masters of cinema

Blu-ray Review: You Need To Hunt Down THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME

Joel McCrea and King Kong‘s Faye Wray play the leads in The Most Dangerous Game, a lean and mean 63 minute adventure produced by the legendary RKO Pictures in 1932. Directed by Irving Pichel and Ernest B. Schoedsack, The Most Dangerous Game is [...]

October 10, 2022

Blu-ray Review: Classic Silent Expressionist Horror THE HANDS OF ORLAC

The 1924 horror film The Hands of Orlac (Orlac’s Hände) reunited the star (Conrad Veidt) and director (Robert Wiene) of the 1920 masterpiece, The Cabinet Of Dr Caligari for yet another classic silent genre piece. Based on the novel [...]

June 24, 2021

Blu-ray Review: Richard Burton Stars In The Screen Adaptation Of John Le Carré’s THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD

Based on John le Carré‘s 1963 novel of the same name, director Martin Ritt‘s The Spy Who Came In From The Cold is a low-key character study set in the world of espionage. The 1965 film sees Richard Burton play Alec Leamas, an ageing [...]

May 18, 2021

German Expressionism Classic THE HANDS OF ORLAC Gets A New Release & A Fantastic New Trailer

The 1924 chiller The Hands of Orlac (Orlac’s Hände) reunited the star (Conrad Veidt) and director (Robert Wiene) of The Cabinet Of Dr Caligari (Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari) for yet another silent German Expressionism horror. The film is [...]

March 31, 2021

Blu-ray Review: VIY Is A Stunning Soviet-Era Supernatural Fantasy

A Russian film from 1967, Viy is a supernatural horror set in the 19th Century which sees a young priest watching over the dead body of a supposed witch for three nights. It’s something which sounds much easier than it actually is, and the [...]

March 21, 2021

Paying Respect To James Whale’s THE OLD DARK HOUSE

Director James Whale followed-up the huge success of Frankenstein in 1931 with another Universal Pictures chiller, The Old Dark House. Based on J.B Priestly’s novel Benighted, the pre-code 1932 horror-thriller is a wonderfully atmospheric [...]

September 5, 2020

Blu-ray Review: Edgar Allan Poe Adaptations MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE, THE BLACK CAT & THE RAVEN Starring Bela Lugosi

After the success of Dracula in 1931, Bel Lugosi took the lead in a trio of Edgar Allan Poe adaptations for Universal Pictures. The Murders In The Rue Morgue, The Black Cat and The Raven feature Lugosi at his best and the latter two also feature [...]

August 26, 2020

Trailer For Masters of Cinema’s New Blu-ray Release Of John Ford’s RIO GRANDE Starring John Wayne & Maureen O’Hara

The mighty Masters Of Cinema series is delivering the first ever Region 2 blu-ray release of John Ford‘s iconic western, Rio Grande. The release has a street date set for 6 April 2020. Starring John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara [...]

February 11, 2020

Blu-ray Review: Do Not Forsake Classic Western HIGH NOON

With one of the greatest opening sequences in film history, High Noon kicks-off in an outstanding fashion and this 1952 film just gets better and better as it builds towards its climax. Director Fred Zinnemann delivers one of the great westerns of [...]

October 5, 2019

Blu-ray Review: NOVEMBER Is A Weird & Wonderful Estonian Fairy Tale

Rainer Sarnet’s November, is a film which feels as if it purposely goes out of its way to defy categorisation. The black and white film is a dark comedy, a fairy tale fantasy, a twisted family drama and a doomed romance about star-crossed [...]

May 7, 2019

Blu-ray Review: Martin Scorsese Joins Forces With The Band For Musical Masterpiece THE LAST WALTZ

Martin Scorsese’s The Last Waltz opens with the declaration that ‘This film should be played loud!’. And it really should. Scorsese’s film charting The Band’s farewell concert at San Francisco’s Winterland [...]

November 7, 2018

Blu-ray Review: Billy Wilder’s WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION Is A Classic Agatha Christie Courtroom Thriller

Released in 1957, Billy Wilder’s Witness for the Prosecution is an exceptional courtroom drama based on the play by Agatha Christie. Tyrone Power is the man accused of murder, Charles Laughton is the Barrister trying to get him off and Marlene [...]

September 8, 2018

Blu-ray & DVD Review Round-Up: The GRIFTERS, THE OLD DARK HOUSE, THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI & More

This time around: Frances McDormand puts up Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, James Whale makes a visit to The Old Dark House, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jude Law play eXistenZ, John Cusack, Anjelica Huston and Annette Bening are The Grifters [...]

May 29, 2018

Blu-Ray & DVD Review Round-Up: FRIGHT NIGHT, JULIETA, DEEPWATER HORIZON, THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS & More

A selection of new blu-ray and DVD releases. This time around: Rediscover Tom Holland’s ’80s horror Fright Night, see Pedro Almodovar turn life into a Hitchcockian thriller in Julieta, get rigged with Mark Wahlberg and Kurt Russell in [...]

January 25, 2017

Blu-ray Review: Robert Redford In Sydney Pollack’s THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR

The 1970s offered up some wonderful suspense-filled paranoia thrillers. One of the best films in the cycle was Sydney Pollack’s Three Days Of The Condor. Pollack stacks his film with a great cast, with his go-to leading man Robert Redford in the [...]

April 16, 2016

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