SPY VIBE

SCI FI ASSASSIN: LOGAN'S RUN

A Cold War-influenced classic, Logan's Run is a cautionary tale about a post-nuclear society that copes with overpopulation by killing off its citizens at age 30 (the novel and 2010 re-make set expiration around 21). Humanity has been confined for generations in a shopping mall-like dome, allowing for some very cool futuristic set design by Dale Hennesy ( In Like Flint, Fantastic Voyage, Dirty Harry) and Set Decorator Robert De Vestel (Batman, Green Hornet, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea). Spy Vibers will recognize a 70s slant on a number of elements we've explored here in 1960s design, including globe lamps and monitors and Kubrick-style white, minimal rooms. With its famous electronic score by Jeremy Goldsmith, its revealing (!) unisex wear and jumpsuit uniforms by Bill Thomas (The Black Hole), the tone of the future, like THX 1138 by Lucas and Fahrenheit 451 by Truffaut, is quite lulled into submission by consumerism and pleasure (in this case- sensual pleasure). At age 30, everyone enters a Colosseum-like chamber where they float up into an electric field that vaporizes them. To desire life and to run from this ritual is deemed deviant by society and punishable by death. Logan, the main character of the film, is indeed an assassin- a member of a sanctioned death squad that hunts down 'runners' and executes them with laser blasters. Logan is sent undercover on a mission to join the runners and expose what the government fears is an underground railroad to freedom in a place whispered about in dark alleys called Sanctuary. So begins Logan's Quest that brings him, and his community, toward self-awareness and survival. The film was released in 1976, just prior to Star Wars, and remains a stylish and evocative experience. Logan's Run will be released on Blu-ray on November 3rd and will include commentary by director Michael Anderson, star Michael York, and costume designer Bill Thomas. Additional cast includes Jenny Agutter, Farrah Fawcett, and Peter Ustinov. We'll let the lovely Agutter guide us on a tour of the sets and costumes:

NORTH BY NORTHWEST BLU-RAY

Spy Vibe fans of Alfred Hitchcock will be happy to hear that his classic North By Northwest will be coming to Blu-ray this fall. Although Hitchcock had already developed his trademark conventions (the maguffin, the wrong man, climax in an epic location), North By Northwest is remembered by many as the ultimate Hitchcock thriller. A suave, successful New York advertising executive finds himself mistaken as a spy and is embroiled in a web of intrigue, lost microfilm, seduction, and murder. Stars Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint (Grand Prix), James Mason, Martin Landau (Mission Impossible, Space 1999), Leo G. Carroll (The Man From U.N.C.L.E.), and Edward Platt (Get Smart).

Hitchcock set out to create a theme endearing to Spy Vibers in North By Northwest by accentuating the main character's isolation in the lap of mid-century modernist luxury. As Sandy MacLendon points out on JetSetModern, Hitchcock created a carefully crafted world of affluence that would be recognizable to a mass audience: The director himself chose Eva Marie Saint's wardrobe from Bergdorf Goodman and jewelry from Van Cleef. Chris from Clothes On Film discusses Grant's famous grey Kilgour suit, which has been recognized by GQ as an iconic look for men. Characters were put behind the wheels of the latest chic cars by Mercedes, Lincoln, and Cadillac. But where the film really shines for design fans is in its choice of locations: Plaza Hotel/New York, estate house/Long Island, UN Building/New York, Grand Central Station/New York, aboard the Twentieth Century Limited train to Chicago, and the piece de resistance- the modernist Vandamm home in the style of Frank Lloyd Wright. According to MacLendon, Wright had agreed to design a previous Hollywood film- for ten percent of the project's budget! Never to be thwarted, Hitchock had his design crew set to work on a Wright-style house that audiences would recognize, using Wright's signature materials and lines, and through matt photography, placed it atop Mount Rushmore. They added support beams for dramatic effect, providing a way for Grant's character to climb into the house undetected. MacLendon points out that "The living room set was dressed in the best of 1958’s furniture and art, and it makes a very interesting point. The furniture is largely Scandinavian Modern. There is Chinese art, and a Pre-Colombian statue figures prominently in the action. Greek flokati rugs are on the floors. Vandamm’s spying is meant to set the nations of the world at war, but it seems they co-exist peacefully enough under his roof!"

The title sequence by Saul Bass is also noteworthy. Bass had begun to design for Hitchcock on his previous film, Vertigo, and Bass pushed the theme of modernity further for North By Northwest. As the Design Museum describes: "In 1958’s Vertigo, his first title sequence for Alfred Hitchcock, Bass shot an extreme close-up of a woman’s face and then her eye before spinning it into a sinister spiral as a bloody red soaks the screen. For his next Hitchcock commission, 1959’s North by Northwest, the credits swoop up and down a grid of vertical and diagonal lines like passengers stepping off elevators. It is only a few minutes after the movie has begun - with Cary Grant stepping out of an elevator - that we realise the grid is actually the façade of a skyscraper." The use of bold fonts and animation based on perspective accentuated the geometric, sleek modern tone of the film.

According to John Patterson at The Guardian, "North By Northwest has been called the first James Bond movie (screenwriter Ernest Lehman called it "the ultimate Hitchcock picture" while he was writing it, but no matter). And the similarities are evident. In 1960 Hitchcock himself briefly considered directing Thunderball. Ian Fleming originally wanted Grant (who was a good friend of Bond producer Cubby Broccoli) to play 007 in Dr No, and North By Northwest surely had a lot to do with that (Grant turned down the part). 1959 was also the year Fleming published Goldfinger, the first truly ridiculous Bond novel (delightful though it is), which, as the third Bond movie, would perfect the NXNW-style template from which the series would barely deviate until the advent of Daniel Craig." Patterson's review of Goldfinger notwithstanding, the idea of a Hitchcock-directed Bond has been a point of discussion among 007 fans.

North By Northwest will be released on November 3rd. I don't see mention of a DVD edition yet, but I imagine a "50th Anniversary" will include DVD as well as the reported Blu-ray. The film has been ranked #7 in the top-ten greatest mystery films of all time by the American Film Institute. Video clips below.

THE PRISONER ON BLU-RAY

According to the Blu-ray website, A&E is planning to release one of our all-time fave shows on Blu-ray this fall -THE PRISONER! Here's hoping that we see The Prisoner followed by The Avengers. From Blu-ray.com:

In an early announcement to retailers, it has been revealed that A&E Home Video will release the cult British TV series 'The Prisoner' on Blu-ray on October 27. No release details have been disclosed at this time, other than it will be a five-disc set. This series had been announced in the UK earlier in the year, but the release was abruptly postponed without a date. The series starts with a secret agent resigning his post at an unnamed intelligence agency. Shortly thereafter, he is drugged and taken to a place just known as 'the Village', a prison town where nobody has names, only numbers. The protagonist is 'Number Six'. The head authority of the Village is Number Two. Apart from the obvious plot mysteries (where is the Village? why did Number Six resign? who is holding him captive? who is Number One? will Number Six escape?), the series touches upon several pressing issues in the 1960s, such as that of individuality versus authority. Also notable was the visual aspect of the series, helped to a great degree by the use of the whimsical Welsh village of Portmeirion. The release date is probably linked to the November air date of the series remake, starring Ian McKellen and Jim Caviezel.

CRACKING BLU-RAY

Fans of Thunderbirds, Stingray, and other puppet gadget/spy adventures from Gerry Anderson will recognize the many nods to Supermarianation in Nick Park's Wallace & Gromit films. Inspired by the likes of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, Alfred Hitchcock, Hammer Horror, and Michael Powell, Park's thriller/comedies instantly became part of the essential canon of Spy Vibe-style fun adventure. This September all four of the short films, including the recent A Matter of Loaf and Death, will be released on Blu-ray. The feature film is not included, and still no mention of the Cracking Contraptions shorts. You can pre-order the disc on Amazon.

GOLDFOOT in HD

Calling all Spy Vibe gamers and PS3 Blu-ray owners. Although the second Dr. Goldfoot film, Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs, is not available on DVD in the US, I did discover today that the film is available for download on the Playsation Network from Sony. Imagine my Spy Vibe delight when I finally had Wi-Fi installed in my lair today, turned on the PS3, and saw Goldfoot listed as a new release! The film is available for rent in Hi-def or Standard def, and for sale in Standard def. Both Goldfoot films are available for rent or purchase on iTunes. I've also noticed that Hulu streams the films directly on IMDB. You can't escape Dr. Goldfoot!