The Roger Donaldson Collection: Sleeping Dogs/Smash Palace

Long before New Zealand's film industry was associated with Oscar-winning hobbits and budget-saving American film and TV productions, it was the near-exclusive domain of filmmaker Roger Donaldson. This double-feature DVD presents two of the early films that put the director and his country on the world cinema map. Sleeping Dogs (1977) is the better of the pair, a quietly disturbing futuristic tale of a man who abruptly abandons his family to live on an uninhabited island, only to fall into step with an underground resistance movement which is trying to overthrow the totalitarian government controlling the land. The film's low budget is brilliantly camouflaged with a tight, taut style which never overplays its hand, and Donaldson was fortunate to tap into the amazing talents of a young Sam Neill, who parlayed the starring role into a wider international career. Smash Palace (1981) also presents a stunning central performance, this time by Bruno Lawrence (the underappreciated Kiwi actor best known for the sci-fi cult classic The Quiet Earth) as a retired racecar driver whose life collapses into jealousy and violence when his wife takes their young daughter and walks out in search of a new life with his best friend. Unlike Sleeping Dogs, Smash Palace becomes somewhat emotionally overbaked and its conclusion is telegraphed too far in advance for genuine impact, despite Lawrence's heartbreaking performance. Donaldson's subsequent Hollywood productions never matched the power and fury of his early New Zealand films, and their long-overdue debut on DVD provides a welcome reminder of the art he was capable of creating at the far edges of the cinema scene. DVD extras on this loaded double-disc set include hour-plus "making-of" documentaries for each film, audio commentaries (Donaldson, Neill, and actor/co-writer Ian Mune on Sleeping Dogs; Donaldson and "special driver" Steve Millen on Smash Palace), photo galleries, and more. Recommended. (P. Hall) [Blu-ray Review—Apr. 17, 2018—Arrow, 107 min., R, Blu-ray: $39.95—Making its latest appearance on Blu-ray, 1975’s Sleeping Dogs features a fine transfer with uncompressed LPCM mono audio. Extras include audio commentary by director Roger Donaldson, star Sam Neill, and writer costar Ian Mune, a 2004 'making-of' documentary (68 min.), a 1977 production featurette (29 min.), and a booklet. Bottom line: this is a fine edition of this compelling Kiwi drama.] [Blu-ray Review—June 12, 2018—Arrow, 108 min., R, Blu-ray: $39.95—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 1981’s Smash Palace features a fine transfer with uncompressed mono audio. Extras include audio commentary by director Roger Donaldson and stunt driver Steve Millen, a 'making-of' featurette (53 min.), and a booklet with an essay by critic Ian Barr, a review by critic Pauline Kael, and the original press book. Bottom line: this early Donaldson drama makes a welcome debut on Blu-ray.]