My Top Five Blu-rays of 2025

 

The end of another year, and I still don't have a region free player, or a 4K player for that matter. I guess you people need to step your game up and send me one, right??

Even with just a no-frills Blu-ray machine, I still managed to spend far too much valuable cash on physical media (as I always do). Looking back on what I bought in 2025, one thing that stood out was how many silent movies I purchased. That either shows how weird I really am, or how I think so little of 21st Century entertainment that I'd rather sit around and watch things made around 100 years ago. 

There certainly isn't anything on this list that could be considered mainstream....and I need to point out that if a couple titles I have already pre-ordered were released when they were originally announced to, this list would be very different. 

1. (A tie!) TERROR IN THE FOG--THE WALLACE KRIMI and MABUSE LIVES! from Eureka 

Two incredible box sets which combined feature over a dozen German Krimi films, all fully restored and presented in their original running times and aspect ratios. Each set is filled with relevant extras, enabling the viewer to know as much as possible about the likes of Edgar Wallace, Bryan Edgar Wallace, and Dr. Mabuse. I sincerely hope Eureka has more rare Krimi treats in store for the future. 

3. LAUREL & HARDY: YEAR THREE from Flicker Alley

Flicker Alley's first two L & H sets made my best-of-year lists in '23 and '24, and YEAR THREE definitely deserves the honors as well. Fine restorations of classic Stan & Ollie, along with plenty of expert historical detail that should meet the standards of any major film geeks. 

4. FRANKENSTEIN'S BLOODY TERROR from Kino 

Euro Gothic legend Paul Naschy's horror debut is presented here in all its 3-D glory, and Kino set things up so that even if you don't own a 3-D player, you can still experience the depth of a werewolf. (The standard version of the movie is included as well.) Plenty of extras with this too. 

5. GERMAN SILENT RARITIES FROM DIRECTOR HENRIK GALEEN from Deaf Crocodile 

The main importance of this set is that it presents two very needed restorations of two very important German expressionist titles: the 1926 version of THE STUDENT OF PRAGUE with Conrad Veidt and Werner Krauss, and the 1928 version of ALRAUNE with Brigitte Helm and Paul Wegener. 
                 

THE WHITE SPIDER

 

THE WHITE SPIDER (original title DIE WEISSE SPINNE) is a 1963 German Krimi that appears to be part of the Edgar Wallace series of crime thriller adaptations. It stars Joachim Fuchsberger and Karin Dor, the First Couple of Krimi, and it was directed by Harald Reinl, an Edgar Wallace veteran. It has a black & white noir look, a weird jazzy music score by Peter Thomas, and it's set in London and the story involves Scotland Yard. 

It is not based on anything written by Edgar Wallace, however--its story is based on the writings of mystery author Louis Weinert-Wilson. THE WHITE SPIDER is in fact part of a small series of films based on Weinert-Wilson's works, a group of films that are basically Edgar Wallace Krimi imitations. (The first film in this series was THE CARPET OF HORROR, a movie I wrote a blog post on a few years ago.) THE WHITE SPIDER might be an imitation, but it holds up as a very good Krimi in its own right. 

A gambling addict is killed in a car accident. His widow, Muriel Irvine (Karin Dor) finds out that her husband's life was insured for a large sum of money. Similar deaths have also incurred recently, with the men also heavily insured and also connected to a secret gambling club. Scotland Yard takes an interest in the case. The late Irvine's lucky charm was a glass white spider, and as Muriel tries to discover whether her husband was murdered or committed suicide, similar trinkets start popping up all over, as do more dead bodies. A mysterious ex-con (Joachim Fuchsberger) worms his way into Muriel's problems, while the widow herself comes under suspicion of the death of her husband. 

THE WHITE SPIDER has plenty of plot machinations to pay attention to, such as the gambling club, a murder-for-hire organization (called "The White Spider" of course), and a society dedicated to reforming ex-convicts. There's also a main villain that is a master of disguise, and who also kills those in his way by strangling them with a trick lasso made of wire. On top of that, the inspector that Scotland Yard has called in to handle the case hides his identity by sitting in the dark in his office while flanked by spotlights shining out at his visitors, much like Dr. Mabuse would. (I do have to say that it's quite easy to figure out the identity of the main villain and the inspector.) 

The insurance subplot, a society of reformers, and a villain with multiple identities easily calls to mind DARK EYES OF LONDON, probably the most famous Edgar Wallace story of them all. THE WHITE SPIDER in fact resembles a lot of other Krimis, but that is the reason why it was made in the first place. It's an entertaining movie, perfect for late night viewing, and while the plot twists are not very surprising, it's fun to watch how the story works itself out. 

Among the supporting cast are plenty of Krimi veterans such as Werner Peters, Dieter Eppler, and Chris Howland. You certainly don't believe that this story is really taking place in London, but I've seen so many Krimis by now that I just go ahead and accept the situation. Dor as always is an appealing heroine, and Fuchsberger is as usual the stalwart hero, although there are times when his attempted romancing of Dor gets a bit annoying. Fuchsberger and Dor could have played these roles in their sleep by this time, but the important thing is that they don't. 

I viewed THE WHITE SPIDER on YouTube, and it was a version that was dubbed in English but was not in widescreen (it appeared to have been put together for American television). THE WHITE SPIDER is another of the many Krimis that still need to be put out on official home video in a fully restored version. 

LAUREL & HARDY: YEAR THREE On Blu-ray From Flicker Alley

 

For the third year in a row, Flicker Alley has released a magnificent set of rare and restored material featuring the legendary comedy team of Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy. LAUREL & HARDY: YEAR THREE covers the duo's short films made for the Hal Roach Studios in 1929. 

By 1929, the rough edges of the Laurel & Hardy pairing had been smoothed out, and the team has become what we all know and love. 1929 also saw the Roach Studios transitioning to sound, a technical achievement that if anything made the duo more popular. Most of the shorts presented on this two-disc region free set are silent, but L & H's first sound film, UNACCUSTOMED AS WE ARE, is included (and fully restored to boot). UNACCUSTOMED AS WE ARE shows that Stan & Ollie (and the Roach writers and directors) had few problems adjusting to the new technology--a number of gags included in the short are audio-oriented. 

This set contains 9 short films, including 2 bonus sound shorts and plenty of extras. Among the many highlights are LIBERTY, in which L & H wind up on an unfinished skyscraper, and BIG BUSINESS, where the duo's meddling attempts at selling a Christmas tree to James Finlayson result in a manic, destructive free-for-all. 

DOUBLE WHOOPEE is notable for an appearance by a 17 year old Jean Harlow, who suffers a  major wardrobe mishap. (Harlow also has cameo roles in two other movies in this set.) Speaking of wardrobe mishaps, UNACCUSTOMED AS WE ARE features Thelma Todd's first encounter with Stan & Ollie, and it's very easy to figure out what happens to her. 

Each short film in this set has multiple music tracks, with some of them having the option of the original Vitaphone audio. The shorts also have greatly informative audio commentaries by either Randy Skretvedt and Richard W. Bann, and extensive still galleries. There's also a dubbed version of DOUBLE WHOOPEE, created by Chuck McCann in 1970, and a silent version of UNACCUSTOMED AS WE ARE. 

Other extras include a 16mm excerpt from MGM's THE HOLLYWOOD REVUE OF 1929, which has Laurel & Hardy in a skit with Jack Benny, and a fragment of the Spanish version of BERTH MARKS. There's also extremely rare footage of L & H that was filmed for a 1930 MGM sales convention. 

As with the other two Laurel & Hardy sets from Flicker Alley, Year Three contains a 32 page illustrated booklet with extensive info on all the shorts and extras, an article by Leonard Maltin, and an essay by Richard W. Bann and Serge Bromberg detailing the various issues involved with restoring the Laurel & Hardy shorts made during their early period as a comedy team. 

I can't give enough praise to this set, or to the other two L & H sets released by Flicker Alley. The shorts are still entertaining nearly 100 years on, and the wealth of historical material is incredibly fascinating, especially to classic film geeks. I can't even fathom the amount of work that went into these Laurel & Hardy sets, but I'm quite thankful to Flicker Alley for putting them together. I believe this might be the final Flicker Alley Laurel & Hardy set, but as far as I'm concerned, they can go on to make Year Four, Year Five, Year Six, and on and on......

LADY OF BURLESQUE On Blu-ray From Film Masters

 

Film Masters saves another classic film from public domain purgatory with their Blu-ray release of 1943's LADY OF BURLESQUE, a musical-mystery comedy starring Barbara Stanwyck, with direction by William Wellman. 

LADY OF BURLESQUE was based on a novel written by stage star Gypsy Rose Lee entitled THE G-STRING MURDERS. What makes the movie stand out is its Pre-Code vibe. It feels like something made in the early 1930s--so much so that I'm surprised the film got made at all. What's even more surprising is that with all its tawdry B movie antics, two major Hollywood figures such as Stanwyck and Wellman were involved with it. 

Barbara Stanwyck was at the top of her profession in the 1940s, and one would think a project like this would be beneath her, but the actress dived into it wholeheartedly. Stanwyck plays Dixie Daisy, a headliner at a burlesque show playing at a building called the Old Opera House. Among the girls and the gags are a few murders, and Dixie, along with her burlesque cohorts, must find the killer before they become either suspects or victims themselves. 

LADY OF BURLESQUE has plenty of stage acts, but it also has a working-class edge to it. The showgirls performing at the Old Opera House are not fresh-faced innocent starlets--they're hard-boiled dames earning a living, and not exactly having the best of times doing so. Despite the gorgeous women and their outlandish costumes, there's not much glitz or glamour here. The showgirls are a cynical, sarcastic lot, and the audience at the Old Opera House seems to consist of lonely, middle-aged men. 

Stanwyck's Daisy is a no-nonsense trooper who isn't afraid of anyone, but she's also beautiful and talented. Stanwyck appears to be enjoying herself immensely, strutting about in some very skimpy fashions designed by Edith Head and engaging in a wild dance routine that involves splits and a cartwheel. Stanwyck really shows off her versatility in this picture, as does director Wellman. (Consider that Wellman's other picture released in 1943 was THE OX-BOW INCIDENT, a story as far removed from LADY OF BURLESQUE as could possibly be.) 

Film Masters states that this Blu-ray features a 4K scan of original 35mm elements, and the movie now looks fantastic, with a sharp black & white image that shows off the various showgirl costumes in particular. The sound quality is much improved as well. 

The Blu-ray is region free, and comes with a slipcover (see picture above) and a 10-page booklet, which contains an article by Susan King detailing the movie's production. The disc also has an original trailer and a fine new audio commentary by Karen Burroughs Hannsberry in which she gives out plenty of relevant detail on the cast and crew. She also compares the movie's script with Gypsy Rose Lee's novel, and she discusses the censorship problems the production ran into. 

LADY OF BURLESQUE could be found anywhere back in the discount VHS days, but this Film Masters Blu-ray is miles ahead of whatever presentations the movie used to have. It's a sassy, entertaining story with a few dark elements, and it contains one of Barbara Stanwyck's most unique performances. It's nice to see that LADY OF BURLESQUE finally gets the proper home video treatment courtesy of Film Masters. 

KILL BILL: THE WHOLE BLOODY AFFAIR

 

It's hard to fathom that Quentin Tarantino's KILL BILL Volumes One and Two were originally released over twenty years ago. Since then there's been all sorts of rumors about sequels, prequels, and unused footage. Now we get KILL BILL: THE WHOLE BLOODY AFFAIR, a special theatrical combined version of Volumes One and Two. 

This combined version runs a mammoth four hours and 35 minutes (thankfully there is an intermission). Tarantino and Lionsgate didn't just run the original films back to back--the story is edited into one long feature. 

There are a few changes to the original cuts. One major difference is that the massive swordfight sequence in the House of Blue Leaves is completely in color--in the original version it was mostly in black & white so Volume One could get an R rating. THE WHOLE BLOODY AFFAIR is unrated--and I believe I noticed a few other added shots that featured extra gore and violence. The anime sequence detailing O-Ren's rise in the criminal world has been lengthened, and the scene at the beginning of Volume Two where Uma Thurman talks directly to the audience giving an account of her activities has been edited out--but for the most part the combined KILL BILL is basically the same as the original two films. 

The main question is whether combining the two KILL BILL films was worth it. The two films deal with one overall story line, but they are very different in tone. Volume One is a wild, over-the-top action flick where the viewer doesn't really know what is going on--Bill's face isn't even shown. Volume Two is darker, more introspective, more character driven, as Tarantino fills in the blanks, so to speak. The intermission comes right between the end of Volume One and the start of Volume Two, so the films are still separate, in a way. 

If you're one of the few people that actually read this blog, you'll know that I'm constantly complaining about how long 21st Century movies are. Sitting in a theater for nearly five hours is not something I'm inclined to do. (Did I sneak in multiple bags of food? You're damn right I did.) Having an intermission certainly helped, but I have to say that I wasn't bored or restless. I'm a fan of the KILL BILL movies to begin with, and Tarantino certainly put on a show with them. While watching THE WHOLE BLOODY AFFAIR, it didn't feel to me that I was sitting around for an inordinate length of time. 

Having said that, I believe that KILL BILL works better when the story is split up into two features. Seeing them separately gives one a better appreciation for Tarantino's talents as a writer and director, Robert Richardson's brilliant cinematography, and Uma Thurman's performance (which in my mind doesn't get enough credit, considering all the things she and her character went through). 

THE WHOLE BLOODY AFFAIR is worth seeing in a theater, if you've got five hours to spare, and if you're a fan of the original films to begin with. It's better than anything new showing right now, that's for sure. If you have never seen any of the KILL BILL features at all, I would recommend that you watch the original versions first. 

BEAU GESTE (1926) On Blu-ray From Artcraft Pictures

 

The most famous version of BEAU GESTE is the 1939 film starring Gary Cooper and directed by William Wellman. What most people don't know is that movie is a very close remake of a 1926 silent feature. I didn't really know anything about the original BEAU GESTE until I purchased this Blu-ray from Artcraft Pictures, a group that is in the process of restoring several silent films. The 1926 BEAU GESTE is an excellent film in its own right, and I will even venture to say that Ronald Colman, the star of the '26 version, is a better Beau Geste than Gary Cooper. 

The 1926 BEAU GESTE was restored under the supervision of Robert A. Harris and James Mockoski, and the result is an early screen epic that hopefully will garner more attention. The novel that the film was based on was a current bestseller when the original movie was being made, and while its story of three brothers going away and joining the French Foreign Legion in order to cover up a family scandal may come off as too sentimental in this day and age, the '26 version is an outstanding big-budget adventure. 

The man behind the 1926 BEAU GESTE was director Herbert Brenon, who had read its source novel and convinced Paramount Pictures to film it. The studio went to great expense and trouble to adapt the story, with an entire camp built in southeastern California near the border of Mexico in order to facilitate shooting the desert sequences. Herbert Brenon's direction wasn't as energetic as William Wellman's--the '26 version is over two hours long--but the final attack on a Legion fort by Arab tribesmen is still a knockout, especially when one realizes that what is going on in front of the camera was staged for real, without any tricks or special effects. 

As I've already stated, Ronald Colman is a fine, stately Beau Geste. (Even though this is a silent feature, I couldn't help but hear Colman's voice in my head saying his character's lines.) Colman's brothers are played by Ralph Forbes and Neil Hamilton. Noah Beery gets a juicy part with the role of the brutal sergeant commanding the fort, and like Brian Donlevy did in the '39 version, he makes the most of it. William Powell plays a weaselly, untrustworthy legionnaire named Boldini, a role very far removed from the actor's smooth leading men he would portray in the 1930s. The '26 BEAU GESTE shows how versatile an actor William Powell was. 

Artcraft Pictures has given the original BEAU GESTE a first-class Blu-ray presentation, with a special slipcover and a booklet that contains stills and a production history written by Frank Thompson. Thompson also provides a well-paced informative audio commentary that gives the listener all the details on the film that one could want. 

The music score attached to this restoration of the '26 BEAU GESTE was compiled by Rodney Sauer from original 1926 compositions, and it was performed by the Mount Alto Orchestra. The score, presented in 5.1 surround, fits the movie perfectly, and an extra on the disc has Sauer explain exactly why he chose certain sections of music. Sauer's talk will be fascinating for those who have an interest in movie music soundtracks. 

Other extras include a radio adaptation of BEAU GESTE by Orson Welles, a photo gallery (which shows that the cast and crew managed to have fun despite the remote location) and a short restoration video that provides the basics on how this version of the film was put together. This disc is Region Free. 

After watching this Blu-ray, I pulled out my DVD of the 1939 BEAU GESTE. The '39 version is almost a scene-by-scene remake of the '26 version, and while the '39 version has now become the one that most people know about, credit has to be given where credit is due. The 1926 BEAU GESTE was a major accomplishment, and so was Artcraft Pictures' restoration of it. This Blu-ray has plenty of material for film geeks to dive into, and I'll be looking forward to what Artcraft Pictures has in store for the future. 

MURDER IN THE BLUE ROOM

 

MURDER IN THE BLUE ROOM (1944) is a remake of Universal's THE SECRET OF THE BLUE ROOM, which was actually a remake of a German film. Universal had already remade SECRET as THE MISSING GUEST in 1938. Confused? The real confusion is why such a standard mystery tale got reused so many times. 

What makes MURDER IN THE BLUE ROOM different is that it is a mystery-musical comedy, although not a very effective one. 1940s Universal regular Anne Gwynne's family owns a rambling old house which contains "The Blue Room", the location where her father died under mysterious circumstances. A beau of Gwynne's decides to spend the night in the room, and come morning, the young man cannot be found. 

What follows are plenty of the expected old dark house-murder mystery elements, but this time they're enlivened by "The Jazzy Belles"--a singing & dancing group of starlets played by Grace McDonald, June Preisser, and Betty Kean. (Apparently the Andrews Sisters weren't available.) The ladies are actually the real stars of the picture (sadly Anne Gwynne doesn't get much to do). The Jazzy Belles have talent, but they come off as a minor league (and much less violent) version of the Three Stooges. 

Among the supporting cast are past-his-prime leading man Donald Cook, Regis Toomey as a no-nonsense police detective, and Ian Wolfe as (what else?) a butler. What's sorely missing in MURDER IN THE BLUE ROOM is anyone on the Lugosi-Atwill-Zucco level. Most of the characters are very dull, and one of the usual Universal boogeymen would have livened things up considerably. The film was very generically directed by Leslie Goodwins. 

The musical numbers in this film are decent enough, but none of them really stick out. The always appealing Anne Gwynne gets a chance to perform a song....but she's dubbed. The solution to the mystery is so perfunctorily handled that one wonders why Universal even bothered to remake this story in the first place, and you'll also wonder why the Jazzy Belles got more screen time than Anne Gwynne did. MURDER IN THE BLUE ROOM is one of the most obscure chillers of Universal's Golden Age, and after seeing it, you'll understand its status. 

CONFESSIONS OF AN OPIUM EATER

 

Produced and directed by low-budget exploitation maven Albert Zugsmith, this 1961 potboiler contains one of Vincent Price's most unusual roles (and that's saying a lot). Set in late 19th Century San Francisco, CONFESSIONS OF AN OPIUM EATER has Price as Gilbert de Quincey, a soldier of fortune who infiltrates the powerful Tong criminal empire to put an end to a smuggling ring that provides various young Asian women to be sold as slaves. 

The movie is in black & white, and at times it feels like an episode of THE WILD WILD WEST (though not as fun or entertaining). San Francisco's Chinatown is represented by a generic-looking backlot, while the action scenes are very underwhelming. It doesn't help that Vincent Price is totally miscast as a rugged adventurer--one would expect Price to be leading a group of human traffickers instead of fighting them. 

It appears that Albert Zugsmith assumed putting Price, who was already associated with the weird and the macabre, in a feature with such a notorious title would attract some attention. It also appears that Zugsmith put the film together as if it was an opium-fueled vision. The plot is confusing, the visuals are overly strange, and Price gets plenty of chances to intone some doom-laden Edgar Allan Poe-style voice-overs. The florid dialogue is filled with plenty of Charlie Chan-like aphorisms. Despite all the lurid intentions, CONFESSIONS winds up being nothing more than a big tease. If this film had been made about a decade later, with someone like Jess Franco at the helm, it probably wouldn't have been any better....but at least it would have been more interesting. 

Albert Glasser provides a wild music score that goes off in about a dozen different directions, and Angelo Rossitto has a cameo as a newspaper vendor (which is what he was when he wasn't acting), but there isn't much else that makes CONFESSIONS notable. The Tong organization that Price's character is battling is another one of those supposedly powerful criminal groups that gets overcome rather easily. Vincent Price fans might want to see this, just to see how he fares in such an atypical role, but it's quite noticeable that the actor is uncomfortable in it. CONFESSIONS OF AN OPIUM EATER is available on the Tubi streaming channel, but it is listed under the title SOULS FOR SALE.