A Boxset for Cinephiles Who Value Discovery

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MOVIE REVIEW
Blue (1968) / Fade In (1973) – Imprint Collection #430 – 431
TV-14 / M / – / /

Genre: Western / Drama, Romance / Documentary
Year Released: 1968 / 1973 / 2024
Runtime: 1h 53m / 1h 32m / 2h 14m
Director(s): Silvio Narizzano / Jud Taylor (as Alan Smithee) / Daniel Kremer
Writer(s): Ronald M. Cohen, Meade Roberts / Mart Crowley, Jerry Ludwig / Daniel Kremer
Cast: Terence Stamp, Joanna Pettet, Karl Malden, Ricardo Montalbán, Stathis Giallelis / Burt Reynolds, Barbara Loden, Patricia Casey, Noam Pitlik, James Hampton / Daniel Kremer, Michael Murphy, Paul Carafotes, David Del Valle
Where to Watch: order your copy here: www.viavision.com.au

RAVING REVIEW: The pairing of BLUE (1968) and FADE IN (1973) in Imprint Films’ limited edition hardbox is one of those archival moves that could only come from a label willing to champion overlooked oddities. At first glance, these films might not seem to warrant such lavish treatment: one is a Western that has long carried a reputation for being miscast and misguided, and the other is a troubled romance that was buried by the studio system. But together—along with Daniel Kremer’s 2024 documentary CRUEL, USUAL, NECESSARY: THE PASSION OF SILVIO NARIZZANO—they create a narrative about ambition, compromise, and the kind of filmmakers whose legacies slip between the cracks of cinema history.

BLUE arrives first, a late-60s western directed by Silvio Narizzano, whose prior success with GEORGY GIRL earned him the chance to tackle a large-scale project. On paper, it promised a departure from traditional Hollywood Westerns: Terence Stamp as a white man raised by Mexican bandits, torn between the outlaws who shaped him and the settlers who offered an alternative path. Yet Stamp’s casting—his accent slipping from Cockney to something else entirely—has long been the point of contention. He never convinces the camera as a man caught between worlds. Karl Malden and Ricardo Montalbán bring authority, while Joanna Pettet gives warmth as the love interest, but the whole affair struggles to transcend its clichés. Beautiful Utah landscapes and Stanley Cortez’s cinematography provide it with grandeur, but the drama often feels stilted, and the film never quite achieves the revisionist grit it aims for. It’s a movie more interesting as an experiment than as a fully realized work.

Then there’s FADE IN, shot at the same time with BLUE on the very same locations. Where BLUE was pitched as a sweeping western, this one is intimate and contemporary: a romance between Burt Reynolds, still years away from superstardom, and Barbara Loden, whose performance anchors the story. Directed by Jud Taylor, who ultimately disowned it under the Alan Smithee pseudonym after Paramount recut and shelved it, the film exists as a fascinating counterpoint. It uses the production of BLUE as its backdrop, folding in glimpses of Stamp, Pettet, and Montalbán while telling a small-town-meets-Hollywood love story. Reynolds shows flashes of the charm that would later define his career, though the chemistry with Loden wavers. The film itself, plagued by pacing issues and abrupt shifts, never quite finds its rhythm. Yet, for all its flaws, it has a tender, human quality that makes it worth revisiting. As a piece of history of two actors caught at transitional points in their careers—Reynolds before breakout fame, Loden just a year before WANDA—it carries an unexpected poignancy.

The real jewel of the set is Kremer’s CRUEL, USUAL, NECESSARY: THE PASSION OF SILVIO NARIZZANO. At over two hours, it is far more than a supplemental extra—it reframes the entire collection. Narizzano has long been dismissed as a “one-hit wonder” for GEORGY GIRL, with BLUE often cited as evidence of his decline. Kremer pushes back, tracing the director’s career through archival material, extended interviews, and his narration. He situates Narizzano as a deeply personal filmmaker, one whose battles with the industry left scars on both his films and his reputation. With testimony from colleagues, critics, and friends, the documentary restores a sense of continuity to a career that had been dismissed as erratic. By the time it’s finished, BLUE feels less like a misfire and more like part of a troubled but sincere creative journey.

As a package, the box set captures the strange alchemy of filmmaking in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It shows how two films, shot on the same sets, can diverge so completely in tone and fate. It reveals the fragility of careers, with actors and directors at the mercy of the studio system. And it underscores the importance of context: without Kremer’s documentary, BLUE and FADE IN might be seen as curiosities at best. With it, they become vital puzzle pieces in the story of a director who deserves reevaluation.

Imprint Films offers a set with high-definition transfers and a wealth of new commentaries and interviews. That level of care elevates the set beyond nostalgia into something more essential. Not every film here is “good” in the traditional sense, but each is valuable, whether as a time capsule, a career crossroads, or a case study in how cinema gets made—and sometimes unmade—by forces beyond the frame.

Ultimately, this release is less about celebrating flawless films than about preserving cinematic history in all its messy, fascinating contradictions. BLUE may falter, FADE IN may meander, but together with CRUEL, USUAL, NECESSARY, they form a throughline that’s richer than the films alone. This is a box set for those who believe that even flawed works have stories to tell, and that sometimes the greatest discovery lies not in perfection but in the passion behind it.

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[photo courtesy of IMPRINT FILMS, VIAVISION]

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