*** Special Note: It's not often that I really feel a need to put a SPOILER WARNING at the head of one of these write-ups. After all, generally we're talking about films that go back as far as the very earliest days of movie-making Even today's film is nearly 50 years old. So there is a large part of me that says anything in the movie is fair game to talk about. Nonetheless, a huge part of the enjoyment of this movie is the twists and turns that it takes, and there is no real way to discuss it in any meaningful way without revealing at least some of these. Although I've tried to do so without revealing too much, if you are one of those people who truly likes to go into a movie without knowing what's going to happen, you might want to go ahead and watch it (it is available on Netflix "Watch Instantly", at the Internet Archives, and even on YouTube, along with great looking Criterion Blu-Ray and DVD editions) and then come back to read this.
Simply put, though, this movie gets my highest recommendation. If you love thrillers, especially those with a comic twist, I think you'll really enjoy this one. Beyond that, well, if you want to know more, keep reading, but you have been warned.***
We've discussed before the ever-popular "old dark house" type mystery. You know the ones: strangers gathered for some reason - perhaps they were driven there by a storm, perhaps they are gathered for the reading of a will, perhaps they are simply being paid - in a creepy old house, trapped with no way out until morning, and soon they are being picked off one by one. sometimes the murderer turns out to be one of them. Sometimes it's their host. Sometimes it's some previously unseen or unknown third party. Usually there are secret passages or unseen traps. Sometimes, as in House on Haunted Hill, there's a pit of acid in the basement. Every once in awhile, there are even actual ghosts.
Hiya Kiddies! Y'know, it's a story that's been told many, many times over the years. A grieving widow is approached by someone who claims to be able to help them reach their lost love on "the other side". Of course, most of the time, the "spiritualist" or "medium" turns out to be a phony, but sometimes, as in the popular '90's movie Ghost, well, there is more to the story.
I'm not going to give away here where The Amazing Mr. X falls on the "is he a fake or not" scale, because honestly there's quite a few twists and turns along that road in this film and I don't want to give them away. Instead, I want to take just a minute to talk about the, if you'll forgive the use of the word, amazing black and white cinematography of this film.
Y'know, kiddies, one can't help but get the impression from watching the movies of the time that being a "big city reporter" during the 1930's was a much more exciting job than it is today. We've already seen examples of reporters being held at gunpoint by supposed mass murderers trying to prove their innocence in The Front Page and His Girl Friday. The Payoff even gave us a crusading reporter who had to turn the tables on his own publisher before the boss had him killed to keep him from printing his story. And, of course, each of these intrepid reporters were able to not only expose the bad guys but do it with an aplomb and sparkling wit that showed why they were considered top wordsmiths. Well, today you can add two more reporters to that list as we meet Pat Morgan (Ginger Rogers) and Ted Kord (Lyle Talbot) who find themselves in deadly danger as the seek out the truth behind a series of murders in A Shriek in the Night.
Somehow, I don't think Ward Cleaver would approve if he caught the Beav doing this stuff.
Seriously - robbing banks, poisoning a poor, defenseless (though incredibly annoying) old lady, framing her niece as an accomplice - these are not the kinds of actions we usually associate with the man TV Guide ranked as one of the top 50 all-time TV dads.
Actually, before he became known to a generation as the achetypical laid-back suburban-philosophy spewing dad of Wally and the Beaver, Beaumont was regularly known for his tough guy roles. He portrayed hard-boiled detective Michael Shayne in a series of five films beginning in 1946, and guest-starred in a number of detective series on both sides of the law. As a matter of fact, it's said that Beaumont resented his role as Ward Cleaver, feeling that it overshadowed his true abilities.
He definitely strikes a different note in this film, portraying bank robber Steve Clark who has just pulled a $200,000 heist. Looking for a way to safely launder the money, he stops off in a small California town. Stashing the money in a safe-deposit box, Clark quickly gets a job as a cab driver and just as quickly starts making time with local lovely Julie Saunders. Saunders lives alone except for her sickly and demanding (but rich) aunt. When Clark sees the set-up he immerses himself in Julie's life while at the same time poisoning her aunt. His plan is that when the elderly lady dies, Julie will inherit everything in the house, including the robbery money which he will secrete in a trunk in the attic. then they can run away together and be free. The real question, of course, is just how desperate is Julie, and will she go along with the plan.
Let's take a look, shall we?
And, the skinny:
Title: Money Madness
Release Date: 1948
Running Time: 73min
Black and White
Starring: Hugh Beaumont, Frances Rafferty
Directed by: Sam Newfield
Produced by: Sigmund Neufeld
Money Madness is available to watch or download for free here.
It's also available for purchase on DVD from Amazon: Money Madness.
Until next time, Happy Teasure Hunting,
-Professor Damian
There have been so many different adaptations, interpretations and reiterations of the stories of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's great detective that it is often quite nearly impossible to keep up with them. Wikipedia lists the first filmed Holmes story as 1900's Sherlock Holmes Baffled, and since that time there must have been hundreds of different actors portraying the famed investigator right up to last year's entry starring Robert Downey Jr. Some of these interpretations, of course, have been more faithful (and some more successful) than others. A while back, I wrote about one of my personal favorite portrayals, that of Basil Rathbone in the series of films produced by Universal Studios. Today I'd like to take a look at another, slightly earlier series of films which unfortunately have been overshadowed by those Universal films.
Arthur Wotner was born in 1875 and portrayed Holmes in a series of five films from 1931 to 1937. Of these five films, the first, The Sleeping Cardinal was, until recently, thought to be a lost film. Unfortunately, though prints have been found of this one, his second, The Missing Rembrant is still considered lost. nonetheless, the films that we do have show Wotner as a Holmes that is more cerebral than many interpretations, and who also definitely looks the part. Wotner is not as athletic as some of the later Holmes, relying much more on his deductive prowess, and that serves him in good stead in today's feature, his fourth outing as the titular detective, The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes.
Of course, a large part of the credit for this must go to the screenwriters who have hewn fairly closely to the original source material, in this case, Doyle's fourth Holmes novel, The Valley of Fear. One of the trickier aspects of any Holmes story is that since he is truly smarter than anyone else in the room (unless, of course, his brother Mycroft also happens to be present), he has often already figured out the main puzzle of the story before the explanation of the situation is finished. That is why he works better in a short story format than in a longer work such as a novel or film, and why, so often, those longer works feel padded with action scenes or obstacles that do not really belong. In this particular instance, Doyle figured out a unique way to lengthen the story. Almost one third of the book is taken up by an extended flashback to Holme's client's past as a miner in the U.S. The movie makers have kept this flashback, and though it does cause the film to drag a bit in the middle, it also gives the film a feeling of having more substance than other efforts at padding. On the flip side, the producers also felt the need to include Holmes' arch-nemesis Professor Moriarty in the film, when he does not appear in the original story, but that change does not distract too much from the overall quality of the film.
Note should also be made of Ian Fleming's (no, not the James Bond author) interpretation of the role of Dr. Watson. Instead of the bumbling oaf that Watson often seems, in Fleming's hands we see a Watson that lets us understand why Holmes would have kept him around. After all, when compared to the brilliance of Holmes, anyone is going to seem second rate, and it is important to remember that Watson was not only considered a first-rate doctor, but also a highly trained military man.
There's no embedable trailer online that I've been able to find, but here's a clip from the first part of the movie which introduces not only Holmes and Watson to the audience, but also the detective's arch enemy:
And now, the Skinny:
Title: The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes
Release Date: 1935
Running Time: 75min
Black and White
Starring: Arthur Wotner, Ian Fleming
Directed by: Leslie S. Hiscott
Produced by: Julius Hagen
The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes is available to watch or download for free here.
It's also available for purchase on DVD from Amazon:The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes.
One final note before I take my leave today: I'd like to give a quick shout-out to Anthony DP Mann, co-host of the Horror Etc. podcast who is currently producing and starring in what looks to be a fun interpretation of Holmes called Sherlock Holmes and the Shadow Watchers. It's even been authorised by the Holmes estate. Find out more by clicking the link, and if you're at all interested in intelligent and spirited conversation about the horror and sci-fi genres, I highly recommend you check out Tony and Ted's podcast.
Until next time, Happy Treasure Hunting,
-Professor Damian
THIS IS A TRUE STORY. It is known to the police department of one of our largest cities as the most difficult homicide case in its experience, principally because of the diabolical cleverness, intelligence and cunning of a completely unknown killer... The record is set down here factually ---- as it happened ---- only the names are changed ---- to protect the innocent.
If the above opening sounds somewhat familiar, kiddies, then there's probably a reason for that. Today's flick, He Walked By Night, was the film that inspired Jack Webb to create the series Dragnet.
In 1948, Webb was coming off of the success of his radio show Pat Novak for Hire in which he portrayed an unlicensed private detective with a penchant for lines like "She drifted into the room like 98 pounds of warm smoke. Her voice was hot and sticky--like a furnace full of marshmallows." He had also begun to do some film acting, and was offered the role of a crime lab technician in He Walked By Night. the movies was based on the actual shooting of a California Highway Patrolman. Shot in a semi-documentary style, the film was made with the co-operation of the Los Angeles Police Department who sent Detective Sergeant Marty Wynn to the set to be a consultant. Webb and Wynn struck up a friendship, and over the course of the film, Webb had the idea that a radio show featuring the life of a Los Angeles police detective which was as true-to-life as possible and which would have episodes based on actual cases might prove popular. Taking the idea to NBC, he actually had something of an uphill battle, but eventually won them over, and the radio Show Dragnet premiered in 1949, lasting until 1954. In 1951, the show expanded, making the move to television, where it would last until almost the end of the decade.
The movie itself is actually quite good, even if it has been overshadowed by what came after. A fine example of noir filmaking, including some very dark and angular camera work by noted noir cinematographer John Alton, it contains quite a few twists during its 79 minutes. Roy Morgan, a brilliant man with an inside knowledge of police procedure, shoots and kills a patrolman named Hollis. Morgan is also a thief who steals electronics equipment and then sells it to a dealer named Paul Reeves. When the police raid Reeves store, Morgan is almost caught. he escapes, but not before shooting another officer and taking a bullet himself. Deciding to try something new in hopes of throwing the police off his trail, Morgan becomes an armed robber, but when they recover a slug from one of his robberies, forensics specialist Lee (Webb) is able to connect it to Morgan's other crimes. From there it is all downhill for the criminal.
There's not a good embedable trailer online for the flick, so instead, I'm gonna give you another Jack Webb treasure from an appearance on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show:
And now, the Skinny:
Title: He Walked By Night
Release Date: 1948
Running Time: 79 min.
Black and White
Starring: Richard Basehart
Directed by: Alfred L. Werker, Anthony Mann
Produced by: Bryan Foy, Robert Kane
Distributed by: Eagle-Lion Films
He Walked By Night is available to watch or download for free here.
Amazon has the movie available for purchase on DVD: He Walked By Night.
Netflix also has the DVD available for rental: He Walked by Night.
Until next time, Happy Teasure Hunting,
-Professor Damian
There are basically two types of film noir protagonists: the basically good person who makes a bad decision that eventually leads him into a downward spiral to trouble and usually murder or death, and the desperate bad guy who just can't leave bad enough alone and finds himself on that same downward spiral. Paul Henreid, who plays Johnny Muller in today's feature is definitely the second type.
Hollow Triumph, also known as The Scar, is the story of Johnny Muller, a man just released from prison. In the opening shots of the film we see the prison warden looking over Johnny's file, noting that he is an educated man, once convicted of practicing psyciatry without a license. The reason he has been in jail for the past two years, however, is because of a failed holdup. A job has been arranged for Johnny on the outside - a job that, though meager in pay, is meant to be a chance for a new start on life.
this new start, however, is simply not good enough for Johnny. Instead of immediately taking the bus to his intended new home, he goes to a local flop house and meets up with his old gang, eventually convincing them to pull one more job - holding up a casino run by an extremely well-connected and vengeful gangster. The rest of Johnny's gang seem afraid to cross him, but they also are afraid of the intended target, who is reputed to have once had a man who crossed him tracked down and killed in Paris. Nonetheless, Johnny seems inexorably drawn to the job and he is not going to let anything stand in his way.
The holdup of course goes wrong, and two of Johnny's men are captured. They immediately give up the goods on the rest of the gang, including Johnny. At that point the hood tells his enforcers to find them "even if it takes twenty years". Paranoid, but desperate to get out of town and find a way to lay low, Johnny decides that his best bet is to take the job that had been previously arranged for him.
Chafing at the legitimate work and low pay, Johnny still manages to persevere in his new setting until one day fate intervenes in the form of a dentist who mistakes him for a psychiatrist who works in the same office building. According to the dentist, the two men look exactly alike except for one thing: the psychiatrist has a large scar on his right, or is it his left? who can remember? cheek. Johnny then goes to the psychiatrist's office where he is immediately met and kissed by the man's secretary, played by Joan Bennett, who may very well be the lady the phrase "femme fatale" was coined for. She, too, has mistaken him for Dr. Bartok - at least until she gets a good look at him.
Back at his job, Johnny gets into an altercation with his boss which leas to fisticuffs and his firing. Johnny then receives a visit from his brother infoming him that his second-hand man has been killed in Mexico, and that men are now in town looking for him. Desperate and on the run, Johnny decides to take the place of Dr. Bartok. First however, he must learn all about him - a tactic which includes romancing his secretary. Oh, and there's also the matter of that scar.
A film of many twists, with a wonderfully dark noir atmosphere, Hollow Triumph certainly delivers on the downward spiral mentioned above. The question remains open, however, whether it is fate or simply Johnny's choices that lead him to the inevitable conclusion. During the attempted heist we learn that despite all of his careful planning, Johnny has overlooked one important detail, and it is that same lack of attention to detail that will trip him up in the end. Or perhaps, once the decision is made to stray from the straight and narrow, there is simply no other way for Johnny's story to end.
No trailer today, I'm afraid, but here's the opening moments of the film (with the alternate title) to give you a taste:
The Skinny:
Title: Hollow Triumph (aka The Scar)
Release Date 1948
Running Time: 82min
Black and White
Starring: Paul Henreid, Joan Bennett
Directed by: Steve Sekely
Produced by: Paul Henreid
Released by: Eagle-Lion Films
Hollow Triumph is available to watch or download for free here.
It's also available on DVD from Amazon: Hollow Triumph
It does not appear to be available from Netflix.
Until next time, Happy Treasure Hunting,
-Professor Damian
Perhaps it's a result of having grown up in the era of Woodward and Bernstein and seeing the impact that their digging and reporting had on the country, but the image of the investigative reporter has always been something of a romanticized one for me. The idea of an intrepid man on the inside, fighting the powers that be for justice, bringing the things that people need to know out into the light, exposing those who would undermine our country, our cities, our way of life. Risking life and limb and reputation to get that headline that will ultimately result in the fall of those who are corrupt.
Yeah, I realize I'm exercising a little hyperbole here, but bear with me, because though it may not be an accurate description of the life of the investigative reporter, it is definitely accurate when it comes to the protagonist of today's feature.
Of course in today's society the "news" tends to be merely spin and there is little actual investigating done. After all, why investigate what the truth really is when the various parties and interest groups will certainly feed you enough spin to keep your twenty-four hour talking heads in a job for years? And besides, some actual looking at the facts might get in the way of the narrative that you're trying to spin and that could be problematic. But The Payoff's Brad McKay (superbly played by Lee Tracy) is incredibly far removed from today's rhetoric-spouting talking heads. For him what is important is digging out the truth, no matter where it might lead. (Though it should be noted that in the end even the intrepid McKay does a bit of bending the truth in the end, the final published version of the story not exactly matching the facts, a concession that even he acknowledges.)
When a special prosecutor who was about to lower the boom on a mysterious criminal mastermind is suddenly and mysteriously murdered, hard-drinking two-fisted reporter Brad McKay is assigned the story by his boss. McKay, who has contacts on both sides of the law (and the ingratiating/irritating habit of calling everyone, male and female either "sweetheart" or "baby" - except for Ian Keith's Inspector Thomas, who he constantly refers to as "Blue Eyes"), is soon up to his neck in bribes, gangsters, questionable women, damsels, and gunfire. Along the way his investigation turns up some surprising (for him, anyway, though the viewer is likely to be just a bit ahead on the big reveal) twists. What really keeps this movie going, though, is Tracy's degenerate charm and the liberal amount of humor scattered through the film. Unlike something like today's Public Enemies, this film never forgets that its number one priority is to engage and entertain its audience and that it definitely does.
Just a quick side not before we get to the preview - Lee Tracy was certainly no stranger to this type of role, as he originated the role of Hildy Johnson in the Broadway production of The Front Page, which you might remember from our discussion a couple of weeks ago of His Girl Friday. Unfortunately, however, when the time came to actually film The Front Page, Tracy was passed over for Pat O'Brien. Certainly, O'Brien was not a bad choice, but this film does give a taste of what the earlier movie could have been with Tracy in the role.
Ok, once again, an online trailer doesn't appear to be available, but here's the first seven or so minutes of the flick which will definitely give you an idea of the flavor of this mystery:
Ok, Skinny Time:
Title: The Payoff
Release Date: 1942
Running Time: 74 min
Black and White
Starring: Lee Tracy, Evelyn Brent
Directed by: Arthur Dreifuss
Produced by: Harry D. Edwards, Jack Schwarz
Released by: Producers Releasing Corporation
The Payoff is available to watch or download for free here. (BTW, the page actually says that it's the 1935 film of the same name, but it actually is this one.)
It's available on DVD from Amazon: The Payoff.
And you can always rent the DVD from Netflix: The Payoff
As always, if you've seen today's flick, please let me know what you think about it in the comments section. Your feedback is definitely encouraged.
Until next time, Happy Treasure Hunting,
-Professor Damian
Sherlock Holmes Nazi Fighter? Umm... hang on, wasn't his last case set in 1914 when he was an older man who had retired to beekeeping? Well, according to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, yes, but hey... it was World War II - the war after "the war to end all wars", and the allies needed all the help they could get, especially with all those Nazi spies on our (well British, at least) shores. So they had to recruit whomever they could to protect not only their soldiers but their scientists and statesmen who were doing their best to end the threat and the war.
Actually, this, the fourth pairing of the two, was the second of the Rathbone/Bruce Holmes movies to be set in contemporary times, following the previous year's Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror, which explained the time shift with a simple title card that described the master detective and his stalwart companion as "timeless". Fair enough, actually, as this particular portrayal has definitely proven to be exactly that. Excluding the recent Robert Downey Jr./Jude Law outing, if asked, most people (assuming they could name one in the first place) would name Rathbone and Bruce as the classic Holmes and Watson. And considering that they teamed for a total of fourteen films plus numerous radio shows and other appearances, obviously they were an incredibly well -known and popular team.
(Personally, I think the most masterful and definitive portrayal of Holmes is that of Jeremy Brett, whether teamed with David Burke or Edward Hardwicke, but Rathbone and Bruce definitely hold a special place in my heart.)
So what exactly is this "Secret Weapon" that draws Holmes' attention? (Along, of course, with that of Scotland Yard inspector Lestrade, government minister Sir Reginald Bailey, and Holmes' ultimate nemesis Professor Moriarty (portrayed by the intriguing Lionel Atwill)? Well, actually it's not so much a weapon in itself as something that will definitely (at least according to pretty much every one in the film) change the course of the war: a new type of bomb sight. Invented by Swiss scientist Franz Tobel, the new sight uses "sonic waves" to apparently allow it to see through the clouds so that planes approaching from great heights can more accurately drop their payload. At least that's the way I understand it - let's be honest, that's actually more explanation for the nature of this "weapon" than we're actually given in the film.
But, of course, the sight itself is merely the MacGuffin - the plot feature that sets everything into motion. And despite its at-the-time-modern setting, that motion is pure Holmes. Incorporating elements of Conan Doyle's "The Dancing Men", the story gives us an incredibly observant and deductive Holmes (who also manages to disguise himself not one, not two, but three times), a good-hearted but slightly bumbling Watson, a dispicable but quite intelligent Moriarty, death traps (well, ok, again, honestly the "stuff holmes in the bottom of a crate, carry him to our ship and toss him overboard" plan could have used a little more thinking through, though it does give Watson a chance to exert his own powers of deduction), 221B Baker Street (and a pop-in from Mrs Hudson), and just enough humor and good-natured sparring between the two leads to make the whole adventure quite entertaining.
So, how about a trailer?
And, look out! Here comes the skinny:
Title: Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon
Release Date: 1943
Running Time: 80 min.
Black and White
Stars: Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce
Director: Roy William Neil
Producer: Howard Benedict
Distributed by: Universal Studios
Ok, pop quiz, hotshots! When does Old Blue Eyes not have blue eyes? When the Hal Roach Studios gets ahold of a classic Frank Sinatra gangster movie and decides to colorize it. In doing so, they made the odd decision that Sinatra's eyes should be brown. Off course, this was in the early days of colorization, so honestly there were a lot of colors that weren't very well done, but this seemed a particularly egregious mistake. Fortunately, for those of us who prefer our noir in black and white, it's also available both online and on disk in its original format.
For those who only remember Sinatra from later years when he was best known as a lounge singer or a member of the rat pack, Suddenly may come as quite a surprise. As he had already shown inthe previous year's From Here to Eternity, and would again in 1962 with The Manchurian Candidate , Sinatra was quite the dramatic actor.
In this very dark outing, Sinatra plays a hitman named John Baron who has been hired to kill the (unnamed) American president as he pulls in for a whistle-stop speech in the small California town of Suddenly. (Yeah, the town is called Suddenly. Because "That's the way things used to happen here." Wanna make something of it?) Weaseling their way into the Benson home by pretending to be FBI agents, Sinatra and his henchmen set about getting ready to put their plan into action. Once the Bensons realise who Baron and his men really are, they attempt to talk them out of the killing, and then Pop Benson (played by James Gleason) tries to sabotage the proceedings. There's also a confrontation with Sheriff Tod Shaw (played by Sterling Hayden) and a real Secret Service agent (Willis Bouchey). But nothing and no-one is going to stop a determined Baron from fulfilling his contract.
The movie, with its true sense of desperation and inevitability is very much in the film noir genre, and Sinatra proves a very creditable lead as the odds mount against him but he remains determined to pull the trigger. not even losing one of his men in a gunfight with the police or the unexpected appearance of a television repairman who quickly becomes a hostage. In a review at the time of the film's release, The Hollywood Reporter stated "As an assassin in the piece, Sinatra superbly refutes the idea that the straight role potentialities in From Here To Eternity was one shot stuff. In Suddenly, the happy-go-lucky soldier of Eternity becomes one of the most repellent killers in American screen history."
Again, as with Mclintock, this is a case where the copyright simply wasn't renewed after the first 28 year period, so the movie fell into the public domain. Some say that one reason the copyright wasn't renewed was that Sinatra (and distributer United Artists) wanted to disassociate himself from it after rumors that Lee Harvey Oswald watched it shortly before he killed President Kennedy.
I wasn't able to find an official trailer online for this film, but here's one apparently created by youtube user publicdomaintheatre that gives a good sense of what the movie is like (though I've got to admit i don't really like the overlay filter):
Ok, time for the skinny:
Title: Suddenly
Release Date: 1954
Running Time 75 min.
Black and White (though colorized versions are available - they're not recommended, but they're available.)
Stars: Frank Sinatra, James Gleason, Sterling Hayden, Nancy Gates
Director: Lewis Allen
Producer: Robert Bassler
Studio: United Artists
You can watch (or download) the movie for free online by clicking here.
It's also available on DVD from Amazon: Suddenly (Yes, this disk includes a colorized version, but it is not the horrendous Hal Roach version - this one is newly remastered and also includes an incredibly sharp (also remastered) b/w version. And yes, Frankie's eyes are blue in this one.)
The movie is also available to "Watch now" from netflix: Suddenly
Until next time, Happy Treasure Hunting
-Professor Damian
Welcome to Professor Damian's Public Domain Treasure Chest. Each day I, your humble host, will post information on a movie or T.V. show in the public domain along with links to where you can watch them online (for free) or purchase them on DVD. For more information on the public domain check out my public domain primer (to be posted soon, keep watching this spot for a link) or the public domain entry at wikipedia. Also be sure to check out the great resources available at The Internet Archive. Also each week I'll update The Master List of Public Domain movies and shows I've discussed so you can easily find them. Also, you can contact me with comments, suggestion, complaints or praise by clicking here.
and DVD
editions) and then come back to read this.
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, and would again in 1962 with The Manchurian Candidate 
, Sinatra was quite the dramatic actor.
(Yes, this disk includes a colorized version, but it is not the horrendous Hal Roach version - this one is newly remastered and also includes an incredibly sharp (also remastered) b/w version. And yes, Frankie's eyes are blue in this one.)
