Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)/ Radio Days (1987)/ September (1987)/ Another Woman (1988)/ Crimes and Misdemeanours (1989)/ Alice (1990)/ Shadows and Fog (1991) Available as Blu-ray box set from Arrow Academy.
Arrow's previous two Woody Allen box sets have broadly covered the Early Funny Ones, and then Allen's most productive period. This one boasts one of his most popular films, Hannah and Her Sisters, and one of his finest artistic achievements, Crimes and Misdemeanours, but there are also some very clear signs pointing to where it would all go wrong.
The low points in this collection are the failed drama September and failed whimsical comedy Alice. September is the Woody film so bad he filmed it twice. One of his numerous efforts at being Russian, it is a six character chamber piece set in a country house that is filmed as a piece of theatre. The first effort was so bad he recast and shot the whole film again, and reportedly was up for a third go after seeing September 2.0. Given an infinite number of Woodys and an infinite number of high quality prestige casts you might one day alight upon a decent version of it, but I doubt it. At least with September you know what it is failing to be; who knows what was being attempted with Alice?
I have to admit both these judgements are based on seeing them in the 80s when they came out. I will try and give them another go, the first 15 minutes at least, but these are the two Woody films which have been the most onerous to watch. I remember them as being Cassandra's Dream bad, and made all the worse by coming at a time when he was at or near his peak.
On the other hand Shadow and Fog, his exercise in black and white 1930s German Expressionism, is a film I remember as being surprisingly enjoyable – funny, stylish and beautiful to look at. It's a silly indulgence perhaps, but pleasantly so.
More significantly, it also marks, just about, the end of the Mia Farrow years. She made one more film with him after Shadow and Fog, before their abrupt and abrasive parting of the ways.
Sadly this is the end of the Arrow Woody box sets. A shame because a collection of his next six films would have taken in Husbands and Wives and Bullets Over Broadway before concluding with his last really interesting and ambitious film Deconstructing Harry. Basically it would've rounded up the last of his period as a major filmmaker. After Harry, the quality of his films went right down the toilet.
Full Reviews for some of these titles will appear when they get individual releases in March and April.