ATLRetro

by Anthony Taylor
Contributing Writer

Welcome to Apes on Film! This column exists to scratch your retro-film-in-high-definition itch. We’ll be reviewing new releases of vintage cinema and television on disc of all genres, finding gems and letting you know the skinny on what to avoid. Here at Apes on Film, our aim is to uncover the best in retro film. As we dig for artifacts, we’ll do our best not to bury our reputation. What will we find out here? Our destiny.

Apes on Film also appears on Nerd Alert News. Check them out HERE!

FLIGHT TO MARS – 1951
2 out of 5 Bananas
Starring: Marguerite Chapman, Cameron Mitchell, Arthur Franz, Virginia Huston
Director: Lesley Selander
Rated: NR
Studio: The Film Detective
Region: A, B
BRD Release Date: July 20th, 2021
Audio Formats: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
Video Codec: MPEG-2
Resolution: 1080p HD
Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1
Run Time: 72 minutes
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To have produced amazing films such as THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (1960), WEST SIDE STORY (1961), THE PINK PANTHER (1963), IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT (1967) and FIDDLER ON THE ROOF (1971), Walter Mirisch started at the bottom of the film industry, working for one of the lowest of low budget companies on Hollywood’s “Poverty Row” – Monogram. The company subsisted by cranking out sensationalistic crime melodramas, program westerns, and mostly yawn-inducing horror films, with the inherited-from-Fox Charlie Chan series remaining as their claim to fame.

FLIGHT TO MARS is clearly aimed at the grown-up crowd, but would have been better off treated as fodder for Saturday kids’ matinees by the studio. As an adult drama, it’s unbelievably silly and offensively misogynistic, casting women in a variety of stereotypical roles with little to do but look pretty or be bitchy – or both. As science fiction, it’s an insulting blend of self-righteous ignorance of science and an affront to fiction as the screenplay by Barry Conners and Philip Klein never misses a chance to land squarely on the nose of whatever trope they’re appropriating at the moment. The miniature and effects work is poorly rendered when compared to higher budget studio fare of the time, unsurprisingly. Honestly, there’s little to recommend about the movie itself.

The Film Detective’s presentation of the film is a different matter, however. Gleaned from a new 4K scan of the original source materials, the film looks and sounds very good. The color isn’t on par with three strip technicolor, but it’s bright and well-saturated, and the sound is unobtrusively well-mixed. Bonus features include a new audio commentary by author/film historian Justin Humphreys, “Walter Mirisch: From Bomba to Body Snatchers,” a new documentary short from Ballyhoo Motion Pictures, “Interstellar Travelogues: Cinema’s First Space Race,” a new documentary short with celebrated science fiction artist/historian Vincent Di Fate also from Ballyhoo Motion Pictures, and a full color insert booklet with an essay by Don Stradley.

I wish I could recommend this film, but I fear it’s for the completist only. If you decide to buy it, enjoy the featurettes, commentary, and booklet–they’re definitely more fun than the movie.

THE COOL LAKES OF DEATH – 1982
4 out of 5 Bananas
Starring: Renée Soutendijk, Erik van ‘t Wout, Derek de Lint, Adriaan Olree
Directed By: Nouchka van Brakel
Studio: Cult Epics
BRD Release Date: May 11, 2021
Region: A, B
Rated: Unrated
Audio Formats: TBA
Video Codec: MPEG-4 AVC from 4K Restoration
Resolution: 1080p HD
Aspect Ratio: Aspect Ratio 1.66:1
Run Time: 125 Minutes
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THE COOL LAKES OF DEATH contains a tour de force performance by Renée Soutendijk as a woman who goes from insufferably naive to outright insane, and finally arrives at an uneasy peace. Soutendijk is possibly mostly well-known to American filmgoers from her next film, Paul Verhoeven‘s THE 4TH MAN (1983) in which she co-starred with Jeroen Krabbé. Both men became fixtures in American films while Soutendijk continued to add to her impressive resume in Europe and her native Holland, which is shameful – she’s impossible not to watch when onscreen and at least as talented as either one of them.

She plays Hetty, a young lady who misunderstands all that happens to her, skewing her view of the world in ways that her suitor, husband, and lover simply can’t fathom; she’s a code with no key, to herself and to all around her including the viewer. Eventually her naivety gives way to sheer negligence that ends in tragedy, the aftermath of which is truly difficult to watch, a credit to both director and performer. The end credits roll over a shot of Soutendijk glancing sideways at the camera, with a slight smile. Whatever happens to Hetty in the end, this is the only clue director Nouchka van Brakel left for us. All of this takes place inside the lush visuals of cinematographer Theo van de Sande, who has clearly been influenced by John Alcott‘s work on Stanley Kubrick ’s BARRY LYNDON (1975).

Cult Epics’ presentation of the film is a revelation, as the disc is culled from a new restoration and 4K transfer from the original negative. I don’t recall it looking this good in the theater in 1982. Sound is good, and well balanced with no stentorian volume shifts between scenes.  Bonus features include a Polygoon Journal Newsreel (1982, HD), poster and photo gallery, theatrical trailers and Ltd. Edition Packaging featuring original and newly designed art. Audio is in original Dutch (with English interspersed) with English subtitles. Recommended.

Anthony Taylor is not only the Minister of Science, but also Defender of the Faith. His reviews and articles have appeared in magazines such as Screem, Fangoria, Famous Monsters of Filmland, SFX, Video*WatcHDog, and more.

*Art Credit: Anthony Taylor as Dr. Zaius caricature by Richard Smith