

Directed by: Herbert L. Strock

Written by: Tom Taggart and Richard G. Taylor, from a story idea by Ivan Tors

Cast: Richard Egan, Constance Dowling, Herbert Marshall, John Wengraf

The science might be a bit dated, the Cold War paranoia a bit thick and the sexist behavior wince-inducing at times, but 1954's Gog is still quite entertaining.

A combination of an Agatha Christie novel and a Disney's "World of Tomorrow" documentary, the film delivers a taunt mystery and some suspenseful moments, while giving modern audiences a glimpse of the future our parents and grandparents envisioned for us.

Gog opens during a suspended animation experiment that results in the death of the lead scientist and his assistant. Both become trapped within the chamber when the door mechanism and control panels activate and trap them inside to freeze solid. Sure, you suspect the two could be revived, but the scientist falls out...

Gog is the long lost third film in director Herbert L Strock’s “Office of Scientific Investigation” trilogy, after 1953′s The Magnetic Monster and 1954′s Raiders To The Stars. The trilogy was not only critically well received, but also embraced by the scientific community, who appreciated Strock’s efforts to root his pictures in fact and with practical consideration, as opposed to flashing doodads and logic-defying technology. Gog was the strongest of the three efforts, and was released in 3-D, in color, and in the newly adopted widescreen format studios were just starting to take a serious look at. The film stars Richard Egan, Constance Dowling, Herbert Marshall, and John Wengraf.

Gog cover image courtesy MGM

Gog is credited as having influenced many of the “mad machinery” films in its wake, most notably, Jim Wynorski’s cult classic Chopping Mall (1986), a film about several mall security robots who go on a bloody rampage.

How we love getting news about long lost video obscurities resurfacing to find their fanbases! Two more weird titles are on their way from MGM as part of the studio's Manufactured On Demand DVD initiative, and we couldn't be happier!

Buyer beware - Mod titles come to you with full box art burned to a DVDr. If your DVD player has problems playing such things, you may want to skip these. Everyone else ... Have At It!

From the Press Release

Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment’s “manufacturing on demand” (“Mod”) program continues to expand with the newest selection of films as part of MGM’s Limited Edition Collection. These releases will begin to become available through major online retailers starting on November 22nd.

Gog (1954) – A security agent investigates sabotage and murder at a secret underground laboratory, home of two experimental robots. Stars Herbert Marshall; Constance Dowling; Richard Egan. Directed by Herbert L. Strock.