COLD
WAR THRILLERS – 6 FILM COLLECTION
MAN
ON A STRING – Starring Ernest Borgnine, Kerwin Matthews.
Directed by Andre de Toth. (1960/92 min).
THE
DEADLY AFFAIR – Starring James Mason, Maximilian Schell.
Directed by Sidney Lumet. (1967/107 min).
OTLEY
– Starring Tom Courtenay, Romy Schneider. Directed by Dick
Clement. (1969/92 min).
A
DANDY IN ASPIC – Starring Laurence Harvey, Mia Farrow. Directed
by Anthony Mann. (1968/107 min).
HAMMERHEAD
– Starring Vince Edwards, Peter Vaughn. Directed by David
Miller. (1968/100 min).
THE
EXECUTIONER – Starring George Peppard, Judy Geeson. Directed by
Sam Wanamaker. (1972/107 min).
On
DVD from MILL CREEK ENTERTAINMENT
Review
by Mr. Paws😼
"Christ,
I miss the Cold War!”
-M,
Casino Royale
In
some ways, so do I. Sure, the Cuban Missile Crisis was kind-of a
drag. And yeah, I suppose suspecting your neighbor was a
card-carrying communist made for some sleepless nights, as did
wondering if you’d someday wake up to find nation’s capital crawling
with Khrushchev’s cronies. But, damn, it sure made good
entertainment.
For
obvious reasons, they don’t make contemporary Cold War thrillers
anymore. Any released in the past 30 years have been
historically-based, which is fine, but much of the subgenre’s
original appeal was its timeliness, like WWII epics that were made &
released while the war was still raging. Back in the day, Russians
made reliable go-to villains. Because of our inherent distrust in
them, authors and filmmakers could quickly establish their bad guy(s)
with little effort.
"I bet you're diggin' the new mustache." |
This
DVD release collects six relatively obscure films from the golden age
of Cold War thrillers. None of them will make anyone forget The
Spy Who Came in from the Cold and since most were released during
a decidedly “groovier” decade, they are definitely products of
their era, sometimes amusingly so. But good or bad, these films
provide an interesting retrospective of the genre at the time.
Man
on a String and A Dandy in Aspic have the best storylines,
the latter getting a considerable boost from Laurence Harvey at his
snooty best. I was personally most curious about The Deadly
Affair, being that it is directed by Sidney Lumet. However, it’s
not one of his better efforts, partially due to the dull narrative
and a surprisingly overwrought performance by James Mason. The
Executioner has its moments, though it’s clear why George
Peppard may have been an A-Teamer, but never an A-lister. Otley is actually a comedy and
pretty good as spy spoofs go (there were a lot of ‘em back then).
Vince Edwards suffers for his art. |
The
real gem, however, might be Hammerhead, which easily the
wildest, weirdest and “sexiest,” therefore the most archaic.
Playing like a dubious attempt to groom monotonic Vince Edwards into
another James Bond, the film has babes, bullets ‘n’ bad guys,
along with one of the hippy-dippiest opening sequences you’ll ever
see. The film also has a fair amount of humor, both intentional and
unintentional.
The
transfers for this collection aren’t bad (three films per disc),
though it’s obvious we’re talking quantity over quality here. The
audio for Hammerhead is kind-of muddy, but overall, the
picture and sound is adequate for the price. Classics-none, this is
still a fairly decent collection from the grooviest time in Cold War
history.
KITTY CONSENSUS:
NOT BAD. LIKE CAT CHOW.
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