In the ‘Basement’ With Eclipse

Posted on December 15, 2014
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DREAMSVILLE’S WEEK IN DVD

In the B-movie, ’70s cult classic “Don’t Look in the Basement (The Forgotten)”
(1973), starring Rosie Holotik, Michael Harvey, Annabelle Weenick and Bill McGee, a young, psychiatric nurse, Charlotte Beale (Holotik, photo for Don't Look in the Basement (The Forgotten)1972 Playboy covergirl), goes to work at an isolated sanitarium only to learn the proprietor, Dr. Stephens, was murdered by one of the patients. Struggling under the horrendous conditions at the severely under-staffed asylum — and the torment heaped upon her by the patients — she’s puzzled by the resistance of Stephens’ successor, Dr. Geraldine Masters, to hiring new staff and by the woman’s efforts to keep outsiders at bay. Soon, the patients may truly be running the asylum. Digitally restored from Film Chest Media.

From Criterion this week comes “Eclipse Series 41: Kinoshita and World War II”: Hugely popular in his home country of Japan, Keisuke Kinoshita worked tirelessly as a director for nearly half a century, making lyrical, sentimental films that often center on the inherent goodness of people, especially in times of distress. He began his directing career during a most challenging time for Japanese cinema: World War II, when the industry’s output was closely monitored by the state and often had to be purely propagandistic. This collection of Kinoshita’s first films — four made while the war was going on and one shortly after Japan’s surrender — demonstrates the way the filmmaker’s humanity and exquisite cinematic technique shone through, even in the darkest of times. The five-DVD box set includes: “Port of Flowers” 1943), “The Living Magoroku” (1943), “Jubilation Street” (1944), “Army” (1944) and “Morning for the Osone Family” (1946).

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