Bertrand Tavernier’s monthly DVD review

Lumière Institute president Bertrand Tavernier welcomes the appearance of two boxed sets of the work of French director Michel Deville as well as a DVD of a very rare Anthony Mann western, The Furies, in his 25th DVD report (early June).
 
The Mary Pickford series put out by Bach Films includes the extraordinary film Sparrows, directed by William Beaudine, who ended his career turning out low-budget films with colourful titles such as Billy the Kid vs Dracula and Jesse James Meets Frankenstein’s Daughter, both also available from Bach Films.

Sparrows is a very well-done film that takes place in swamplands in the US South.  The intertitles at the beginning are famous.  The first says God chose the swamps (seen in noxious mist) because he wanted to create a hell on earth.  The second says he chose the evil Mr Grimes (brilliantly played by Gustav von Seyffertitz) to do the job.  The children’s escape, led by Mary Pickford, from the quicksands and alligators is a great moment in cinema history.  Tavernier says he is keen to see other Beaudine films starring Pickford, including Little Orphan Annie.
 
Tavernier also warmly welcomes the surprise issue in DVD region 1 of two groundbreaking westerns, including Anthony Mann’s very rare film The Furies, which has been unavailable for decades and which Tavernier had to go to London to see more than 15 years ago.

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Walter Huston, Barbara Stanwyck and Wendell Corey in The Furies
(Anthony Mann, 1950)

© DR / Coll. Institut Lumière

Poster and DVD for The Furies

24/06/09