Literary Adaptation | Cagey Films

More Italo-horror: The Good, the Bad and the Gory

Posted on May 3, 2023April 30, 2023 by Kenneth George Godwin

Nevenka (Daliah Lavi) is trapped in a sado-masochistic relationship in Mario Bava's The Whip and the Body (1963)

Several new (and a couple of slightly older ) releases restore a range of Italian horrors from the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s, including a pair of artless movies by Bruno Mattei, Hell of the Living Dead (1980) and Rats: Night of Terror (1984); one of Mario Bava’s finest (and most perverse) Gothics, The Whip and the Body (1963), as well as his final made-for-television work, La Venere d’Ille (1979), co-directed by his son Lamberto; and a 4K restoration of Lucio Fulci’s gore masterpiece City of the Living Dead (1980).

Digital resurrection

Posted on August 17, 2022August 15, 2022 by Kenneth George Godwin

The blood-drinking witch (Henriette Gerard) peers into hero Allan Gray (Nicholas de Gunzburg)'s coffin in Carl Th. Dreyer's Vampyr (1932)

Digital tools put in service of restoring films from a century ago produce spectacular results with Blu-rays of Carl Th. Dreyer’s uncanny Vampyr (1932) and Louis Feuillade’s serial Tih-Minh (1919).

Clive Rees’ The Blockhouse (1973) and other recent Indicator releases

Posted on March 30, 2022March 29, 2022 by Kenneth George Godwin

Father Roche (Donald Pleasence) confronts an ancient religion on a remote Greek island in Kostas Karagiannis’ The Devil’s Men (1976)

Recent releases from Indicator have seemed oddly random – from an unexceptional genre movie (Kostas Karagiorgis’ The Devil’s Men [1076]) to an arthouse war film (Clive Rees’ The Blockhouse [1973]), a ghost story that comes across like a television play (Kevin Billington’s Voices [1973]) to an interesting if unsuccessful literary adaptation (Anthony Friedmann’s Bartleby [1970]) and a revisionist detective story which plays with the tropes of the English country house mystery (Chris Petit’s An Unsuitable Job for a Woman [1982]).

Seeking cinematic truth: two new Criterion Blu-rays

Posted on December 23, 2020December 22, 2020 by Kenneth George Godwin

Mouchette (Nadine Nortier) has a rare moment of uncomplicated pleasure in Robert Bresson's Mouchette (1967)

Two new releases from the Criterion Collection showcase very different approaches to filmmaking. Robert Bresson’s Mouchette (1967) and William Greaves’ Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Two Takes (1968/2005), although both made during the turbulent late ’60s, display radically different styles and attitudes towards exploring authenticity in the cinematic representation of reality.

Claire Denis’ Beau Travail (1999): Criterion Blu-ray review

Posted on September 13, 2020March 24, 2021 by Kenneth George Godwin

Master Sergeant Galoup (Denis Lavant) feels inexpressible rage towards Sentain (Grégoire Colin) in Claire Denis' Beau Travail (1999)

Criterion’s new Blu-ray release gives Claire Denis’ haunting, enigmatic Beau Travail (1999) a gorgeous hi-def presentation. This loose adaptation of Herman Melville’s novella Billy Budd is a film poem to the mysteries of desire set on a Foreign Legion outpost in the arid landscape of Djibouti, centred on a remarkable performance from Denis Lavant.

Francesco Rosi’s Christ Stopped at Eboli (1979):
Criterion Blu-ray review

Posted on September 9, 2020March 24, 2021 by Kenneth George Godwin

Painter Carlo Levi is escorted by police to exile in a remote village in Francesco Rosi's Christ Stopped at Eboli (1979)

Francesco Rosi’s most emotionally resonant film, a four-part adaptation of the memoir of painter Carlo Levi, who was exiled by the Fascist government in 1935 to a remote corner of Italy, is a rich, contemplative study of a Leftist intellectual who comes to empathize with the harsh lives of peasants left behind by the modernization of Italy. Criterion’s new Blu-ray edition serves the striking imagery well and provides substantial supportive supplements which provide historical context and situate the film in Rosi’s politically informed filmography.

Byron Haskin’s The War of the Worlds (1953):
Criterion Blu-ray review

Posted on July 11, 2020March 24, 2021 by Kenneth George Godwin

The Martian war machines advance relentlessly in Byron Haskin's The War of the Worlds (1953)

With a spectacular 4K restoration from the original three-strip Technicolor negative, Criterion have reinstated George Pal’s The War of the Worlds (Byron Haskin, 1953) to its place at the pinnacle of 1950s science fiction. While Barre Lyndon’s script, updating the story to the present and relocating it to California, strips H.G. Wells’ novel to its bare essentials, Pal and his production team turned interplanetary destruction into a glorious visual spectacle which hasn’t looked this good since the original Technicolor prints played in first-run theatres.

Boxed In

Posted on December 21, 2019January 6, 2023 by Kenneth George Godwin

The vampire curse spreads in Gerardo De Leon's The Blood Drinkers (1964)

From trash to art, boxed sets enhance the viewing experience by providing a broader context for individual movies – here, four more features from William Castle, The Trilogy of Life by Pier Paolo Pasolini, and a grab bag of five horrors from poverty row distributor Hemisphere.

Michael Radford’s adaptation of George Orwell’s 1984 (1984)

Posted on November 9, 2019December 10, 2022 by Kenneth George Godwin

Winston Smith (John Hurt) records his illicit thoughts just out of sight of the viewscreen in Michael Radford's 1984 (1984)

Criterion’s new Blu-ray of Michael Radford’s 1984 (1984) offers an impressive 4K restoration of this grim and gritty dystopian fantasy faithfully adapted from George Orwell’s novel.

Marcel Pagnol’s The Baker’s Wife (1938):
Criterion Blu-ray review

Posted on August 14, 2019December 10, 2022 by Kenneth George Godwin

Aimable (Raimu) becomes the butt of ribald jokes after Aurélie (Ginette Leclerc) runs away in Marcel Pagnol's The Baker's Wife (1938)

Criterion once again showcases the prodigious talent of French writer and filmmaker Marcel Pagnol with their Blu-ray release of The Baker’s Wife (1938), considered to be his best film.

Tag: Literary Adaptation