Full transparency: all Blu-rays reviewed were provided by Kino Lorber and Criterion.
Summer is here and that means things are gonna wind down around here at the blog for the month of July, but I had one more round-up of Blu-rays to bring the people while we try and get some rest before the pandemonium of August brings us out of our sleep. This month, we’re rollin’ with Kino and Criterion to bring you an underseen “cops and robbers” film from across the pond with Basil Dearden’s The Blue Lamp, while Criterion’s on a welcomely humanist kick in June with their releasing of the seminal Seattle-set documentary about unhoused and abused youth Streetwise and its follow-up, Tiny: The Life of Erin Blackwell. Criterion has also finally brought Masaki Kobayashi’s towering achievement, The Human Condition, to Blu-ray (about time!). We then wrap things up with some comedy double features in the form of Tamra Davis’s cable staples CB4 and Half Baked and I talk about a couple of Mae West comedies with my *tries to think of something nice to say* great editor, Michaela Owens! We chat about My Little Chickadee and She Done Him Wrong, and get into what makes Mae West and her leading men so interesting.
It’s a breezier listen this month, but in this heat, we could all use a nice breeze.
The Human Condition was previously screened at the IU Cinema in 2019 as part of the Beyond Epic series. She Done Him Wrong was shown in 2018 as part of the City Lights Film Series.
David Carter is a film lover and a menace. He plays jazz from time to time but asks you not to hold that against him. His taste in movies bounces from Speed Racer to The Holy Mountain and everything in between.