Mike Clark
September 30, 2019
Local Hero
Criterion, Comedy, $29.95 DVD, $39.95 Blu-ray, ‘PG.’
Stars Peter Reigert, Burt Lancaster, Denis Lawson, Jenny Seagrove.
1983. Better than any movie of its era, Bill Forsyth’s Local Hero comes closest to pulling off full-fledged whimsy, and this deserving Criterion release now seems like feel-good perfection.
Extras: Fortsyth’s provides a commentary with film critic Mark Kermode, who asks really good questions. And cinematographer Chris Menges rates his own nearly hourlong documentary. My favorite extra, along with the Forsyth-Kermode voiceover, is a primer with how the picture came to be from inception through the ad campaign.
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Whirlpool
Available via ScreenArchives.com
Twilight Time, Drama, $29.95 Blu-ray, NR.
Stars Gene Tierney, Richard Conte, Jose Ferrer, Charles Bickford.
1949. As movie-related tantalizers go, Whirlpool’s casting of a young Jose Ferrer as a sociopathic quack astrologer easily tops most.
Extras: Includes a commentary by the late Richard Schickel carried over from the long-ago DVD.
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