This is a real gem. The DVD quality is excellent. British Sci-Fi and Horror from this era often surprises--the films may initially look like standard American triple-feature drive-in fare (quality variable but almost always great fun!) but beyond that they often have better than expected scripts, cinematography, and casts (as is the case here). The Crawling Eye also includes fine music by Stanley Black. Released in 1958, The Crawling Eye has the feel of good British TV from the early Sixties (probably because it was based on a TV series). The plot is engaging (with the neat twist of working a psychic into it--a little ahead of its time) and the monsters are genuinely vile and disgusting. If you like classic Sci-Fi and Horror don't hesitate to add this one to your collection. Other recommended British classics: The Day the Earth Caught Fire and the deeply weird Devil Girl from Mars.

First, this disc is worth purchasing for the rarely recorded Tristia and the fine work by the Cleveland Orchestra and Chorus. The recording sounds wonderful. A problem (if that's really the word I want) may be the conductor. Years ago Boulez made disparaging remarks about Nineteenth Century music and one wonders if deep down his negative attitude has changed much. This is an almost too fastidious interpretation of an exceptionally rich and colorful work. Often, as an alternative to traditional interpretations, the intellectual approach works well with music of this era since it tends to bring out the "classical" aspects of a piece--no exception here. But this is Berlioz the Romantic and the playing--to do the piece justice--should be emotionally charged. I'd recommend it for experienced listeners who'd like to hear what early Berlioz could sound like when he's been given four cups of coffee and walked around the block a few times. I wouldn't recommend it for beginners who should be knocked on their hinders by this amazing music. The Colin Davis recording with the Concertgebouw on Philips is a first choice by many, especially in the 24-bit remastered version. Bernstein's on EMI is memorable (Last I looked that disc included a stunning Roman Carnival Overture with Previn conducting). Bernstein, bless him, never held back on music like this. There are plenty of other good choices including personal favorites by Plasson (EMI), Markevitch (DG) and Gardiner (Philips). To then hear Boulez do what he does best try his version of Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms with the Berlin Philharmonic on DG--you could cut glass with it. In this modern repertoire he's untouchable. I hold back a star because, all said, I really don't think this is the way this piece should be played.

When Eskimo historians, in the distant future, write volumes about the collapse of our civilization they'll cite Janet Jackson's public display of her [mammary glands], Bill Clinton's public "display" of his, uh, personal problems, and this movie as cultural signposts to be read, essentially, as "Last Chance for Gas! Next Stop, Five-Hundred Years." A nightmarish tragedy--itself a direct manifestation of a world (ours) that was beginning to lose its grip and would soon make the first of several horrific mass-suicide attempts--is dumbed-down to maudlin romance, soft porn, and glitzy effects and nobody so much as snarls. In fact everyone thinks it's as dandy as chariot races. Let's put it this way: just how would the citizenry react if they found out someone was going to make a similar schmaltzy melodrama based around the space shuttle disasters...or 9-11? (What am I saying? There'd be a run on the production company's stock!) At least the antique "A Night to Remember" has some dignity and some good acting--largely by old-timers sobered by real memories of the event in contrast to a bunch of pretty kittens who, at the time of this film's creation, probably couldn't have managed a sincere or informed paragraph about anything more tragic than the death of Kurt Cobain. I give this double fudge sundae five stars because I don't want to be tossed to lions and I give it a gratuitous bad review because I want to ensure my place in Heaven.

Harold Bloom seems to think Richard III is kind of a so-so play and one Amazon reviewer considers Benvenuto Cellini, by Hector Berlioz, to be a lousy opera. Jacques Barzun--a pretty intelligent guy--runs with the idea that Shakespeare and Berlioz were a heck of a lot smarter than any of us and sometimes a work of art is so amazing none of us can get our heads fully around it. The secret word here is "humility." Signs (sometimes)of genuine greatness: a group of people loves a thing passionately but can't fully explain why and another group finds the same thing overrated or boring. As with works of Berlioz and Shakespeare, this film will probably continue to generate mixed reviews several hundred years from now, when a lot of other "classics" are tired or forgotten. My opinion is it's a masterpiece and I can't fully tell you why either. Buy it, watch it, and if you don't like it put it up for sale and invest the profits in "Run, Lola, Run" or "The Lord of the Rings"--films whose merits can be readily explained. That way another film buff, a little short on dough perhaps, will be able to appreciate "The Rules of the Game."

My copy of this set sounds fine--a bit bright and edgy at times but nothing to write my congressperson about. I would've preferred a richer piano sound and modern digital recording, but hey, we can't have everything, especially in this sort of repertoire. These are swell performances of astonishing piano music. In unsympathetic hands, Ives (or nearly any "modern" composer) can sound like so much noodling--not so here. Ives himself enjoyed adventurous (and even incompetent!) interpretations of his music and was hardly fussy with his notation so it's tough to call any one recording of a work "definitive." A tip: look for hell-bent enthusiasm and/or profound mysticism more than any other qualities in Ives performances. You'll find them in this set, in old (and sonically imperfect) recordings like Bernstein's for CBS (now Sony) or the Stokowski performance of Symphony #4, and in the wonderful collection of Ives playing his own music. With Ives, the "critical edition" mentality or perfectionism of any type tend to miss the man's essential aesthetic and spiritual points.