Reviews

I first saw a 35mm Technicolor print of Blood & Roses totally uncut in Korea, in French. I am still waiting and searching for the complete French version to appear.

Beware of the Desert Island Classics release. Yes, it's 2.35 wide-screen, but the picture quality is so poor it looks like it was copied of a soft VHS.

Also, although package listed at 87 minutes, it only runs 76 minutes. Most important among missing footage is the "dream" sequence near the end where Carmilla is drawn into the mirror. Very elaborate and fairly long and with some nudity, it is visually stunning!

So... the search goes on. I really, really hope to someday get to see a complete version.

The more I watch this, the more I like it. Great epic scenes with a huge cast of soldiers, Indians, and horses in real American West settings. The wide screen Panavision photography (with original release prints in IB Technicolor) is excellent. CGI may be fine, but I have yet to see anything surpass the look of hundreds of REAL men on horses in stunning REAL outdoor settings.

As for the story, while I thought the book was very good, the way the characters are handled in the film is better in some ways, and the ending of the film much more to my liking.

One thing they did have to tone down from the book was the sex element. It appears WB even adjusted one sequence after prints were made up. This appears in Reel Two, where Matt Hazard (Tro Donahue) and Kitty Mainwarring (Susan Pleshette) are in thr cave together overnight. With Pleshette's back to audience line (apparently later dubbed in) says "Good night Matt" and there is an ABRUPT cut to daytime and troops coming into the fort. 35mm and 16mm prints I have seen all contain this SLICED cut. And the original 35mm trailer containing the cave sequence does not contain the "good night" line". I believe that originally there was an embrace and kiss between Troy and Suzanne and a DISSOLVE to the next scene (or fade out & in).

In any event, as Westerns go, this has a good story and looks better all the time, especially wide screen.

I am one of the fortunate who saw this in its original theatrical release. The color was never all that great, especially the opening pre-credits. But it wasn't terrible, either. Just your run-of-the-mill Eastman Color. It DID look good presented wide screen CinemaScope and the framing was designed very well to utilize the entire width of the 'scope screen aspect ratio. Those who have only see a flat P&S version are at a strong disatvantage. I read the book long after seeing the movie, and was surprised at the many differences. But the book was hardly CINEMATIC. So, I feel an excellent job was done in ADAPTING the story into a good movie. Whatever the problems involved during production and the additional shooting required, as a whole I would say it comes off fine. Especially the lighthouse material. I tried to imagine the movie without the lighthouse material (reportedly added after initial shooting was completed). But I will also be forever curious as to how they expexcted/did resolve the ending before the lighthouse material. I know for a fact that prior to release the running time was listed as 119 minutes. Oh, that the extra footage had survived. Some publicity stills give a slight indication, such as actually showing the Triffids attacking on the jet plane. Come we to the DVD. I have yet to see a worse transfer! The color saturation is so rich it is impossible to adjust to an acceptable level. It is listed as 99 minutes, though only the theatrical 94 minutes long. The sound is listed as "Dolby Stereo", which it is NOT. It is flat P&S and not wide screened. If this had been a $9.99 or less list price it STILL would have been totally unacceptable. But at a $24.99 it is inexcusable. What further bothers me is that there was a Laser Disc release with acceptable color and wide screened. BUYER BEWARE OF THE DVD! I hope that one day a better version turns up. It may not be the greatest sci-fi film ever made, but when seen properly sure is a highly enjoyable one.

Back in 1963 I had the rare pleasure to attend a "sneak prevue" of CARPETBAGGERS at the Chicago Theatre long before its regular release. (In THOSE days a sneak REALLY was just that! No name of picture announced in advance!) This was the completed work print with splices at every scene (though fades and dissolves WERE included). Marks were at the beginning of every shot to sync sound & picture, and the sound track was run in sync from 35mm mag. Several differences occured in final release prints. The version I saw: Then George Peppard comes to the house after his dad has died and goes up to Caroll Bakers bedroom, when he walks into her dressing area, the scene cuts to Carrol sitting at a chair in front of a mirror, with nothing on. In the Release Prints, the shots holds on the master scene of the bedroom and we only hear them talk till they come back out, Carroll finishing putting on robe. Irronically, a number of film magazines of the day actually printed a shot of Carroll suggestively in the chair (though more was shown on film) in full color. When Carroll is dancing on the chandellear in Paris, there was a clear shot of her nude on top, angain not in Release Prints. I believe there was one more altered scene, but this was a LONG time ago! However, the ending that is now on DVD (and was seen a number of years ago when AMC aired it widescreen) IS the version shown at the sneak. But... it seemed SO abrupt with that "THE END" title coming up so fast and the quick fade out, that with the Release Prints the scene was frozen and a voice-over (like the one at the beginning) extended it out a bit and helped remove the abrupt ending. So what happened to that ending??? Also, while the DVD looks quite good (consistant with the IB Technicolor release prints), there are NO extras. Not even the well done teaser or regular trailers (of which the regular trailer even appeared on AMC years ago). By the way, I have always enjoyed the movie a great deal. Good Holloywood sleeze stuff wraped up in bright Technicolr packaging.

I believe the only current way to truely appreciate this movie is to get the soundtrack of the stage play on disc or CD and listen to it. It will certainly fill in a lot of the gaps and lessen the confusion when the VHS video is viewed. Somewhere I read that "A Word A Day" was never filmed; too bad, as it's a great number. Based on the soundtrack, which has surprisingly good fidelity (especially after listening to the video), one can envision the play, and possibly uncut movie, as having been very enjoyable. So after watching the video, close your eyes and listen to all the outstanding musical numbers on the soundtrack and envision the stage play as it was and movie as it should have been. Let's hope an full length print someday surfaces.

How can there be so little attention and knowledge about this film? Nominated for SEVEN academy awards including Best Picture!

I have always felt that CinemaScope was made for B&W films. Scope films look really good B&W. And to my mind the best B&W photographed movie of All Time is SONS & LOVERS. This was a prestige picture for distributor 20th Century-Fox, as indicated by the rare lack of drum roll over the Fox Logo - instead the beginning of the outstanding music score is heard. In the Chicagoland area in 1960 and again at a theatre in Okland, CA in 1976 I had the pleasure to view the film with Mag Stereo Sound. I also saw a new print in NYC sometime in the early 80's. So why has Fox let this picture set in obscurity? My only knowlege of any TV exposure was on American Movie Classics Channel (scanned only) about ten years ago. This one NEEDS to be on DVD!!!!!!!!

One last comment. if you've ever read the book, you will really appreciate the great job that was done in "adapting" the novel. The screenplay, which is SO well done, is I'd say a good 80% original material.

When is this film going to get the NEW attention it deserves? John Wayne is STILL one of the best known and most popular actors of all times, and this is one of his best roles. While there doesn't seem to be much desire by "Hollywood" to re-release pictures these days, this one - in Color, CinemaScope, & Stereophonic Sound - is worth the effort. Hell! Give me the money and I'LL do the restoration work on it!

This one holds up extremely well. It's a real shame it seems to have fallen into public domaine, judging the poor quality tapes around. Some are at SLP and look terrible! In addition, Premminger used the wide screen Panavision lensing to greatly enhance the look, and much of this is lost in watching it pan&scan. There was a Laser Disc release on this one, which included the oveture, intermission, and E'trac music before part two. I originally saw this at the (now gone) Woods Theatre in downtown Chicago first run in 70mm. But I believe they ran it without an intermission. A number of 16mm IB Technicolor prints exist on THE CARDINAL, both in the Scope and masked (letterbox) format to preserve the full picture image. It's a matter of who HAS a print! The only theatrical trailer released was a GREAT 10 minute featurette in IB Technicolor & Scope with many behind the scenes shots of camera set-ups shootingin various locations. And there are several deleted from the final release scenes as well. Romy Schneider is one of my all time favorite actresses. She looks so BEAUTIFUL in this movie! One can only hope and pray that this one day winds up on DVD!! OR... how about someone coming up with the money to restore it for theatres?? I'll do the restoration if you come up with the money.

This film is SO perfectly cast! Shows how with good direction and script, a movie this tearfull for so much of the running time is NEVER corney or unbelievable. The sure don't make em like this anymore!! Actually saw this theatrically, though quite young, and also remember behing the scenes promotion on the old WB TV program of the mid '50's. Another fine film that should be on tape and DVD.

So sad that this one never got the recognition it deserves. I first saw it 16mm Scope when Universal was distributing Rank films in this country. Then it turned up a year later on a double bill at the Monroe Theatee in downtown Chicago I was fortunate to see it on the big screen. The wide screen Panavision lensing was used extremely well in the exteriors. This was a GREAT acting job by Oliver Reed. Unfortunately I have no idea if there ever were IB Technicolor prints on this, though I doubt it. However... the Rare 35mm trailer WAS in IB Tech! (though this is no indication, as many UA films of the 60s had Eastman color prints, but IB Tech trailers, including ELMER GANTRY, 633 SQUADRON, and many others.

This had some really great dialogue throughout, making it an even more pleasurable experience besides the intriguing offbeat plot and great locations. The photography is extremely colorful and looked great with original 35mm Panavision widescreen prints in IB Technicolor. I don't think distributor WB did a very good job of selling this one, which was sadly the case with many of their films when attached to 7 Arts. Another film that should be on tape and (one can only hope) DVD.

If you haven't seen the LONG version of this movie, you just haven't seen it! And certainly not the way Duke envisioned it. I was one of the fortunate few who did see it uncut - in 70mm TODD-A-O at the Palace Theatre in Chicago when it played roadshow with reserved seats. I was stunned when later in played the Roosevelt Theatre, the very heart and soul cut from it. For years I waited and hoped for the original version to turn up, and of course it finally did, first on VHS, and then on Laser Disc. So WHY WHY WHY is the DVD the crummy short version??? If you have not seen the long version of this film, then you have no business judging or rating it. By the way, there is a great book on the making of The Alamo with incredible insight into how it all happened, including the cuting down of the film. Too bad this one never got restored to play in theatres again. On the big screen at full length is where this one deserves to be seen and truely appreciated.

This one gets better with each new look. Certainly one of Paul Sorvino's best roles. Outstanding music score which was also outstanding on sound track LP (so why no CD?). One the very early dolby stereo sound film releases. By the way, the original 35mm theatrical trailer for this is really GREAT!

Its a shame thate there is no WIDESCREEN version of this film available. CinemaScope was used extremely well to cover the entire screen with effecitive images. Additionally, TRUE Stereo Sound was used (with even character voices seperated out across the screen). This might sound and feel awkward in a scanned version, but is quite effective when the ENTIRE widescreen picture is viewed. ALSO, although the credits list this movie as Deluxe Color, The feature (AND original 35mm trailer) were actually released IB TECHNICOLOR. Why it is listed as Deluxe I have no idea. Perhaps it was the last Fox CinemaScope IB release before they went to their own (lousy) Eastman Color process for all their CinemaScope films and there was confusion in the transition. It may not matter to many today which is credited, but it certainlly DOES matter in the visual LOOK. Nothing can compare with IB Tech!

No matter what you may think of the story (I like it!) or acting (a bit stiff at times) the effects are really great. This is another example of how good special effects could be, before we got into all the computer generated stuff which cannot hold a candle to the SHARPNESS of the miniatures and effects of 1950's IB Technicolor.