Criterion’s ‘All About Eve’ Out Now

The Criterion Collection releases its 2-disc special edition of All About Eve on DVD and Blu-Ray today, in a 4K digital restoration with extras including documentaries, interviews and audio commentary (more details here.)

“[Joe] Mankiewicz had been working in Hollywood—as a writer, a producer, and finally a director—since the dying days of the silent era … By the time he made All About Eve, he knew how to assemble a cast that could bring his showy scenes off … And for the small comic role of the sexy aspiring actor who accompanies Addison [DeWitt] to the bumpy party, he chose a virtual unknown named Marilyn Monroe; she nails every one of her handful of lines. With the exception of [Thelma] Ritter—who would rack up six Oscar nominations in the next thirteen years—and of course Marilyn, everyone involved was at his or her peak in All About Eve, including Mankiewicz.”

Terence Rafferty

‘All About Eve’ Coming to Criterion

All About Eve will be reissued on DVD and Blu-Ray in November by the prestigious Criterion Collection, who already have two other Monroe films on their roster (The Asphalt Jungle and Some Like It Hot.)

SPECIAL FEATURES

4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray

Two audio commentaries from 2010, one featuring actor Celeste Holm, director Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s son Christopher Mankiewicz, and author Kenneth L. Geist; the other featuring author Sam Staggs

All About Mankiewicz, a feature-length documentary from 1983 about the director

Episodes of The Dick Cavett Show from 1969 and 1980 featuring actors Bette Davis and Gary Merrill

New interview with costume historian Larry McQueen

Hollywood Backstories: ‘All About Eve’, a 2001 documentary featuring interviews with Davis and others about the making of the film

Documentaries from 2010 about Mankiewicz’s life and career, the short story on which the film is based and its real-world inspiration, and a real-life ‘Sarah Siddons Society’ based on the film’s fictional society

Radio adaptation of the film from 1951

Trailer

PLUS: An essay by critic Terrence Rafferty and the 1946 short story on which the film is based

Marilyn’s Sugar Redux in ‘Some Like It Hot’

Chris Cabin has reviewed Criterion’s new 4K restoration of Some Like It Hot (available on DVD and Blu-Ray) for Slant.

“Sugar Kane’s willingness to indulge in the perverse proclivities of the rich is more grounded here than that of Monroe’s Lorelei in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, but then, Some Like It Hot is a more ambiguous affair than Howard Hawks’s extravagantly ludicrous musical … Money, more than gender or even sexual attraction, is the ultimate aphrodisiac here, and if this deeply cynical belief is slightly upended by the film’s ending, as in The Apartment, the idea is never entirely dispelled by the narrative.

By the end of Some Like It Hot, Sugar Kane is singing ‘I’m Through with Love,’ but it’s a song she’s been singing all along, gossiping with Josephine about all the lousy musicians who’ve romanced her and then bilked her for all she’s worth. The lead singer of the Sweet Sues doesn’t show up until a solid 30 minutes into the film, but make no mistake, Monroe’s importance in this picture is second only to Wilder’s. A notorious presence on the set, the actress flubbed her lines, arrived late, and tested the saintly patience of her director and co-stars, but on the big screen, Monroe holds the audience in her gaze without a flicker of hesitation.”

Criterion Goes the Extra Mile With Marilyn

Another review for the new Criterion Collection edition of Some Like It Hot (see my photos of the booklet, above) is posted today on Daniel S. Levine’s Movie Mania Madness blog, this time with a special focus on the extras.

Some Like It Hot works for me. It’s not as polished and perfect as The Apartment, as snappy as The Major and The Minor or as hopelessly romantic as Sabrina. But it doesn’t have to be. Rather, it is a successful mix of everything that made Wilder’s best movies work, minus the biting cynicism of The Lost Weekend, Sunset Boulevard or Ace in the Hole.

  • Criterion replaced the MGM/UA commentary that included interviews with Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis with the 1989 commentary the label recorded for its laserdisc release. This one features Howard Suber breaking down the film and explaining why it works. It includes brief remarks from Lemmon. For the most part, it’s a good track, although Suber seems a little too obsessed with Monroe.

The 2-disc DVD also included galleries and an interactive pressbook, which are also not included here. However, considering how in-depth everything we do get is, those do not feel like big omissions. There’s a lot crammed onto this disc, ensuring that fans of the film will still want it even if they have previous editions.”

Marilyn’s ‘Phenomenal’ Criterion Classic

Reviewing the new Criterion Collection edition of Some Like It Hot for Screen Anarchy, J. Hurtado says it’s still one of the funniest films ever made (although needless to say,  I strongly disagree with his opinion that Marilyn was “more phenomenon than actress.”)

“At a little over two hours, Some Like It Hot seems like it’d be a bit long for a comedy, especially in 1959, but Wilder & Diamond’s script leaves no room for dead air as the witty dialogue and continuous hijinks keep the party rolling at a breakneck pace. While Curtis and Lemmon were consummate performers even back then, with well-practiced delivery that really complimented the dialogue, Monroe was more of a phenomenon than an actress. However, with the expert direction, and apparently infinite patience, of Wilder, she is able to deliver one of her best on screen performances here, not to mention the fact that she was styled to the nines in some of the most amazing wardrobe ever seen on the big screen.”

Criterion’s ‘Some Like It Hot’ Reviewed

Dennis Seuling has reviewed the new Criterion Collection edition of Some Like It Hot for The Digital Bits.

“Ms. Monroe is the heart of the film as Sugar, sweet-natured despite having had her share of hard knocks. She trusts Josephine and Daphne, gets a little tipsy, and confides her insecurities to ‘the girls.’ Ms. Monroe plays the role with a natural combination of sex appeal and innocence. Her comic timing is perfect, always aware of where the joke is and hitting the right emphasis effortlessly.

This Blu-ray release, with high definition 1080p resolution, is a new 4K restoration with an uncompressed monaural soundtrack. An original 35mm camera negative was the primary source for the restoration with an aspect ratio of 1.85:1. Visual quality is pristine, in keeping with the Criterion Collection’s high standard for black and white releases. Detail is excellent, particularly in the nighttime car chase early in the film. Clothing patterns, strands of hair, and skin textures in close-ups stand out.

Audio is clean and clear, with dialogue coming through perfectly. In a scene that has Lemmon shaking maracas, Wilder wisely had him shake them between his lines so that the jokes could be heard. Machine gun fire is as impressive as in a modern gangster flick. Ms. Monroe’s songs, ‘Runnin’ Wild’ and ‘I Wanna Be Loved By You’, are balanced well and the singer’s sultry voice dominates.

Bonus extras on the Blu-ray release include audio commentary, three behind-the-scenes documentaries, a featurette about Orry-Kelly’s costumes, an appearance by Billy Wilder on The Dick Cavett Show, a conversation between Tony Curtis and critic Leonard Maltin, a French TV interview with Jack Lemmon, a radio interview with Marilyn Monroe, a trailer, and a booklet containing a critical essay.

Marilyn Monroe on the radio – In this 1955 interview with Dave Garroway on Monitor, Ms. Monroe discusses her role as sex symbol and the stereotyped role of the ‘dumb blonde,’ which she believes is a limited view. She discusses her plan to move to New York and her particular fondness for Brooklyn and its atmosphere. Her favorite singers are Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra (noting his new, jazzier style). Her goal is to be a good actress.”

Marilyn Goes Wilder in ‘Some Like It Hot’

If you haven’t seen the new 4K restoration of Some Like It Hot on the big screen, there’s good news: it’s now available on DVD and Blu-Ray from the Criterion Collection, and with lots of extras too. Sam Wasson wrote ‘Some Like It Hot: How to Have Fun,’ an essay for the special edition, and while I don’t agree with him entirely (I believe Marilyn was a great artist), it’s an insightful piece. “I think it is way past time we celebrated Wilder for his women,” Wasson writes. “Look at the women. They’re Wilder’s heart.”

“More than any other director ever had or ever would, Wilder got Monroe inside and out, what she could do well and what she couldn’t. ‘The charm of her is two left feet,’ he said. ‘Otherwise she may become a slightly inferior Eva Marie Saint.’ Others had made the mistake of taking Monroe for an actress of real range; she wasn’t. Some took her only at face value, but she was, as we all know, something deeper than merely beautiful. Wilder split the difference. He understood that for all her sadness—which Some Like It Hot calls for—Marilyn the performer was a light comedian. Marilyn the woman was a girl …This wholesome innocence, coupled with that figure that suggests not-so-innocent things, let her have her cake and eat it too; it was the paradox that made her a star. ‘How do I know about a man’s needs for a sex symbol?’ she once asked. ‘I’m a girl.’

We know Marilyn is hot, but Wilder saw that she was warm too, and in Some Like It Hot, he permits her coziness to cuddle some clemency into his ruthless good time. She is the heart of the comedy, the only one not playing for laughs (though she gets them), and if you, like me, think she walks away with the picture, it’s because Wilder handed it to her. Rarely does Lemmon or Curtis have the screen to himself; Monroe often does. Her close-ups—a rare occurrence in Wilder country—reveal a girl twinkling with chaste enthusiasms. ‘Good niiiiiight, Sugaarrrr,’ Jerry stage-whispers to her across the train car. She pops her head out of her bunk, and after a vulnerable split second wondering who called to her, she opens into the most playful, the most self-nourished, the most sincere smile I’ve ever seen in a movie. It’s not sexy. It’s genuinely happy. ‘Good night, honey!’

And here we are again, back to having a good time. ‘A good time’: not a phrase we readily associate with the famously heartsick Marilyn Monroe. Seeing her so happy must have been fun for Some Like It Hot’s 1959 audiences, but for us, knowing what we know about her depression and self-loathing and death, watching Marilyn truly enjoy herself is, today, the movie’s most painful pleasure. When she calls back, ‘Good night, honey!’ I’m probably not alone in feeling, in addition to delighted, very sad, and not because we lost in Monroe a great artist (she wasn’t), or a great beauty (she was), but because, in Some Like It Hot, it’s clear she was, at times, abundantly capable of enjoying life.”

‘Some Like It Hot’ Comes to Criterion

Following the big-screen premiere of a new 4K restoration at the Venice Film Festival, a special edition of Some Like It Hot will be added to the ranks of the prestigious Criterion Collection on DVD and Blu-Ray in November, as Charles Barfield reports for The Playlist.

“SPECIAL FEATURES

  • New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
  • Audio commentary from 1989 featuring film scholar Howard Suber
  • New program on Orry-Kelly’s costumes for the film, featuring costume designer and historian Deborah Nadoolman Landis and costume historian and archivist Larry McQueen
  • Three making-of documentaries
  • Appearance from 1982 by director Billy Wilder on The Dick Cavett Show
  • Conversation from 2001 between actor Tony Curtis and film critic Leonard Maltin
  • French television interview from 1988 with actor Jack Lemmon
  • Trailer
  • PLUS: An essay by author Sam Wasson

New cover by F. Ron Miller”

‘Some Like It Hot’ Heads for Venice

A restored print of Some Like It Hot will premiere at this year’s Venice International Film Festival, Seen It reports.

“The film has been restored by distributors Park Circus in collaboration with Metro Goldwyn Mayer and the Criterion Collection.

Working from the 35mm Original Picture Negative, 35mm Duplicate Picture Negative and 35mm Fine Grain Master, the film was scanned in 4K at Deluxe EFILM, Hollywood and Roundabout Entertainment.

Digital image and audio restoration was undertaken by the Criterion Collection in New York. Color grading, picture conforming, additional image restoration was completed by Roundabout Entertainment, Santa Monica. The restoration was supervised by Grover Crisp on behalf of Park Circus.

The restored Some Like It Hot will be released in theatres worldwide later in 2018.”

Marilyn Returns to ‘The Asphalt Jungle’

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David Krauss has given a rave review to the Criterion Collection’s new edition of The Asphalt Jungle (available on DVD and, for the first time, BluRay) over at High Def Digest.

“Though MGM produced many all-star pictures in the past (Grand Hotel and Dinner at Eight chief among them), The Asphalt Jungle was its first true ensemble film. Sterling Hayden and Louis Calhern receive top billing, but neither were big stars at the time, nor were Sam Jaffe, James Whitmore, Jean Hagen (who two short years later would make her biggest splash – and receive an Oscar nomination – as squeaky-voiced silent star Lina Lamont in Singin‘ in the Rain), or a gorgeous young actress by the name of Marilyn Monroe, who makes a huge impression in two brief scenes as Emmerich’s nubile mistress. (Much of the movie’s poster art showcases Monroe to make her seem like the star, but nothing could be further from the truth.) Harold Rosson, who was married to another blonde bombshell, Jean Harlow, 15 years before, beautifully photographs the 24-year-old Marilyn, bringing out both her innocence and allure, and under John Huston’s tutelage she files an affecting portrayal that belies her inexperience. The Asphalt Jungle would prove to be Monroe’s big break, and the actress herself cited the performance as one of her career highlights.”