Mill Creek Entertainment offers two wonderful films in lovely sharp finely grained transfers that both look fantastic in the blu ray format. What a great deal, too! I just hope that they continue to produce twofers of this caliber. They have a deal with Sony, whose classic film library is sorely under-represented in the BD form. I'd sure love some widescreen technicolor doubles like TARAS BULBA and KINGS OF THE SUN, SOLOMON AND SHEBA and ALEXANDER THE GREAT, or maybe for Easter, BARABBAS and SALOME. But, beyond wishful thinking, whatever they do in the future will undoubtedly be superior in quality if this is any indication. Mill Creek, you've got a fan in me, and keep 'em coming but, please, more like this for those of us who are classic movie fans.
"Ship of Fools" stars Vivien Leigh, Lee Marvin, Jose Ferrer, Simone Signoret, George Segal, Elizabeth Asley, Charles Korvin, Michael Dunn and Heinz Ruehmann, and was directed by the great Stanley Kramer.
"Lilith" stars Warren Beatty, Jean Seberg, Peter Fonda, Kim Hunter, Anne Meacham, James Patterson, Robert Reilly and Gene Hackman in one of his first roles.
The PQ and AQ on these are excellent.
Recommended for fans of classic cinema!
Buy Ship of Fools / Lilith (Double Feature) (1965) Now
Who would have ever thought to see Lee Marvin & Vivian Leigh on the same screen together In "Ship of Fools"? There's a healthy smorgasbord of classic actors here in this film as well as some great performances, especially that of little person, Michael Dunn. The camera just loved him. They don't make 'em like this anymore as they say. Cast ensemble pieces as such, written for TV or even the big screen, not everyone can handle. The rythm, pacing, and putting people where they need to be so the material isn't cluttered is so cruicial in assisting the actors in character to help tell the story. No movement is ever wasted in this film. If you understand the film making process this screen work just packs a wallop ever so subtlly. With such a large group of performers and a unique story to tell here, Stanley Kramer though, handled this film with kid gloves. He was a master craftsman as a director and over all story teller. He certainly showed this in when he directed such other films as "On The Beach", "Judgment at Nuremburg," & "It's A Mad, Mad, Mad World." As a director he is certainly missed even to this day, who had such a lasting impact on cinema he made for the big screen. On Blu-ray it looks just beautiful and already I've seen it 4 times on my home theater. The other film on this double feature is called "Lilith" and stars Warren Beatty directed by Robert Rossen. You know it's all there: the acting, directing, camera work. Though the story might not be everybody's cup of tea it's worth a look simply because the performances are quite good. Let's not forget that Rossen directed "All The King's Men", with Broderick Crawford, "The Hustler", with Paul Newman, and "Body and Soul", with John Garfield. Mr. Rossen passed on way too soon. Nevertheless this is a solid film which I've also seen a few times on Blu-ray and am very pleased with.Read Best Reviews of Ship of Fools / Lilith (Double Feature) (1965) Here
Ship Of Fools is one of the hallmarks of motion picture making as any cinephile will tell you. The cast is absolutely incredible and it features the swan song of Vivian Leigh who will make you believe she knew it at the time of her performance. Some find Stanley Kramer's style of film making a bit heavy handed but in the case of this adaptation of Katherine Anne Porter's hugely successful novel his style served him well in every regard. From the black and white play of light and shadow of the cinematography (the best since Casablanca) to the exquisitely nuanced and finely tuned performances of the actors brought together in 'Grand Hotel' Hollywood tradition you get a slice of time offering a prelude of horrors to come with the rise of Nazism and its effect on social stratum encompassed within the confines of this ship of fools. Shakespearian scale human folly acted out by a dream cast that surpassed the novel in laying bare their foibles before an audience that ate it up in 1965...as well they should have with the likes of Oskar Werner and the great french superstar Simone Signoret in the movies most telling love story lifting the art of acting to new heights (especially Werner)...Jose Ferrer's high handed and often superbly masked gleeful urgency as an anti-semitic ghoul...the wonderful German actor Heinz Ruehmann as the perpetually upbeat Jew effectively providing the thistle beneath Ferrer's facade...a totally surprising turn by Flamenco Dancing great Jose Greco...not to mention Lee Marvin as a has been baseball player delivering a dramatic performance to equal his peers (who would have believed?)...and to me the cleverest turn of all by George Segal and Elizabeth Ashely as cardboard cutout innocents expected in every production of the period and social level the movie is set in and they had the wherewithall to play it straight making them seem out of place and in another movie altogether as they would have seemed at the time... and last but certainly not least in my mentionings...the astonishing Michael Dunn in his Oscar winning turn as the greek chorus to all that happens onboard. The movie is a master acting class on all levels...including the steward level passengers who endure as do the masses through it all (with an incredible bit of acting by Oskar Werner as he witnesses their washing down by the crew) that speaks the message of the movie in bold strokes. But above and beyond it all Vivian Leigh commands your attention in a performance that is a culmination of all the triumphs and tribulations her career had provided her along with all the grief and humiliation with which her private life had lashed her...funneled into a performance for the ages...the grandest diva of them all dissimulating before your eyes even as her deterioration becomes self evident...and her resolve teetering on the brink of madness. Let's just say that Scarlett wars with Blanche and the explosive battlefield can be seen from shore. In the case of this movie Miss Leigh EARNED top billing...and how many actors can truly say that in a cast as talented as this? In case you haven't guessed by now I highly recommend this movie.On to Lilith (it's as if whoever chose to pair these two features selected as his theme 'Actresses who's private lives were as tragic as their careers were successful). An early Warren Beatty drama with Peter Fonda (showing his acting chops early on) and Jean Seberg who is the poster child for tragic actresses...dying of an overdose at age Forty after 37 movies. Hounded by the FBI into a premature delivery (the FBI spreading unfounded rumors that the father was black in retaliation for her financial support of certain civil rights groups) and death of the child two days later. This moment seemed to have unhinged a part of her and despite her immense talent and beauty she descended into a kind of living hell toward the end of her life being institutionalized several times and marrying men in rapid tandem until she was found lifeless in the backseat of her car clutching pills and a suicide note written in French and in her own handwriting outside her Paris apartment in 1979. Why you ask did I let you in on all that? Because this movie is about a young girl who is a fragile beauty institutionalized and befriended by Beatty who falls in love with his patient and is engaged in a tug-of-war with another patient for her hand (Peter Fonda). It is a love story played out on many levels in an outstanding script. The centerpiece here being the performance by Seberg in a role that she knew far too intimately in what turned out to be a case of art imitating life. The film is hauntingly effective and the leads will turn your head and your heart. Not near the level of Ship Of Fools...but still...in its own right...a classic...and certainly a tragedy for the ages.
Want Ship of Fools / Lilith (Double Feature) (1965) Discount?
This package contains two films that, while not especially well-known today, represent some of the better film-making of the Sixties. Ship of fools already has a pretty good reputation. Lilith is, in my opinion, better than its reputation would have it. Eacj can provide a very good viewing experience.Save 31% Off
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