DVD Review: The Seventh Seal (1957), 50th Anniversary Special Edition

Not before or since the 1957 release of Ingmar Bergman's haunting masterpiece The Seventh Seal has the momentous theme of humankind's search for existential meaning – within or outside a religious framework – been treated of with such furious grace, intelligence and insight. All cynicism concerning the re-release of a '50th Anniversary Digitally Remastered Edition,' in the year of the great filmmaker's death, must therefore be put on hold. Any reason to publicise or disseminate or roll back the technical decay of this supreme piece of cinematic art, whether or not the companies in question make some extra baksheesh by finagling historical contingency, is a good reason.

Antonius Block (Max von Sydow) is a crusading knight freshly returned to the shores of his native Sweden. He has lost all the moral certainty he left with, presumably having seen and participated in atrocities in the name of Christianity. The hypocrisy of this institution which teaches forbearance, peace and tolerance yet practices murder, torture and empire-like expansionism is too much for his reflective nature to bear without apostasy. He yearns for a meaning to life beyond the circumscribed and vague one offered by the Church.

Cult Clip: Mad Love (1935)

The great German character actor Peter Lorre appeared in a lot of terrific thrillers during his lifetime and one of the best films he made is Mad Love (1935; Karl Fruend). In this creepy classic Lorre plays a crazy surgeon named Dr. Gogol who is obsessed with a beautiful actress that happens to already be married to a concert pianist. When the woman's husband is terribly injured in a train accident that crushes his hands, she asks Dr. Gogol to help save him. Dr. Gogol replaces her husband's hands with those of a murderer and afterward tries to drive the man mad in order to have his wife all for himself.

Mad Love is currently available on NTSC Region-1 DVD as part of Hollywood's Legends of Horror Collection and you can see Peter Lorre as the mad Dr. Gogol in this terrific clip:

- Kimberly Lindbergs

DVD Review: Bellissima (1951)

It seems like you can’t turn on the idiot box these days without coming across the newest reality show star turn. Thirteen weeks of Big Brother and the great British public vote for a winner who thinks Shakespeare directed Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo & Juliet simply because he was the nicest of a particularly motley crew.

Concerns about the dumbing down of TV aside, it does make you wonder what televisual legends we’re going to revere in twenty or thirty years time. Genuine talent seems to be in painfully short supply, and nowadays producers are reverting to the lowest common denominator, which is your basic common-or-garden talent revue. There’s no denying that there are some people in this green and pleasant land that do have genuine skill and presence, but that’s not exactly why people tune in – it’s to see either cute kids being pushed to the front of the stage by pushy parents living a dream vicariously through their offspring, or the judges arbitrarily ripping into self-deluded but honest people.

Coming to DVD: The Fly Collection 1958-1965

This week 20th Century Fox will be unleashing their all new NTSC Region-1 The Fly DVD Collection which will include The Fly (1958), The Return of the Fly (1959) and The Curse of the Fly (1965). This terrific 4 disc DVD set features all new transfers of each of these classic science fiction thrillers and the films are presented in their original widescreen aspect ratios. This is also the first time that The Curse of the Fly has been made available on DVD in the U.S.

Besides the three movies mentioned above, The Fly Collection also includes a bonus DVD with a Vincent Price A & E Biography made in 1997, a short feature called Fly Trap: Catching a Classic, still galleries, poster art galleries and more!

The Fly Collection promises to be a real treat for anyone interested in classic science fiction films and monster movies. Few films have been as influential as the original Fly (1958). The film spawned numerous sequels and remakes, but it still has plenty of surprises to offer first-time viewers.

For more information about The Fly Collection please see Amazon

- Kimberly Lindbergs

Win the Jean-Luc Godard Collection Volume Two DVD boxset

The first Jean-Luc Godard DVD Collection got high praise on its release back in May - and Jean-Luc Godard Collection Volume Two looks every bit as good. So you'll definitely want to win one of the two boxsets we have to give away.

Five movies from the French New Wave pioneer are featured, including two new to DVD in the UK - the Parisian love triangle Une Femme Est Une Femme from 1961 and 1963's Le Petit Soldat, which focuses on love across the political divide. Also included in the box are Pierrot Le Fou (1965), the tale of a couple (played by Jean-Paul Belmondo and Anna Karina) on the run to the south of France, La Chinoise from 1967 (Godard's most political movie, a satire based on Maoist theory) and finally, one from the 80s - Detective - Godard's take on modern morality and popular culture.

All titles are packed with extras, making up a set that's pretty much a must for any fan of French cinema. The set is available to buy now for around £39.99, but if you enter the competition at our sister site Modculture, you could grab one for free. Simply enter your details using the link below and you'll be in the draw. Good luck!

Enter the Jean-Luc Godard Collection Volume Two competition