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'Corridors' turn bloody with Karloff as doctor

PHANTOM OF THE MOVIES
February 1, 2007

Vintage genre-film fans are in for a treat with the four-disc set Monsters and Madmen ($79.95), new from the archivists at Criterion Collection. It's our ...
    DVD pick of the week
    Boris Karloff headlines in two effective 1958 chillers, both produced by Richard Gordon and directed by Robert Day. In the loosely fact-inspired Corridors of Blood, the actor excels as a compassionate 19th-century surgeon seeking to perfect an anesthetic. His troubles begin when he gets embroiled with grave-robber Resurrection Joe (a wonderfully sleazy Christopher Lee) and escalate when he becomes addicted to his own narcotic formula. A strong period atmosphere further sells this gritty but compelling affair.
    The Haunted Strangler is an atmospheric tale of a Victorian novelist who unconsciously re-enacts the violent crimes of the deceased killer whose exploits he's been researching; Mr. Karloff is equally convincing as both the good and evil sides of his seriously split personality in this deft "Jekyll and Hyde" variation.
    The focus shifts to science fiction in Spencer G. Bennet's 1959 Atomic Submarine, a low-budget but suspenseful encounter with a conquest-minded underwater alien, powered by a veteran cast that includes Dick Foran, Joi Lansing and Bob Steele.
    Mr. Day again takes the directorial reigns for The First Man into Space (1959). The film is basically a rehash of the superior 1956 "Prof. Quatermass" entry "The Creeping Unknown" but good for a few frights in its own right as an irradiated astronaut (Bill Edwards) returns to Earth as a marauding mutant.
    Extras include fascinating interviews with director Day and many of the movies' players, who describe their on-set experiences, along with commentaries by producer Gordon and genre scholar Tom Weaver and a booklet containing new essays by film critics Bruce Eder and Maitland McDonagh. "Monsters and Madness" furnishes a fun fear-movie marathon.
    Tele-video
    Comedy dominates the week's TV-on-DVD slate, with a special emphasis on famous funnypersons old and new. A&E Home Video honors a venerable British comic icon via Benny Hill: Complete and Unadulterated: Set 6 — The Hill's Angels Years 1986-1989 (three-disc, $49.95), while MPI Home Video assembles choice cathode-clip collections highlighting comic legends Phyllis Diller: Not Just Another Pretty Face and Tim Conway: Timeless Comedy ($14.98 each).
    In a more contemporary vein, standup comedienne Kate Clinton holds forth in the eponymous Kate Clinton (Genius Entertainment, $19.95); Louis C.K. carries on in the working-class sitcom Lucky Louie: The Complete First Season (HBO Video, two-disc, $29.98), complete with audio commentaries, a making-of featurette and bonus episode; and four frequently fractious friends share a chaotic standup tour in The Comedians of Comedy (Anchor Bay Entertainment, $19.98).
    Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, meanwhile, digs deep into the 1960s to retrieve the Barbara Eden/Larry Hagman sitcom I Dream of Jeannie: The Complete Third Season (four-disc, $39.95).
    Acorn Media contributes to the merriment with the Leonard Rossiter Britcom Rising Damp Series 3 ($24.99) while also offering the fact-drawn literary drama The Chatterley Affair ($24.99), the Balzac-based "Masterpiece Theatre" miniseries Cousin Bette and Kenneth More as G.K. Chesterton's clerical sleuth in Father Brown Set 1 (both two-disc, $39.99 each).

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