In the summer of 1991, Frederick S. Clarke founded the magazine Femme Fatales. Designed as a sister publication to Clarke’s very popular and well-known publication Cinemafantastique, the magazine focused on actresses from sci-fi, fantasy, and horror movies, who would be spotlighted with a pin-up photoshoot and a lengthy retrospective interview about their career. Frequently, they would even be asked to contribute to the magazine as writers, giving the magazine a unique edge. After Clarke’s death, his widow offered the property to Mark A. Altman, a film and television producer. Several years later, Altman brought up the magazine in a meeting with premium cable executives, and the result is “Femme Fatales,” a “late night” Cinemax program about devious women trying to pull one over on their slimy husbands and boyfriends.

Although at least one or two of the episodes were apparently based on short stories published in the magazine, the connection between Clarke’s Femme Fatales and Altman’s “Femme Fatales seems pretty tenuous. Instead of sci-fi, fantasy, and horror, the show goes back to the film noir definition of the term, with the opening of each episode describing the show’s women as sirens whose beauty is so irresistable that men will quickly get in over their heads in order to please them. Each episode is “hosted” by Tanit Phoenix as “Lilith,” a fourth-wall-breaking “character” who pops up sometime in the first ten or fifteen minutes with a pun-filled monologue about this week’s story, and returns again at the end to summarize the (im)moral lesson.

I want to be very clear here, so as not to be dismissed as a spoilsport: I think it’s possible to make a good, sexy, “late night” cable show about women, just like I’m sure it’s possible to make a similar show about men. Actually, if the balance is right, “Femme Fatales” could hit both bases. However, the premise kinda prevents the show from having any likable or cool protagonists, because they all have to be “femme fatales.” Either we’re going to watch an “evil” woman get what’s coming to her, a “good” woman becoming corrupted by a drippy or abusive boyfriend, an innocent woman screwed over by an evil woman, or we’re celebrating their evil victories. Each one presents an unfortunate stereotype of women being manipulative and evil, and then induces whiplash by leaping back and forth between wanting to see them punished for it and wanting to see them win. For a show about women, it would be nice to side with them once in awhile (not to mention, to see some more women’s names in the show’s credits — not a single female writer or director this season).

Take “Behind Locked Doors,” for example, a two-part episode. Obviously inspired by Lindsay Lohan, the ep follows a spoiled train-wreck starlet named Lacey Rivers (Kit Willesee), forced to serve prison time after hitting three pedestrians while Tweeting behind the wheel. In the first part, Lacey struggles to adjust to prison life, taunted by the sadistic guard Maxine (J.C. Brandy) and pursued by a butch inmate named Big Aggie (Heidi James). She’s saved by her cellmate, Camille (Ana Alexander), who dislikes her at first, but steps in when Big Aggie tries to make her move. The pair begin thinking about what to do about Maxine when the episode ends. Lacey and Camille are both likable, and a good team, and Maxine and Big Aggie are good antagonists, but none of them are a “femme fatale.” Thus, the second part throws all of that in the garbage, turning Lacey selfish and manipulative. She hypnotizes a dim guard with googly eyes for her (Will Poston) into dealing with Maxine, screws over Camille, and gets cozy with the warden (Paul Mazursky). At the end of the first episode, you’d kinda like to see Lacey and Camille break out together; by the end of the second, it’s frustrating to only want Lacey to get what’s coming to her.

Some of the episodes are okay. “Till Death Do Us Part,” about a bride-to-be (Jordan Madley) who wakes up next to a dead male stripper on her wedding day, kind of gets around the “femme fatale” angle, but ultimately ends up with an equally disappointing “backstabbing / jealousy” stereotype. “Speed Date” also makes a decent attempt, following a nerdy computer programmer (Reginald C. Hayes) who lies on his online dating profile and ends up with a former assassin (Daphne Duplaix) trying to tie off the final loose ends from her old job. “Girls Gone Dead” comes up with the most sympathetic reason all season to root for the girls, and “The Clinic”, about a mysterious foreign hospital offering illegal treatment for a fatal disease, offers most likable heroine in Lindsay (Robin Sydney), a bubbly patient who bonds with protagonist Logan (Daniel Bess). Directorially, the show is pretty basic, although the extras clearly illustrate that even these simple setups are kind of a miracle (each episode was shot in 3 days). I have to give the show a small amount of credit for encouraging at least some diversity in both body type and skin color (only one of these women is frighteningly skinny and not all of them are covered in plastic surgery!), and I do think the one brilliant little touch here is the unexpected continuity: the entire show is set in the same fictional city of Cuesta Verde, allowing characters to recur, although the show probably pushes its luck in the two-part season finale, which sort of breaks the fourth wall in a completely inexplicable way. All things considered, the problem with “Femme Fatales” is not that it’s a program to be looked down upon as trash, but that its nature prevents so many people from aiming higher.

The episodes in this set break down as follows:
Disc 1: “The White Flower”, “Something Like Murder”, “Behind Locked Doors, Part One”, “Behind Locked Doors, Part Two”, “Speed Date”, “Bad Medicine”, “Girls Gone Dead”
Disc 2: “Till Death Do Us Part”, “Help Me, Rhonda”, “The Clinic”, “Haunted”, “Angel & Demons”, “Visions: Part One”, “Visions: Part Two”.

The DVD
“Femme Fatales”: The Complete First Season comes in a transparent, single-width, 3-disc Amaray case with a flap tray, with a sort of nondescript photo of Tanit Phoenix holding a gun on the front and pictures of some of the cast on the back (you’d think they might try and make this look like an issue of the magazine…). The dual-sided paper artwork has an episode listing with short descriptions of each episode showing through on the inside of the case (over a backdrop of two women making out in silhouette), and there is no insert.

The Video and Audio
Entertainment One’s presentation of “Femme Fatales” leaves quite a bit to be desired. The 14 episodes are spread across the first two discs, which is probably one episode more than is optimal for prime DVD compression. As a result, banding and compression artifacts are significant issues for the 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen presentation. Shot on the RED One, clarity, detail, and color are not an issue (even if a little more soft focus might’ve helped the show look less stagey and low-budget), but the backgrounds are often a storm of blocks and posterization, with occasional aliasing to boot. With some poorly compressed DVDs, the viewer needs to be watching on a larger screen or really looking to spot issues, but the only thing more prominent in the show than beautiful women is the shortcomings of the DVD.

Dolby Digital 5.1 audio is a little better, but, again, the show’s low-budget nature takes something away from the experience. Dialogue sounds fine, and the music and sound effects spread out to the surround channels as expected, but the simplicity of the sound effects and the generic score all contribute to a “direct-to-DVD” feel, limiting the show’s aural impressiveness. Were the show presented in 2.0 instead of 5.1, I honestly can’t say it would make a huge difference. English captions for the deaf and hard of hearing are also included.

The Extras
Audio commentaries are provided on every one of the show’s 14 episodes by cast and crew members. A sampling of one or two reveals them to be relaxed but unremarkable, with the usual discussion of how each episode came to be, on-set minutia, and jokes. For the hardcore fans only.

Four featurettes are included. “Creating ‘Femme Fatales'” (13:32) discusses the origins of the show, starting with the magazine that the show is based on, and expanding to the classic film noir (Double Indemnity) and other TV shows (“The Twilight Zone”, “Alfred Hitchcock Presents”) that served as inspiration for the producers. “Shooting ‘Femme Fatales’: The Making of Season one” (29:55) is a longer and more specific making-of featurette that touches on each episode of the series. The overarching theme here is the intensely short production schedule (3 days an episode), but the highlight is comments from the women, who talk about the challenges of fighting naked, the bond that comes from killing together, how to react to a teabagging robot, dealing with the cold, and fear of being eaten (by stuffed polar bears) as a motivation for acting. “Making Love: Anatomy of a Sex Scene” (15:22) is a further discussion of all the nudity on the show, although for some reason there’s actually quite a bit of discussion of episodes which are from the second season. Finally, the “San Diego Comic-Con 2011 Panel” (44:27) is presented in its entirety.

Additional footage includes 11 deleted and alternate scenes (37:35) from six episodes, with short text descriptions of why the scenes were deleted (the first one: “This shot was deleted because it was superflous, and deemed unflattering to the actress.” Hmmm…), and a short blooper reel (5:00), as well as a photo gallery.

Two lengthy extras wrap up the disc. First, there’s a director’s cut of “The White Flower” (19:42) in black and white, with an optional audio commentary by the director and producer discussing the new cut, a little about Cinemax’s stipulations (some of the nudity was cut out of the DC via altered framing), and the decision and process of going black-and-white. Lastly, an isolated score track for “Help Me Rhonda” (30:37) is offered as a menu screen. No idea why they chose to include it this way; it would probably have been better to include the track as an alternate audio option on the episode.

A gallery of TV spots and promos for “Femme Fatales” is also included.

Conclusion
“Femme Fatales” shows a fleeting glimmer of inspiration, and I firmly believe a show like this could deliver on its audience’s expectations, not necessarily by curbing its exploitative nature but by at least making it equal-opportunity and playing to all audiences. Sadly, this first season only tries so hard. Rent it.

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Beginning with the release of Perry Mason – Season 7, Volume 1, CBS DVD and Paramount seem to be racing to the finish line with this and other classic television releases. This review covers Perry Mason – Season 7, Volume 2, which comes just two months after its predecessor, while Season 8, Volumes 1 and 2 are already slated for later this month and mid-January, respectively. If DVD is dead no one’s bothered to tell CBS DVD and Paramount.

Perry Mason – Season 7, Volume 1, includes the last 15 episodes of the 1963-64 season, with “The Cases of the Fifty Million Frenchmen” (my favorite title), “The Case of the Nervous Neighbor,” and other cases involving a Frightened Fireman, an Arrogant Arsonist, a Garrulous Go-Between, a Simple Simon, and so forth. (“The Case of the Bountiful Beauty” previously appeared on Perry Mason – 50th Anniversary Edition. The others are new-to-DVD.) There are few surprises but a lot of entertainment. I still find the series enormous fun, and to its credit Perry Mason is still the same fine if unwavering show it’s always been. The shows are, even by TV standards of the day, slickly produced with excellent production values and top-drawer guest casts.

I’ve yet to see a truly terrible Perry Mason, though more than a few have put me to sleep. Nevertheless, the range between the best and worst episodes is so narrow I doubt even fans of the series could point to a particular favorite episode. That is, unless it was one of the very small handful of shows actually deviating from its established format. Though still fun, in this day of more sophisticated legal dramas like Law & Order, The Practice/Boston Legal, and Damages, watching the less believable and more formulaic Perry Mason requires a bit of an adjustment. And as this is my fourteenth (!) Perry Mason DVD review, you’ll excuse me if I don’t have much to add by this point.

Connie Cezon makes three rare appearances as Gertie, Perry’s receptionist

(See below for comments relating to this set)

Really at the core of Perry Mason‘s appeal is its cast, and that’s hardly changed at all. Besides ingenious, resourceful Perry Mason (Burr), the famous Los Angeles attorney who never loses a case, there’s Perry’s loyal, tireless personal secretary, Della Street (Barbara Hale), and their worldly, slightly cynical pal/colleague, P.I. Paul Drake (William Hopper). Cases usually have them up against easily-aggravated, perennial loser D.A. Hamilton Burger (William Talman).

Also in the cast, sort of, is actor Ray Collins (Citizen Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons), a fine actor who in Perry Mason‘s first five seasons played slippery Lt. Arthur Tragg, Burger’s colleague and a veteran cop who derived much pleasure in arresting Perry’s distressed clients. Collins was suffering from advanced emphysema around this time, and in the handful of seventh season episodes in which he appears is notably thinner and frailer than the robust older man he was when the series debuted. Although duly credited in each show he’s actually in none of the episodes here, though he would return for a few more brief appearances filmed shortly before his death in July 1965.

Essentially a mystery show with a courtroom setting for its climax, Perry Mason‘s single flaw is that as a mystery it doesn’t really play fair with its audience, though the same could be said for B-movie mysteries of the 1930s and ’40s, radio mystery shows, and virtually all other TV whodunits. Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot (to name two examples) faced seemingly irresolvable cases with bizarre, inexplicable clues, yet the solutions were always quite simple and logical. The great literary detectives simply had powers of observation lost on us mere mortals, even though we’re armed with the same information as those protagonists.

On the other hand, Perry Mason, the Charlie Chan movies, Murder, She Wrote, etc. operate under a different set of rules. The resolutions to the mysteries don’t always make sense and audiences often don’t have access to the same clues the protagonists do, and they often leap to conclusions and solve crimes in ways that don’t hold up to scrutiny. Instead, these kinds of movies, TV and radio shows rely heavily on atmosphere, characterization and star power to entertain their audiences. One might guess who the real murderer is, but in most cases you won’t be able to solve the mystery on your own.

Fortunately Burr, Hale, and Hopper are just wonderful in their roles. Apparently they became close friends in real life, and this camaraderie very much extends to their scenes together on the show. About the middle of season two, Talman’s Hamilton Burger started getting more shading, a welcome addition. Often regarded as television’s most thankless role, Hamilton Burger this season still is Perry’s weekly nemesis but now he’s more affable outside the courtroom and flexible in, especially when new evidence casts a shadow of a doubt over the guilt of Perry’s client.

Notes About Season 7, Volume 2: Business as usual, pretty much. Seasons 8 and 9, Perry‘s final two years, would be much more experimental and playful. The results weren’t necessarily good, but they were a refreshing break from the slightly monotonous norm and it’s also clear the cast is enjoying themselves in these later episodes. Raymond Burr famously began reading his dialogue off TelePrompTers during Perry Mason‘s run, a practice he continued on Ironside and the later Perry Mason TV movies, apparently. It was in this batch of shows where I first clearly spot him doing this. He may have been reading his dialogue off television monitors earlier but this was the first time it caught my attention.

In its defense, the practice predates Perry Mason by at least a decade. Producer-director-actor did something similar on the original Dragnet deliberately, for effect, as Webb sought flatter but more realistic and non-actorly line readings. Burr, on the other hand, seems to be using the TelePrompTer simply to get through long stretches of witness testimony, legal jargon, and interrogation. Regardless, he’s very good at it; only the occasional awkward camera angle gives away the trick, that Burr often is looking past the actor and reading lines off a nearby monitor.

Most of the episodes in this set are cut from the same cloth as other seasons’ shows, but a few try to break free a bit from the overly familiar mold. And it’s always fun to watch the interaction among Perry, Della, and Paul. In “The Case of the Ice-Cold Hands,” for instance, a young woman (Joyce Bulifant) asks Perry to hold on to horse race tickets. The look on Paul’s face when Perry’s long-shot wins is priceless. (This was one of the few episodes of this period actually based on an Erle Stanley Gardner story.)

Guest stars in this set include Richard Davalos, Dabbs Greer, Phyllis Coates, Ryan O’Neal, Douglas Fowley, Jean Carson, John Zaremba, Fifi D’Orsay, Paul Winchell, Jeanne Cooper, Sheila Bromley, Les Tremayne, Barry Atwater, Booth Coleman, Francis X. Bushman, David McCallum, Jacques Bergerac, Jackie Coogan, Coleen Gray, Don Collier, Arthur Franz, Mala Powers, Connie Gilchrist, Richard Devon, William Smith, Stacy Keach Sr., Tom Tully, Frank Aletter, Jeff York, Sue Randall, Lori March, Anthony Eisley, Jacques Aubuchon, Merry Anders, Jerry Van Dyke, Harry Townes, Nancy Gates, Joyce Meadows, Victor Buono, Virginia Field, Tom Conway, Douglas Lambert, James Stacy, Don “Red” Barry, Malachi Throne, Mona Freeman, Keith Andes, Ron Randell, Norma Varden, Berry Kroeger, Michael Ansara, George Tobias, Peter Breck, Richard Erdman, Billy Halop, Tom Lowell, Burt Metcalfe, Mimsy Farmer, Peter Hobbs, Tudor Owen, Ron Gans, Malcolm Atterbury, Vaughn Taylor, Ted de Corsia Neil Hamilton, Philip Ober, Ann Rutherford, Lonny Chapman, Natalie Trundy, Pat Priest, Constance Towers, Reginald Gardiner, Max Showalter, and Ford Rainey.

Connie Cezon makes three brief final appearances as Perry’s rarely-seen receptionist, Gertie.

Willis Bouchey, Morris Ankrum, S. John Launer, Kenneth MacDonald, John Gallaudet, and Nelson Leigh are back as judges, joined by an inordinate number of judicial neophytes: Sidney Smith, Kenneth Patterson, Tom Harkness, Harry Stanton, Harry Holcombe, and Barney Biro.

Almost all the shows in this set were directed by Arthur Marks or Jesse Hibbs, though Irving J. Moore helmed a couple of others.

Video & Audio

　 CBS DVD’s Perry Mason – Season 7, Volume 2 presents 15 terrific-looking episodes spread over four single-sided, dual-layered DVDs. The black and white full-frame image is very sharp and detailed with strong blacks. The Dolby Digital English mono is generally quite good, too, and English SDH subtitles are offered. Episodes are not time-compressed, with some running up to 52 minutes. The music does not appear to have been altered, though a disclaimer warns “some episodes may have been edited from their original network versions.” If so, I didn’t notice any obvious changes.

Extra Features

None.

Parting Thoughts

Once again, Perry Mason‘s half-season sets continue at a good clip, at a reasonable pace, and with high quality transfers always. It’s a terrific show and if you’ve been buying them all along you won’t be disappointed here. Highly Recommended.

Stuart Galbraith IV is a Kyoto-based film historian whose work includes film history books, DVD and Blu-ray audio commentaries and special features. Visit Stuart’s Cine Blogarama here.

The Movie:

This early Doctor Who serial from 1964 once again finds the Doctor (as played in his original incarnation by William Hartnell) travelling around with his friends, Ian Chesterton (William Russell), Barbara Wright (Jacqueline Hill) and granddaughter Susan Foreman (Carole Ann Ford). When we meet up with them, he’s doing what he can to return them to swinging sixties London but as you’d guess if you have any knowledge of the series, he slips up and the T.A.R.D.I.S. lands them all on the other side of the English channel about a century or so in the past.

When the time travelling phone booth lands and its inhabitants step up, they wander about and eventually realize that they’ve landed in France just outside of Paris during the middle of that country’s own revolution – or close to it at least, it seems that none other than Robespierre is still in charge and not doing a particularly nice job of running the show. In typical Doctor Who style, the crew get inadvertently mixed up in the events taking place right in front of them and before you know it Ian’s been tossed in jail and Susan and Barbara slated for execution at the guillotine. The Doctor gets mixed up in a few mishaps of his own, and along the way, well… there’s Napoleon.

A bit of history is in order for this one. Reign Of Terror was considered lost until, oddly enough, the first three and the last episodes of the six part storyline were found in Malta of all places. Episodes four and five were never found, at least the video wasn’t – the BBC did uncover the audio and so those two episodes have been included here in black and white animated form with the original audio over top. It’s not necessarily the ideal way to see the storyline play out, but it’s certainly an interesting way to make the best out of a bad situation. The animation style is a little underwhelming and those expecting super realistic CGI or amazingly fluid Disney style work may be disappointed, but it works for the most part and, if nothing else, at least allows fans to see how the storyline plays out.

With that aside, how does the serial itself hold up Well, it’s very light on the science fiction elements that the series is known for and for that reason it might not have an appeal as some of the later entries in the show. There are no Cybermen or Daleks here, no aliens or any space travel – instead, the storyline sticks to its historical setting and doesn’t really attempt to mess with it much at all. The real reason to want to seek this one out is to see Hartnell grow into the character here. His Doctor is an interesting character. When we first meet him he’s not particularly nice to his companions but as they wind up in trouble his concern does become more obvious. He doesn’t use a sonic screwdriver to save the day, instead he outwits those who would do his friends harm and sneaks his way across and through Paris to meet with the men in charge of things. He comes across as clever and crafty and makes quite an interesting comparison to the more modern incarnations of the character. Balance this with the noticeably sarcastic performance given by William Russell, who provides most of this storyline’s comic relief, and the more over the top and emotional turns provided by Hill and Ford and you do at least wind up with an enjoyable cast to watch.

All in all, this is a good way to kill two and a half hours. There’s an enjoyable sense of humor here and the historical aspect of the show was probably a sly way to educate the younger viewers who would have tuned in during its original broadcast. This might not ever be regarded the way some of the other early serials are but there’s certainly a good amount of fun to be had here even if it isn’t as tense or as exciting as other storylines have been. It’s maybe a middle of the road entry, but still one worth seeing.

The DVD:

Video:

Well… the first couple of episodes look about as good as they’re going to look given that they’re taken from the only existing elements. Expect the image to be on the soft side, and you won’t have to look too hard to notice the noise over the image. The last episode follows suit but is in better shape. Overall though, the fullframe black and white picture quality is perfectly watchable. The two black and white animated episodes that are bookended by the original black and white episodes look excellent, which makes sense as they’re more or less newly created – they show nice detail and strong line work and are plenty easy on the eyes.

Sound:

The English language Dolby Digital Mono tracks that span the six episodes that make up this storyline work more or less the same way that video does – the first two episodes are a bit rough, the third slight improved, the animated ones sound better, and then the last episode sounds even better, but still not perfect. Again, we can rightly assume that the BBC have done the best they can with what was available. It’s all listenable, just expect some flatness and some hiss here and there on the black and white episodes. Optional English subtitles are provided which are nice and easy to read.

Extras:

Extras start off with a commentary track that comes courtesy of Carole Ann Ford, Neville Smith, Caroline Hunt, Jeffrey Wickham, Patrick Marley, Philip Morris, Tim Combe, Ronald Pickup, and Paul Vanezis. There’s a fair bit of discussion here as to how the original episodes were found and some interesting history of what initially happened to them that puts a lot of the technical issues behind this release in context. On top of that there’s discussion of working with Hartnell and other cast members and a nice run down of the history of the show up to this point early in its run. This commentary is complimented quite nicely by a trivia track that, when enabled, plays out as a subtitle stream and offers up scene specific trivia and background information on each of the six episodes. It also provides some welcome historical context in regards to the actual history behind the ‘French Revolution’ setting that this particular story plays out in.

From there, check out the Don’t Lose Your Head: The Making Of The Reign Of Terror featurette that clocks in at roughly twenty-five minutes. Ford pops up here as well and shares some memories of her time spent on the set and there are some other odds and ends discussed here – it’s interesting if you’re into the history of the series and quite well put together. Robospierre’s Domain Set Tour is a marginally interesting collection that shows off the background design work that was used in the animated portions of the serial – it’s not the most enlightening supplement but it’s worth watching once. Also included here is an extensive still photo gallery, a still gallery of animation design work, a brief promotional spot but the upcoming special edition DVD release of Ark In Space, some PDF material accessible by way of your DVD-Rom drive, menus and chapter selection.

Final Thoughts:

Doctor Who: Reign Of Terror isn’t a high point in the series’ history but it is a perfectly entertaining entry that gives Hartnell a good chance to show off what he can do as the character. It isn’t nearly as heavy on the science fiction elements as many of the more beloved storylines are but it’s amusing and enjoyable enough and makes for an interesting look at the early part of the series. The BBC’s DVD release looks about as good as it realistically can and it contains some quality extras as well. Recommended for fans of the series, though probably not the best starting place for those new to the Doctor Who universe.

Ian lives in NYC with his wife where he writes for DVD Talk, runs Rock! Shock! Pop!. He likes NYC a lot, even if it is expensive and loud.

Natsumes Book of Friends DVD Review

Natsume’s Book of Friends is an anime adaptation of the original manga by Yuki Midorikawa. The anime adaptation is from director Takahiro Omori (Baccano!, Durarara!!) and the series began airing in Japan in 2008 and aired in four seasons through to 2012. It’s an episodic, fun, and generally lighthearted show about a character who can see yokai spirits.

The story is about a young man named Natsume and his adventures (or misadventures?) as he sees yokai spirits that often chase after him due to his resemblance to his grandmother Reiko. Natsume has the same book that his grandmother used to collect the names and sprits of the yokai, and this is a book that Natsume doesn’t seem to want to have anything to do with. It doesn’t take long into the series for him to decide that he wants to return the names of the collected yokai and to set them free from the book his grandmother created.

Natsume is not your typical teenager, and this is of course something that is clear from the get go. He is not typical in several ways, not only in consideration of the fact that he can see and speak to yokai and most teenagers (and adults) cannot do so at all. Natsume is a kind, mature youth of considerable decency when it comes to how he interacts with others. Natsume’s kind determination to aid others is one of his greatest personal strengths. He is also deeply spiritual energy-wise and thus the strong connection to spirit beings on the show.

In the spirit world, the book of friends is a highly sought after item and one that holds a lot of value to many yokai spirits. There are other spirits who would like to possess the book solely because of what it could bring them in newfound powers and abilities. Natsume has no real interest in any of this power that could be attained from the book of friends.

Upon meeting a spirit who does care about the book’s special powers, a charismatic and odd feline cat (a yokai sealed in a cat statue who then takes on the cat form), Natsume decides to enlist his help and promise the cat-yokai, Nyanko-sensei, the book upon his passing. The cat (might as well call him one!) responds favorably and decides to enlist his help to Natsume in working as a bodyguard of sorts for Natsume. A friendship and many a funny quip from that kitty-cat begins.

For the most part, this is a well done show. It actually reminds me a bit of Cardcaptor Sakura with the premise. This is of course somewhat hilarious when one stop’s and considers how it technically is almost a polar-opposite plot-concept in execution. The ideas are similar but the stories themselves and the direction taken was quite different.

Serious anime fans will be inclined to appreciate the fact that this is a character-based show, and not altogether focused upon the plot machinations. It’s a series with an actual story but it spends a lot more time on focusing on the character developments and these moments are at the core of the series. You learn more about Natsume and it helps the show achieve long-term success. This is a highly episodic series and one that will appeal those looking for a fun journey. The artwork impresses, the direction is sublime, and the characters are fascinating to behold and get to know. Natsume’s Book of Friends is a true success as an anime series.

Video:

Natsume’s Book of Friends is a beautiful looking series but the DVD presentation isn’t one of the best I’ve seen. The image is a bit soft and the colors are sometimes less pronounced than I would have expected. However, the transfers are clean and seem to present the source material as well as can be expected. These 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen transfers retain the original television broadcast presentation.

Audio:

The audio is Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0. Subtitles are in English. The series has a fairly standard audio presentation that seems more focused on dialogue than anything else, but it does have good depth when it comes to music reproduction and occasional front-channel sound effects which are well utilized on the show.

Extras:

NIS America is the most impressive new anime distributor to arrive on the scene for North American audience in ages, and the company has licensed all four seasons of this series for release over two Premium Edition DVD collections. This first collection contains the first and second seasons of the series.

The series is housed in a collectible art-box with an art-book featuring the outer design of Natsume’s book of friends (as seen in the series), an episode guide for the two seasons, an interview with the director, character designs, production artwork, and pages of full-page art from the series.

On-disc extras include clean openings and endings for each season and Japanese promotional commercials.

Final Thoughts:

Natsume’s Book of Friends is an entertaining series that is worth checking out for anime fans, and this premium edition DVD release from NIS America is a real winner despite the lack of many on-disc extras. The quality of the presentation is good and the packaging is amazing. It definitely is a release that deserves consideration.  For fans of the anime, this will be an easy purchase.  The set is well worth owning.

Highly Recommended.

Neil Lumbard is a lifelong fan of cinema, and a student who aspires to make movies. He loves writing, and currently does in Texas.

THE PROGRAM

If you’ve ever had the pleasure of seeing a TV segment by the late Huell Howser, you might believe Huell’s take on any given topic might be as strange as it could get. One of his most memorable segments took place at the Bagdad Café, located in the California ghost town of Bagdad. Howser’s seemingly impromptu interview segment revealed a few colorful regulars as well as a mysterious painting of Burt Lancaster on the wall that captivated Howser’s nearly childlike wonder. The precipitating factor for doing a segment on the Bagdad Café was its use as the locale in the 1987 film of the same title. Do yourself a favor and go watch the Huell Howser segment and then come back; I guarantee, what you see there is far more sensible and grounded in reality than what this curious, independent film has to offer.

Co-written and directed by Percy Adlon, “Bagdad Café” or “Out of Rosenheim” as it was known outside the US, is the German filmmakers first English language film. Beginning with a surreal and somewhat ominous opening sequence where our film’s lead protagonist, Jasmin Münchgstettner (Marianne Sägebrecht) leaves her boorish husband for reasons unknown, before stumbling across the titular locale and its collection of colorful denizens, viewers are thrown into an in medias res, situation; we know absolutely no critical details about Jasmin nor why she chose to leave her husband, or why she’s in a small Californian desert town in the first place, nor do we know much about the people who make up the community of the Bagdad Café, which in the film, also features a small, decrepit motel. Adlon’s script seems incredibly sparse, but this disorienting sense allows us to share in Jasmin’s plight, even if she’s a stranger to us for most of the film’s runtime.

As the film progresses and we learn of the other characters, namely the café/motel’s hardworking, beleaguered owner, Brenda (C.C.H. Pounder), and a fancifully dressed, smooth-talker, Rudi Coxx (Jack Palance), we quickly discover the details are not the intention of “Bagdad Café,” it’s all about atmosphere and the raw concept of human interaction. Unfortunately, at a base level, the film’s screenplay feels very one-dimensional; the only cues that the film is more than a poorly written avant-garde exercise are the film’s exquisite, stylized cinematography and the Oscar nominated song “Calling You” that is used to great effect in a few tonal montages. The film relies almost entirely on audience inference as Jasmin and Brenda form a friendship, despite the latter’s inherent hostility. We see both women grow through their actions, not words and eventually, in the case of Jasmin, a curious relationship with Coxx sets up a third act with too much to tie-up.

The third act of the film is a real letdown as Adlon’s film trots out a few obvious clichés, including a well-meaning, but hackneyed musical number. The film does remain true to asking viewers to infer intent, right down to the final scene, which carries tremendous emotional resonance and is a shockingly bold choice. The performances ultimately come out shining brighter than any element in the film, with both actresses delivering incredibly humane performances of starkly contrasting personalities. Sägebrecht in particular does a lot of expressive acting and the change in her character’s physical appearance coincides with the evolution in her personality. From a minor historical perspective, Palance’s performance marks a departure from a long career in the Western genre, and may very well be the catalyst into his later, career defining performance in “City Slickers.”

While the film has been seemingly forgotten in time, shortly after its release it did find its way to television screens in the form of a ABC sitcom that is cringe worthy from a sheer conceptual standing. “Bagdad Café” is by no means a conventional film, nor a highly accessible one. It would be incredibly simple (and I might even say slightly justified) to claim the film is a tad self-indulgent or fixated on its quirk, but the stripped down script and visual appeal that dabbles in the surreal offer a heartfelt message of finding oneself while making honest connections to others.

THE DVD

The Video

The film’s 1.66:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer is a bit rough around the edges. Colors are overly saturated, more evident in sequences where primary color filters are used to convey specific feelings. There’s a bit of bleeding under scrutiny and overall, the clarify of the colors feel a bit on the unnatural side (whether intentional or not). There is moderate to heavy digital noise/grain from start to finish, while detail average to above average.

The Audio

The Dolby Digital English stereo soundtrack is quite clean and clear, although there’s not a tremendous amount of low-end life to the film’s aural presentation. From a balance standing, everything is well mixed and appropriately natural. One highlight is the film’s stunning theme, “Calling You” which is nicely reproduced here, perhaps better than anything else.

The Extras

None.

Final Thoughts

While the film’s technical presentation isn’t as strong as one might hope, especially for a visually intense film as this, “Bagdad Café” is still worth checking out. While definitely more avant-garde than straightforward, the film is not wholly inaccessible to an unsuspecting audience and at the very least, it plays well as a slice-of-life story enhanced by artistic flourishes. Recommended.