Carting that cannon again: Stanley Kramer's THE PRIDE AND THE PASSION hits Blu-ray

I had forgotten what a slough this 1957, star- and artillery-heavy movie actually is -- plot-wise and metaphorically speaking -- as Gary Grant,
Frank Sinatra and Sophia Loren, with the help of multitudinous Spanish extras, drag the largest cannon in the known world from one spot in Spain to another to keep the weapon out of the hands of Napoleon's army and eventually do some real damage to that army and its leadership.

It has been nearly 60 years since TrustMovies (back then a Los Angeles-based high-school student not much interested in world history) saw the film upon its initial release. He remembered it as big and long and heavy and occasionally actionful. It still is. Based on the C.S. Forester novel, The Gun -- a title that is short, smart and on the nose -- the movie was re-titled in typical Hollywood fashion to THE PRIDE AND THE PASSION and then handed to the thinking-man's hack director Stanley Kramer to make "meaningful." Or money-making. The former didn't happen, and despite the starry cast, I don't think the latter did, either.

Watching it now on the good Blu-ray transfer from Olive Films, the first thing you may notice is that all those thousands of extras are actual people, not CGI effects. My, god -- how did they do it! (Despite some gorgeous architecture and scenery, some of the backdrops we see are noticeably hand-painted.)  The film's very weak screenplay (by Edna and Edward Anhalt is given over to either logistics about the movement of that cannon or to the almost completely uninteresting would-be triangle love story in which Ms Loren's character moves from rebel leader Sinatra over to British military man Grant.

You can see from the old still above, compared to the new one below, how color has come back into the film with its new transfer. Mr. Grant, dapper as ever and assuming a nicely upper-crust Brit accent, looks as good as usual,

but Mr. Sinatra, below and bedded down, looks particularly scrawny in these loose Spanish period costumes. He also appears quite unhappy most of the time, which he was said to be during the shooting of the film.

For her part, Ms Loren simply smoulders, while trying half-heartedly to make peace between her guys. Because the only real concern here is getting that cannon to its destination, the love story seems less and less important and more and more ridiculous as the movie drags on. Characterization is at a minimum, particularly concerning Loren's role -- which has no real place in the proceedings.

The actress wears cleavage-exposing blouses throughout (and why not, with a body like that!), but the fact that she is often the only woman we see along for this ride makes her role seem all the more pointless. There's a very long "dance" number about one-third of the way in that goes on and on (it may be the single longest scene in the film and it adds nothing to the plot), but it does make you wonder if shaking that beautiful body wasn't the entire reason for casting the actress. (This was only her second American movie, after Boy on a Dolphin, with her Oscar-wining performance in Two Women still three years away.)

Kramer handles some of the action scenes with enough skill to keep us interested, and the film's scenery, scope, and that enormous cannon (below) do the rest. The movie is a curiosity that might be worth a rental, but not perhaps a purchase -- unless you are overly smitten with the stars or the artillery.

From Olive Films and running two hours and twelve minutes, the new Blu-ray transfer of The Pride and the Passion, is presented in 1.78:1 and was created using the best materials available, with a slight modification of the aspect ratio to better fit the home viewing experience. The movie is available now, on both Blu-ray and DVD, for purchase or rental. (Unlike the recently-covered Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon, Netflix actually offers this one for rental.)

Kim Ji-hoon's THE TOWER: Korea gives us a sleek, smart, modern-day "Towering Inferno"

They've done most everything else at this point, have those Koreans -- hugely successful monster movies, wartime dramas, thrillers, rom-coms, police proceedurals and more: just last week I covered one hell of a good werewolf romance -- so why not revive one of those Irwin Allen-type spectacles we haven't seen for some time? Fortunately, it's not The Swarm but one of the guy's better mainstream movies. The Towering Inferno that we're seeing here. And coming from Korea. of course, it's filled to the brim with drama ("melo" variety) laughs, tears and oodles of the most spectacular special effects. It's called simply THE TOWER, and it's yours to stream on Netflix right now.

Being a Korean movie, you'll find a lot more class consciousness -- in this tale of a pair of hi-rise towers, below and further below, beset by bad planning and even worse maintenance -- than you would have caught in any of the Allen film of decades past. How the wealthy and powerful are catered to (and finally saved well before the hoi polloi) is just part of the reason the movie will push that 1%-vs-the-99% button. As directed and co-adapted (from what, I wonder?) by Kim Ji-hoon, shown at right, the movie takes awhile to get going, as we must first meet a lot of different characters, including the buildings' workers, owner and tenants plus members of the fire brigade who will come to the rescue (or try to, at least).

There's a widowed dad and his cute little daughter, his maybe-might-be love interest (who also works at the site), a young couple (he's a sou chef, she works at reception), a cleaning lady desperately saving for her son's college education, the uber-decent chief of that fire brigade and his new recruit, the sleazy money-grubbing guy who's in charge of the buildings, and lots more.

Once the problems begin (and mount like an out-of-control wildfire), the movie takes off and afterward barely leaves us time to draw a breath. The special effect are first-rate -- from the holograph of an enchating performer, below, designed to amuse the guests...

...to the crashes, fires and explosions that keep popping up as rescue becomes less and less likely. Filmmaker Kim is particularly good with his pacing, never allowing the special effects to supersede the need for clarity of what is happending and suspense as to what this will mean.

Self-sacrifice plays a large part in the proceedings, as well, and as often happens with these new Korean films, you'll find yourself more moved by the finale than you might have expected.

Sure, this is yet another exercise in blockbuster creation via suspense, special effects and a decent enough story-line to keep us watching. But given the materials at hand, this one is handled about as skillfully as you could wish in a two-hour fingernail-biting entertainment.

Stealing from so many other, older movies -- from that Allen-produced film above to the better-than-expected Sylvester Stallone pic Daylight -- The Tower moves from placidity and Christmas-time joy to shock and awe with surprising ease and skill.

From CJ Entertainment, the movie can now be seen on Netflix streaming and Amazon Instant Video and on DVD.