Imprint

[therewillbeblus]

Any recs for lesser-known titles? How are Lady in a Cage, Five, and Kitten with a Whip?

[swo17]

Lady is a decent hag horror featuring James Caan's first real film role and Kitten is pretty good too. I didn't care much for Five. These are all rather good:

Rage (OOP and also a Blowout Bin title, so snap it up!)
The Nelson Affair
Barabbas
Across 110th Street
The Assassination Bureau (also OOP)
The Music of Chance

[domino harvey]

I actually really enjoyed I Married a Monster From Outer Space, which is transparently a film about domestic abuse hiding behind aliens. It’s incredible how much more effective it is at tackling such an adult and downbeat theme than most contemporary “adult” films

[therewillbeblus]

I had already snagged Across 110th Street and unfortunately preorders don't work with the deal, so Barabbas won't qualify, but thanks for the suggestions! Sadly, Music of Chance doesn't seem available on JB Hi-fi... but it seems right up my alley

[Grand Wazoo]

I cant seem to get shipping options to the US to appear on JB Hi-fi. Having the same issue on both Safari and Chrome. Anyone else dealing with this?

[Maltic]

I do get shipping options, but the form says "invalid" when I submit my 8-digit Danish phone number, and apparently it's required. Sigh.

[therewillbeblus]

I also get "an error occurred" or "an item in your cart can’t be delivered to this address. Please remove the item or try a different address" every other click attempt, and yet it won't tell me which item is unavailable. Perhaps it's the whole shebang

[swo17]

I'm remembering I had a similar issue with them a couple years ago (possibly just related to Imprint releases) at which time I received this response from Customer Service:

I'm really sorry to hear about the issues you are experiencing when trying to place an online order.

For all international orders, stock cannot be shipped out from our stores. This can only be actioned by our warehouse.

As there is no stock of this item at our warehouse, this cannot be shipped internationally.

[L.A.]

Ordered Outrage and Marooned, no problemo.

[therewillbeblus]

This is super weird. I removed my items one at a time, and even the last non-Imprint title wouldn't ship. However, removing them all and then adding them one at a time, deleting it and adding a new one, revealed half the titles would ship individually, including the last one remaining in my cart that wouldn't ship the first time! I gradually added the ones that qualified and then got cocky and started adding the ones that wouldn't ship originally, and some of them started to work too! However, after adding about six titles, it reported an error again. The site even allowed me to move into the payment phase which I did periodically. I feel like if I play around with this all night, I can make something work, but it's pretty frustratingly inconsistent.

[therewillbeblus]

So I was able to place an order, but instead of the 2-6 week estimation, I have an ETA of August 8th for my package... does anyone in the states have experience ordering from JB Hi-fi who can calm my nerves that this is inaccurate. I'd rather have ordered from a quicker delivery site if I knew it would be, what, er, 12 weeks?

[domino harvey]

I ordered from JB many years ago, back when that was indeed the norm for mail from Australia. Literally no country I ever ordered from took longer than Australia. But I have no idea how much better or worse it is these days. I’m always willing to just buy a stateside import of an Australian title

[swo17]

Maybe you've already realized this, but relative to everywhere else in the world, Australia is literally "down under." That means mail from there has to go both up and above before it can go side to side and crossways like all other mail does. I hope this helps

[Maltic]

Which titles did you manage to order, TWBB?

[therewillbeblus]

From Imprint, Drugstore Cowboy, Kitten with a Whip, Danger Diabolik, I Married a Monster (and Black Sunday was also eligible). I also ordered the UHDs of Singin' in the Rain and Basic Instinct, since that brought them down to roughly $13 a piece if you average after shipping and convert to USD.

As a head's up, Rage, Bridges at Toko-Ri, The Assassination Bureau are titles that JB Hi-fi would not ship to the U.S., no matter how many times I experimented. The two non-Imprint titles and Danger Diabolik wouldn't and then would, depending on what seemed like chance

[Maltic]

Thanks, good to know if I have a go at it again tomorrow...

[therewillbeblus]

I ordered from JB many years ago, back when that was indeed the norm for mail from Australia. Literally no country I ever ordered from took longer than Australia. But I have no idea how much better or worse it is these days. I’m always willing to just buy a stateside import of an Australian title

Actually, I think I ordered the Adventure Time blu-ray box set from them a couple years back, because no other sites would ship it for a reasonable price to me. I can't remember how long it took, but it wasn't quick

[jazzo]

I’ve ordered from them pre and during the pandemic, and there’s no rhyme or reason to the shipping times.

One shipment took two weeks to get to Canada. Another took twelve. Another was right smack in between.

There’s no tracking for international shipments, so you have to console yourself with the good pricing and hope for the best.

Everything eventually got here.

[Finch]

Imprint released a teaser image with teeny tiny thumbnails of their upcoming slate, and one title was identified as the Edward G Robinson Columbia Pictures title I Am The Law.

[therewillbeblus]

I sampled a few Imprint titles over the last 24 hours or so to mixed results. Rage was inconsistently engaging, with strengths in Ford's performance, going for broke as a self-destructive doctor living with pervasive trauma and guilt. The slow build is earned, where the actual 'plot' of the film doesn't even kick in until roughly halfway through. The choice to establish this character -his defining morality and crippling self-loathing, suicidal posturing and self-preserving instincts- really flesh out a multidimensional human (as well as his milieu and his relationship with it) and sets up important themes for later. However, these ideas pitched by Stella Stevens are a Psych 101 version of an epiphany, and the last act demonstrates that the filmmakers really didn't have as much interest or understanding of how to rack up the necessary suspense or detail the evolution of a road movie, so the thrills dilapidate into a confused and confusingly cushy, abrupt finish. I'd watch the first half again though.

Lady in a Cage is a film I really wanted to like more than I did, and at times I thought it was striving toward greatness, only to repeatedly let me down by cutting the cruelty short. Don't get me wrong, this is a cruel film- where the expected go-to management robs you blind, and then Caan's gang shows up and violate the trapped lady with intrusive degrees of psychological torture just as relentless and emotionless at their physical torture of others. The entire cast of the gang sell themselves far more authentically than they need to- Jennifer Billingsley does as excellent job with what she has to work with, as does Rafael Campos. Caan's fate is gruesome but again, I wish they went further. If Samuel Fuller had directed this, it'd be his Panic Room and plenty of his fanbase would be declaring it an unsung masterpiece- and it probably would be too.

The Assassination Bureau was silly fun, though I can't say I steadily enjoyed the whole nearly-two-hour ride. The basic premise is a hoot, and some setpieces breathe with exciting novelty, particularly the laundry chute escape (that whole bit with Philippe Noiret, stealing scenes expectedly, was a grand time). The film has a couple other creative kills, though it eventually goes off the rails as the central pair splits up and there are some scenes that go on forever with side characters and with little payoff. The finale has some of the worst special effects I've seen from a film in the late 60s, but that still feels in line with the campy vibes so it's not as much a complaint as it is a perplexing mismatched energy with the sincerity of Reed's intelligent maneuvering and domination during the showdown- something the filmmakers seem to treat much more seriously than camp. I liked this overall- it's definitely a good mindless sick movie!

Kitten with a Whip was the best of the bunch, a perverse psychological thriller that feels way ahead of its time. Ann-Margret is a youth on the run who stows away in John Forsythe's home while his family is away, asking for his help, which he provides- believing the best in people. He's a puritanical family man being groomed for politics, and she's... well, not as innocent as she seems. The stakes are felt, particularly around her unapologetically unpredictable behavior, which plays out like a more digestible (meaning far less psychologically complex or disturbing) version of Dutchman's social horror. Once a few other players show up, the film loses some of its steam, though their behavior is equally as strange and illogical. The ending is too safe and anticlimactic, but otherwise this is an entertaining, unsung B-movie gem. Recommended.

[black&huge]

should I wait for a domestic label to release The Warriors or go for Imprint's release?

[swo17]

should I wait for a domestic label to release The Warriors or go for Imprint's release?

Paramount released a US Blu-ray last year (just the director's cut though)

[swo17]

August releases



On the Beach/Fallout (priced like two releases)
Essential Film Noir Collection 3 (Milestone, Leisen, Deiterle, Wyler)
The Scarlet Hour (Curtiz)
I Am the Law
Secret of the Incas
Storm Center
Golden Boy (Mamoulian)
The World of Suzie Wong/Hollywood Chinese (priced like two releases)

[swo17]

Wow, Secret of the Incas looks awfully familiar

[L.A.]

Secret of the Incas sure is a surprise. Heard Yma Sumac’s songs some time ago and while doing some research about her I saw this title she starred in. An influence for Indiana Jones films obviously, will definitely get the Blu.