practically a sainted figure in France). Entertaining as Opale is, especially compared to the stuffy supporting cast, he is also a monster: note the impulsive, experimental way he batters a victim with his prop cane or kicks out the crutches from under a chubby cripple.
This is minor Renoir and, though it has one of the great Jekyll-Hyde performances, falls short of a major Stevenson ad- aptation. Aside from Barrault, the cast are neglected and shuffle through their stooge roles ac- cordingly. The on-the-streets sequences have a looseness that is almost nouvelle vague, but the interior scenes appear hastily- staged and talky (not a fault of Stevenson’s impeccably concise book). Joseph Kosma provides a comic-horrid motif for Opale, but much of the score is appall- ing, melodramatic bombast. Yet, as Opale jaunts through the streets of Paris, searching for mischief to be made, something different and challenging is be- ing done with one of the most important of all horror properties. Studio Canal’s French DVD, in their range of “Classique” re- leases, offers a sparkling transfer of materials that have inevitable rough edges. The ex- tras are a trailer and Autour du Testament du Docteur Cordelier, a 28m retrospective documen- tary with film historians and sur- viving technicians recalling the circumstances of production. The mono audio is fresh-sound- ing; though non-francophones will lament the absence of En- glish (or even French) subtitles, especially during the legal chat, the story is so familiar that few will lose their way. To the best of our knowledge, no US importer is carrying this disc; the only means we can suggest for or- dering it is online, through
www.amazon.fr.
ERRATA
104:64 Contrary to what was reported in our review of INTIMATE CONFES- SIONS OF A CHINESE COURTESAN, Betty Pei Ti is not same person as Betty Ting Pei. Pei Ti (INTIMATE CONFESSIONS OF A CHINESE COURTESAN, IRON BODYGUARD) retired from the HK film industry in the early ’70s and headed back to Taiwan. She returned to Shaw Brothers to make CLANS OF INTRIGUE (1977). Ting Pei, who was found with Bruce Lee on his death bed, made musicals for Shaw Brothers and starred in BRUCE LEE AND I with Danny Lee. The names sound similar in English but, in Chinese, the difference is more pronounced.
104:66 In his review of PHONE (104:66), John Charles stated that the HK disc from Intercontinental is not anamorphically enhanced—but it actually is.
107:14 Some errors crept into this installment of “Joe Dante’s Fleapit Flashbacks.” Joe Dante writes: “If I had been thinking, when you notified me you were running the Flashback on COLD TURKEY, I would’ve mentioned that I was completely wrong in my opinion that it would find only moderate success. Actually, it was a runaway sleeper hit for UA, which had kept it on the shelf for two years (filmed in 1969)!
107:15 In Joe’s review of THE COMPUTER WORE TENNIS SHOWS, a xeroxing blur caused William Schallert to be identified “the recognizable... William Stealers,” whose CV you are unlikely to find on the IMDb.
107:16 In the HE & SHE notice, somehow the word “as” was not only duplicated but amended to “gas,” so that one sentence now reads, “The formula is the same gas as always.” Joe says this is an interesting observation, though more flatulent than what he wrote.
107:17 The actor in the ISLAND OF THE BURNING DAMNED still is Percy Herbert, not Kenneth Cope.
107:49 In Bill Cooke’s THE HAUNTED PALACE review, he asserts that THE BRAINIAC wasn’t seen in America until 1969, but the AIP syndication package that contained it was available by 1966. Joe Dante remem- bers seeing it on WFIL in Philadelphia during his freshman year at the College of Art.
107:55 Contrary to a note made in Shane Dallmann’s review of THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN, the character of Captain Nemo was previously portrayed as an Indian in the 1916 silent version of 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA.
107 We were very upset to discover that we had misspelled the name of photographer GABRIEL SOUSSAN, who took the lovely B&W original photos of Édith Scob that appeared on pages 23 and 35 of VW 107. Our sincere apologies to Gabriel, whose special participation was greatly valued.
108:72 In his review of Tenebre, Tim Lucas speculated that the Italian import DVD on the Medusa label was complete, based on its length. We have since discovered it is missing the same brief snippets absent from the domestic Anchor Bay Entertainment release.
Thanks to Joe Dante, Chu King-wei, Vincent Periera and MJ Simpson. 73
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