Screen Archives Entertainment: TWILIGHT TIME

THE NUN AND THE DEVIL (LE MONACHE DI SANT'ARCANGELO / 1973)

Wed, 29 Jun 2022 00:00:00 EST

$19.95

Starring: Martine Brochard, Duilio Del Prete, Ornella Muti, Anne Heywood, Luc Merenda, Muriel Catala, Claudia Gravi
Directed By: Domenico Paolella
Composed By: Piero Piccioni

��the best of the sex-and-violence-in-a-convent movies.�
� AURUM HORROR ENCYCLOPAEDIA

Religious orthodoxy, human desire and institutional corruption all rise to a mesmerizing boil in multi-genre Italian director Domenico Paolella�s The Nun and the Devil/Le Monache di Sant�Arcangelo (1973), a cinematic fever dream about power plays within � and brought to bear outwardly upon � a 16th-century Neopolitan nunnery. Inspired by authentic period records and a novella by Stendhal, the film casts Anne Heywood as a senior sister scheming to become Mother Abbess, Ornella Muti as a defiant aristocrat sequestered into religious service, and policier star Luc Merenda as a righteous cleric investigating the convent�s sexual and heretical improprieties. It stands out as one of the more noteworthy cinematic successors of Ken Russell�s notorious The Devils (1971). Package design by Jim Titus.

LANGUAGES: English and Italian
VIDEO: 1080p High Definition / 1.85:1
AUDIO: English LPCM 2.0 Dual Mono / Italian LPCM 2.0 Dual Mono
SUBTITLES: English
1973 / Color
103 MINUTES
NOT RATED

SPECIAL FEATURES: Audio Commentary with Critic Kim Newman and Italian Cinema Expert Barry Forshaw / Judging Luc: Interview with Actor Luc Merenda / The Devil and Martine: Interview with Actress Martine Brochard / Paolella Connection: Profile of Director and Co-Writer Domenico Paolella / Horny Devils: Nunsploitation Explained: Interview with Film Historian Marcus Stiglegger / Original Theatrical Trailer

WE OF THE NEVER NEVER (1982)

Wed, 23 Jun 2021 00:00:00 EST

$19.95

Starring: Arthur Dignam, Martin Vaughan, John Jarratt, Tony Barry, Lewis Fitz-Gerald, Angela Punch McGregor
Directed By: Igor Auzins
Composed By: Peter Best

�A stirring historical drama which explores�racism, women�s emancipation, and man�s struggle to come to terms with an alien environment. A big, bold and magnificently scenic picture.�
� Variety

Adapting one of Australia�s most beloved books, We of the Never Never (1982) is an immersive, visually breathtaking period tale of a resilient lady, a steadfast love and a landscape both unforgiving and reinvigorating. Marrying the new station master (Arthur Dignam) of a Northern Territory cattle ranch, the well-bred Jeannie (Angela Punch McGregor) joins her husband in the Outback, considered �no place for a woman� circa 1902. There, she strives to establish a homestead, overcome the misogyny of the male workforce, and understand and learn from the local Aboriginal nomads. Graced with Australian Film Institute Award-winning cinematography by Gary Hansen (beautifully showcased in a new 4K restoration-derived transfer) and a stirring score by Peter Best, the resulting film is �a first-class adventure story� (Judith Crist, WOR-TV/New York).

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
VIDEO: 1080p HIGH DEFINITION / 2.35:1
AUDIO: ENGLISH LPCM 2.0 DUAL MONO
SUBTITLES: ENGLISH SDH
1982 / COLOR
133 MINUTES
RATED G

Special Features:
SPECIAL FEATURES: Back to the Never Never Interview Featurette with Co-Stars Angela Punch McGregor and Arthur Dignam, Director Igor Auzins, Co-Producer John B. Murray and Composer Peter Best / Behind-the-Scenes Stills Gallery / Original Theatrical Trailer

MESSALINA (AKA MESSALINA VENERE IMPERATRICE / 1960)

Fri, 16 Apr 2021 00:00:00 EST

$19.95

Starring: Belinda Lee, Carlo Justini, Giulio Donnini, Arturo Dominici, Arianna Galli, Gian Carlo Sbragia, Spiros Focas
Directed By: Vittorio Cottafavi
Composed By: Angelo Francesco Lavagnino

�Of the many screen interpretations of Messalina, this is probably the most satisfying due to the casting of Belinda Lee, �[whose] pagan beauty seems to exude wantonness, �just the right quality needed for a successful portrayal of Rome�s most dissolute empress.�
� Gary A. Smith, Epic Films

Both opulent and humanly scaled, director Vittorio Cottafavi�s Messalina (1960, aka Messalina Venere imperatrice) is a rare Italian-made historical spectacle headlined by a solo-above-title female star, the ideally cast English-born Belinda Lee, in one of the final roles of her tragically shortened life. Playing the young beauty plucked from country life as the Vestal Valeria to enter an arranged marriage with the newly crowned Roman emperor Claudius, she ably portrays the sexual manipulativeness and raw hunger for power of the murderous empress of legend. Seducing several high-born lovers to gain political influence, Messalina learns that balancing her grasp on the aristocracy and the common folk is too much to handle, even as she longs for the affections of her true love, the ultimately incorruptible tribune Lucius Maximus (Spiros Focas).

LANGUAGES: English and Italian
VIDEO: 1080p High Definition / 2.35:1
AUDIO: English LPCM 2.0 Dual Mono / Italian LPCM 2.0 Dual Mono
SUBTITLES: English
1960 / Color
94 MINUTES
NOT RATED

SEVEN DEATHS IN THE CAT'S EYES (AKA CORRINGA or LA MORTE NEGLI OCCHI DEL GATTO / 1973)

Fri, 16 Apr 2021 00:00:00 EST

$19.95

Starring: Anton Diffring, Jane Birkin, Hiram Keller, Francoise Christophe, Doris Kunstmann, Serge Gainsbourg
Directed By: Antonio Margheriti
Composed By: Riz Ortolani

�One of the most interesting films to emerge from Italy�s �Golden Age� of horror production. A giallo both rich with gothic excess and antagonism between scientific reality and superstition.�
� Alex Morris, Diabolique

�Brilliantly kitsch and stylish at the same time. Effectively spooky.�
� Hattie Mitchell, Sistersgrimhorror.com

When a fractious aristocratic family gathers at an ancestral Scottish castle, a straight razor-wielding murderer is also an unwelcome guest in Seven Deaths in the Cat�s Eyes (1973, aka Corringa or La morte negli occhi del gatto), a blood-laced thriller � complete with giallo flourishes, tantalizing sexuality, a pet gorilla and an omnipresent ginger tabby � from genre filmmaker Antonio Margheriti (aka Anthony M. Dawson). Singer/actress Jane Birkin plays the willowy heroine whose arrival foreshadows several unnatural deaths, Hiram Keller is the possibly unhinged lord of the manor with a cursed history, and the ensemble includes schemers with homicidal tendencies, all underscored by the shudder-inducing music of the great Riz Ortolani.

LANGUAGES: English and Italian
VIDEO: 1080p High Definition / 2.35:1
AUDIO: English LPCM 2.0 Stereo / Italian LPCM 2.0 Stereo
SUBTITLES: English
1973 / Color
95 MINUTES
NOT RATED

SPECIAL FEATURES: Audio Commentary with Film Historian Troy Howarth / Original English and Italian Theatrical Trailers

THE MAN FROM HONG KONG (AKA THE DRAGON FLIES / 1975)

Mon, 30 Nov 2020 00:00:00 EST

$19.95

Starring: Roger Ward, George Lazenby, Jimmy Wang Yu, Frank Thring, Ros Spiers, Rebecca Gilling, Hugh Keays-Byrne
Directed By: Brian Trenchard-Smith
Composed By: Juan Quintero

�A rare success, both in terms of blending Eastern and Western action styles and of providing a snapshot of how no-holds-barred Aussie cinema was at the time. Wang Yu�gives a charismatic performance, and his own fighting is as brutal as it gets. George Lazenby pulls all out the stops, both in doing a lot of his fighting�and stunts, something rare for the Western stars in these types of movies.�
� Craig Lines, DenofGeek.com

Strap in for a spectacular example from the golden age of �Ozploitation� moviemaking: writer/director/genre master Brian Trenchard-Smith�s full-bore action caper The Man from Hong Kong (1975, first seen in the U.S. as The Dragon Flies). It blazingly showcases the savvy grit and sleek fighting moves of two icons � Hong Kong martial-arts superstar Jimmy Wang Yu and one-time James Bond portrayer George Lazenby � playing lawman/gangster antagonists in a battle-royal array of aerial, vehicular, and close-combat stunts exploding across a gleaming Sydney cityscape and executed with a mix of cool precision and edge-stretching luck that will leave you breathless.

LANGUAGE: English
VIDEO: 1080p High Definition / 2.35:1
AUDIO: English 5.1 Dolby Digital / English 2.0 LPCM Stereo
SUBTITLES: English SDH
1975 / Color
106 MINUTES
RATED R

Special Features: Audio Commentary with Writer/Director Brian Trenchard-Smith, Co-Star Hugh Keays-Byrne and Stunt Director Grant Page / Uncut Not Quite Hollywood Interviews with Co-Stars George Lazenby, Rebecca Gilling, and Roger Ward; Writer/Director Brian Trenchard-Smith; Executive Producer David Hannay; and 2nd Unit Cameraman John Seale / Original Theatrical Trailer