Historical Film | Cagey Films

Richard Lester’s Musketeers (1973-74): Criterion Blu-ray review

Posted on May 14, 2025May 13, 2025 by Kenneth George Godwin

D'Artagnan (Michael York) prepares to duel Athos (Oliver Reed), Porthos (Frank Finlay) and Aramis (Richard Chamberlain) in Richard Lester's The Three Musketeers (1973)

After his radical influence on film comedy in the 1960s, with movies like A Hard Day’s Night (1964), The Knack … and How to Get It (1965) and How I Won the War (1967), Richard Lester remade himself as a skilful creator of mainstream entertainments in the 1970s, beginning with The Three Musketeers (1973) and The Four Musketeers (1974). The mix of history, politics and violence is in constant tension with irreverent comedy and slapstick, while the large cast epitomizes the ’70s attraction to big-name ensembles. Criterion’s new two-disk set – available in both 4K UHD and Blu-ray – has been mastered from a gorgeous restoration by StudioCanal, supported by more than three hours of extras which detail the unconventional production.

The 5th Hong Kong International Film Festival, part ten

Posted on December 21, 2024December 16, 2024 by Kenneth George Godwin

Greece's past and present clash in complex ways in Theodoros Angelopoulos' Alexander the Great (1980)

Part eight of my review of what I saw at the Fifth Hong Kong International Film Festival covers my introduction to the great Greek filmmaker Theodoros Angelopoulos, who addresses the fraught political history of 20th Century Greece in four thematically rich and visually stunning features made between 1972 and 1980.

Fall 2024 viewing round-up, part five

Posted on December 18, 2024December 18, 2024 by Kenneth George Godwin

John Carradine can't believe what he's gotten himself into in Oliver Drake's The Mummy and the Curse of the Jackals (1969)

Yet more notes on recent viewing, featuring horror – both high and low end – some documentaries and action movies, gritty realism and slick fantasy … eclectic and somewhat random.

The 5th Hong Kong International Film Festival, part six

Posted on November 23, 2024November 24, 2024 by Kenneth George Godwin

A pair of resistance fighters hiding as a married couple fall in love in István Szabó's Confidence (1980)

Part six of my review of what I saw at the Fifth Hong Kong International Film Festival covers a handful of Eastern European films which range across history and politics and into fantasy.

The 5th Hong Kong International Film Festival, part two

Posted on October 26, 2024October 25, 2024 by Kenneth George Godwin

Two friends engage in conflict over politics and religion in Permpol Cheyaroon's Red Bamboo (1979)

The second instalment of my review of what I saw at the Fifth Hong Kong International Film Festival in 1981 covers films from Thailand, Turkey, China, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Three Revolutionary Films by Ousmane Sembène: Criterion Blu-ray review

Posted on June 5, 2024June 2, 2024 by Kenneth George Godwin

Princess Dior Yacine (Tabata Ndiaye) defiantly challenges the audience at the end of Ousmane Sembène's Ceddo (1977)

Criterion follow their 2021 edition of Ousmane Sembène’s Mandabi (1968) with a three-disk set showcasing the features he made in the 1970s, works which continued his exploration of African identity in the shadow of centuries of colonial oppression. Emitaï (1971), Xala (1975) and Ceddo (1977) range across two centuries, from the pre-colonial incursions of Christianity and Islam to the brutality of French colonial oppression and on to the political corruption of the post-colonial era.

Winter 2024 viewing, part three: Other labels

Posted on March 6, 2024March 3, 2024 by Kenneth George Godwin

You don't have to be crazy to do this job, but it helps: Grant Page in Brian Trenchard-Smith's Stunt Rock (1978)

More recent viewing, with excellent restorations of classic fantasies by Arrow – Roger Vadim’s Barbarella (1968) and John Milius’ Conan the Barbarian (1982); a pair of impressive German film school projects – Tilman Singer’s Luz (2018) and Lukas Feigelfeld’s Hagazussa (2017); a couple of entertaining Australian features which mix fiction and documentary in interesting ways – Brian Trenchard-Smith’s Stunt Rock (1978) and Aaron McCann and Dominic Pearce’s Top Knot Detective (2017): and Shredder Orpheus (1990), a low-budget indie version of the Orpheus myth made by Seattle musicians and skateboarders.

Fall 2023 viewing, part two

Posted on October 18, 2023October 20, 2023 by Kenneth George Godwin

Amnesiac Johnny McBride (Anthony Quinn) investigates his own past in Victor Saville’s The Long Wait (1954)

This week marks the thirteenth anniversary of the blog and there’s still no clear pattern to what I watch and write about! The first post went up on October 22, 2010. Hard to believe it’s been going this long, with almost 900 posts and over 3200 reviews so far. I don’t think I’ve ever stuck with anything this faithfully in my entire life! Thanks for reading!

Bo Widerberg’s New Swedish Cinema from Criterion

Posted on August 23, 2023August 26, 2023 by Kenneth George Godwin

A circus tightrope-walker (Pia Degermark) is swept away by romance in Bo Widerberg's Elvira Madigan (1967)

Criterion’s new four-disk Blu-ray set Bo Widerberg’s New Swedish Cinema introduces the work of a filmmaker who deserves to be better-known; a critic who rebelled against the dominant work of filmmakers like Ingmar Bergman which ignored issues of politics, economics and class, Widerberg drew on the French New Wave and New British Cinema to create politically engaged and expressive films which reflected contemporary Swedish society and recent history.

Recent Asian releases from Eureka

Posted on August 2, 2023August 25, 2024 by Kenneth George Godwin

Disillusioned Christians Shiro Amakusa (Kenji Sawada) and Hosokawa Gracia (Akiko Kana) return from the dead to seek revenge in Kenji Fukasaku's Samurai Reincarnation (1981)

Eureka, and their specialty label Masters of Cinema, continue to release a range of Asian films, from pulp action to classical tragedy. Among recent releases are a two-disk set of four sequels to Rickay Lau’s Mr. Vampire (1985), Cynthia Rothrock’s first lead role in Mang Hoi & Corey Yuen’s Lady Reporter (1989), and a pair of very different samurai epics: Tadashi Imai’s bleak dissection of the Bushido code in Revenge (1964) and Kenji Fukasaku’s mix of history and supernatural horror in Samurai Reincarnation (1981).

Tag: Historical Film